Chapter 78 Introduce listeners to interest

I once asked Lin Harold Hu, the former president of Northwestern University, what is the most important thing in his long speaking experience?He pondered for a moment, then replied, "Come up with a catchy opening statement that grabs the audience's attention immediately." Both the opening and closing of his speech are planned carefully in advance.John Bright did it, Greystone did it, Webster did it, Lincoln did it more.Almost every speaker with common sense and experience does this. When President Wilson addressed the U.S. Congress on the momentous issue of delivering an ultimatum to Germany's submarine warfare, he laid out his subject in just two dozen words and immediately grabbed the audience's attention. On this question:

"A situation of particular urgency has arisen in our diplomatic relations which makes it my duty to be frank with you." In his speech to the New York-Philadelphia Association, Schmidt Webb immediately hits at the heart of his speech in the second sentence: "The overriding question on the minds of Americans today is, what is the point of the current recession? What is the future? Personally, I am an optimist..." The sales manager of National Cash Register Corporation gave a speech to his sales force in the same way.His introduction is only three sentences, and it is easy to understand.All of them are full of energy and drive:

"Everyone who was able to win the order is a great contributor to the continuous smoking of our factory chimneys. In the past two months of this summer, there has not been enough black smoke from our chimneys, so we have not yet been able to put Swaths of the sky are black. Now that the heat is over and the season of business recovery is upon us, we have one short and urgent request to you all - we need more black smoke." How to make the audience "whole heart" to you from the beginning of the speaker's speech is an important factor for the success of all persuasive speeches.Here are some ways, if used well, you can make your opening statement very attractive.

It is very difficult and laborious to make the average audience endure abstract statements for a long time.On the contrary, if you give an example, it is easier for the audience to listen to it, which is much easier than the former.That being the case, why not give an example at the beginning?Unfortunately, I have a hard time convincing speakers to do this, I know, and I've tried.They always feel that they have to make some general statement first.In fact, it doesn't have to be so.You can start with an example to interest the audience, and then expand on your commentary on it. Lowell Thomas, a world-renowned news analyst, speaker and filmmaker, began his discussion of "Lawrence of Arabia" from the pulpit this way:

"One day, I was walking on Christ Street in Jerusalem, when I suddenly met a man dressed in the oriental royal robes, with a golden machete hanging by his side, this kind of knife was only for the Prophet Muhammad What the successor wears..." And that's how he set out—starting with his own experience as a story, and that's what grabs people's attention.This opening method is often very clever and guarantees that it will not fail you.And there is action in this approach, and it pushes you forward.The reason why we follow closely is that we have been integrated into a certain situation and have become a part of it.We are eager to know what will happen.

I don't know of any other way to develop a presentation that is as motivating as using a story. There is a theme that I have spoken on many times, and when I give this talk I begin my talk like this: “I was walking down a street in Fernon, South Dakota, one night right after I graduated from college, when I saw a man standing on top of a box and speaking to the crowd. I was curious, so I joined in to watch in a lively crowd.'You notice,' said the man, 'that you've never seen a bald Indian, or a bald woman, have you? Now I'll tell you why...'" You see no pauses, no words to "warm up" the situation.Therefore, you can easily grab the audience's attention by simply moving directly towards the event.

A speaker who begins with a story of his own experience is invincible because it requires no searching of the guts or the use of ideas.What you describe is your own experience, a reconstruction of part of your life, a part of your own veins.Therefore, your confident and relaxed demeanor can help you establish a friendly relationship with your audience. Here is how Mr. Will Healy delivered his speech at an athletic club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Eighty-two years ago, around this season, a little book was published in London, and it told a story that was destined to go down in history.Many have called it "the greatest little book ever written".When it was such a sensation when it first came out, friends meeting in Street Street or Bowmore Street would invariably ask each other, "Have you read it?" The answer was surprisingly unanimous: "Yes." , God bless it, I read it."

It sold 1,000 copies on its first day on the market.Demand reached 150,000 copies within two weeks.Since then, it has been reprinted countless times and translated into languages ​​all over the world.A few years ago, I.P. Morgan purchased the original manuscript of the book at a very high price.It is now resting in his majestic art gallery with many priceless treasures.What is this world-famous book? After hearing this, are you still not interested?Aren't you eager to know more?Did the speaker powerfully grab the audience's attention?Do you feel like this opening sentence has captured your attention and heightened your interest as the episode progressed?Why?Because it piques your curiosity, it holds you in suspense.

curious!Who can avoid it? ! Even though you weren't there in person, you might be wondering as you read this.Who is the author, you ask?What book is mentioned above?To satisfy your curiosity, let me tell you the answer: The author of this book is Charles Dickens, and the title of the book is A Christmas Carol. "I once found birds flying around me for nearly an hour in the woods, just watching me out of sheer curiosity. I know a hunter who surrounded himself high in the Alps with a sheet and then Crawls on the ground. In this way he arouses the curiosity of the antelopes towards him, thereby attracting them to him. Puppies are curious, as are kittens, and all animals, including the famous primate in this way."

Therefore, your first sentence must arouse the curiosity of the audience, and then they will be interested and pay attention to you. I myself began my account of Colonel Lawrence's adventures in Arabia in this manner: In the spring of 1871, William Osler, a young man destined to become a world-famous physician, picked up a book in which he After reading 21 of them, it had a profound impact on his future. What are these 21 characters?How do these words affect his future?These are the questions the audience wants to know. Cliff R. Adams was the Director of Marriage Counseling at Penn State University.He published an article in Reader's Digest entitled "How to Pick a Spouse."In this essay, he unfurls the narrative with some startling facts that will take the reader's breath away and which of course grab your attention right away:

Today, our youth have very little chance of finding happiness in marriage.Our divorce rate is staggeringly high. In 1940, one in five or six marriages would hit the rocks. After 1940, we expect the ratio to rise to 4:1.If this situation continues, it will be 2:1 by the 1950s. "A good journal article is a series of shocks," said Mike Lue, founder of a major journal. These articles jolted us out of our daydreams.They call to our attention and hold our attention.Here are some examples: In one, Blandin of Baltimore gave a talk titled "The Wonders of Radio."begins by saying: "Did you know that the tiny sound of a fly walking on a glass window in New York can be transmitted by radio to Central Africa and be amplified to make a sound as startling as Niagara Falls?" Mr. Harry Jones, president of the Harry Jones Company of New York, began a speech on "Crime Situation" with the following words: "Former Chief Justice Taft of the United States Supreme Court once declared: 'Our administration of the criminal law is a disgrace to civilization.'" There are two brilliant things about what he said: not only was it a startling opening statement, but it was a startling statement quoted from a judicial authority. Paul Gibbons, ex-president of the Optimist Club of Philadelphia, made the following jaw-dropping statement when addressing the subject of "sin": "America is the worst crime in civilization. As shocking as that statement is, it's equally shocking - and it's true - that Cleveland, Ohio has six times as many murders as London In proportion to its population, it has 170 times as many muggers as London. More people are robbed or attacked each year by gangsters in Cleveland than in England, Scotland and Wales. More people put together. More people are murdered in St. Louis each year than in England and Wales. More murders are committed in New York City than in all of France, and more than in Germany, Italy or England. Here is a sad fact: Criminals go unpunished. If you murder someone, the chances of you being executed for it are less than 1 in 100. All of you are good citizens who seek peace, but your chances of dying from cancer are 10 times the chance of you shooting someone and getting hanged." This opening speech is successful, because Gibbons's words reveal incomparable power and enthusiasm.His speech was full of vigor and vitality.However, I have heard other students start their presentations on crime issues with similar examples, and their opening remarks fall flat.Why?Empty words are just empty words.Their structural skills are impeccable, but their spirit is equal to zero.Their attitude undermines and weakens everything they say. Here are a few more examples, also beginning with "Amazing Events": For example: The War Department predicted that on the first night of the atomic war, 20 million Americans would be killed. Example: A few years ago, Scully Howard's newspaper did a $176,000 survey to find out what customers didn't like about retail stores.It is the most expensive, scientifically-scientific and most thorough investigation of retailing issues ever undertaken.Questionnaires for the survey were sent to 45,047 households in 16 different cities.One of the questions was: "What don't you like about the store in this town?" Almost 2/5 of all the answers to this question are the same: rude clerk! There are amazing words at the beginning of the speech, and the reason why it can establish communication with the audience is because it produces a shock of thought.This is a "shock technique" that uses the unexpected in order to have the effect of drawing the audience's attention to the subject matter of the speech. In Washington, a student in our class used this method of provoking curiosity.Her maiden name was Meg Hill.Here's her opening statement: "I was a prisoner for a good 10 years. Not in a normal prison, but in a prison whose walls are shoddy and fear of criticism is its fence." Wouldn't you like to know a little more about this true story? If you want to arouse the interest of the audience, don't start with ramblings, but jump into the core of the topic from the very beginning. Frank Bettega did just that.He's the author of "How I Raised to Succeed in Sales" and he's also a master of suspense, able to create suspense in the first sentence.I know him because he and I have been on a speaking tour all over the United States, sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, giving tips on sales.His speech is very "enthusiastic", and the way of opening is extremely sublime, which always makes me admire from the bottom of my heart.First, he doesn't preach, second, he doesn't lecture, third, he doesn't preach, and fourth, he doesn't make general remarks. He jumps into the core of the topic as soon as he opens his mouth.Listen to how he started when he talked about "enthusiasm": "Shortly after I started playing professional baseball, one of the most shocking things of my life happened to me." What effect does such a beginning have on the audience?I know, because I was there, and I saw their reaction firsthand—he had everyone's attention right away, and everyone was eager to hear why he was shocked and what he did about it. Audiences especially enjoy listening to the speakers tell stories from their own lived experiences.Russe Cornwell delivered his famous speech "Diamonds in Your Backyard" more than 6,000 times, earning millions of dollars.How did his most famous speech begin?And listen: "In 1870, we traveled on the Tigris River. We hired a guide in Baghdad and asked him to show us the ancient sites of Persepolis, Nineveh and Babylon." This is his opening statement—a story.This is the best way to grab the reader's attention.This kind of opening is almost foolproof and rarely fails.It pushes you to move forward with him, and we as the audience follow behind, wondering what's coming. In one issue of the Saturday Evening Post, two pieces began with a story, excerpted below: (1) The sharp sound of a revolver pierces the dead silence. (2) During the first week of July, an incident occurred at the Mountain View Inn in Denver.As far as the matter itself is concerned, it is only a small matter, but in terms of its possible consequences, it is not a small matter.The hotel manager Goebel was so intrigued by the incident that he told Mountain View Hotel owner Steve Farraley about it.A few days later, when Mr. Farare went to inspect several hotels under him, he told the staff of the other 6 hotels about the incident. Note that both opening paragraphs have action.They have an effect right from the start, arousing your curiosity.You want to read it; you want to know more; you want to discover what these two works are trying to say. Even an inexperienced novice can succeed in crafting a good opening if he can use this storytelling technique to arouse the audience's curiosity.