Chapter 47 Three Rules for Calling Your Audience to Action

In an interactive speech with the audience, we don't say the title first, but tell the story first, and after telling the story, use your own purpose or a request for the audience's action as the title. Young friends, you have seen news or short messages in your studies. Half of the news in newspapers have headlines first and then content, but what I want to tell you now is that we can completely reflect when we give a speech As a matter of course, in an interactive speech with the audience, we should not say the title first, but tell the story first, and then use our own purpose or a request for the audience's action as the title after telling the story.Here I illustrate this with three rules:

Briefly tell your audience what you want them to do.People generally only do what they know well.So, you have to ask yourself, now that your audience is ready to listen to you and act on it, are you actually telling them what to do?It's a good idea to lay down the key points like a telegram, keep the word count as thin as possible, but make it clear and intelligible.Don't say, "Help the sick kids in our local orphanage," because that's too general.It should be said like this: "Sign your signature tonight, we will gather next Sunday, and lead 25 orphans to a picnic." More importantly, your request must be an obvious action, which can be seen, rather than a mental activity. It's too vague.For example: "Think of your grandparents all the time!" is too vague to act on, but say something like: "Visit your grandparents this weekend!" Or "Be patriotic" and change it to "Next Tuesday." Just cast your sacred vote."

Whatever the issue, moot or not, it is the speaker's responsibility to make his focus and call for action easy for the audience to understand and act on.The best way to do that is to be specific.If you want the audience to increase their ability to remember people's names, don't say: "Start to increase your memory of people's names now", this is too general and impossible to start.Instead, say: "Within five minutes of meeting the next stranger, repeat their name five times." A speaker who gives clear instructions for action is more likely to elicit action from his audience than general words.Saying, "Sign a card to get well" is far better than telling your audience to send a sympathy card, or to write a letter to a classmate who is in the hospital.

As for the use of a positive or negative way to narrate, it should depend on the audience's point of view.There is no good or bad between the two ways.A negative statement of what should be avoided is more convincing to the audience than a positive statement of the plea. "Don't be a lightbulb picker" was an ad designed years ago to sell light bulbs, and this negative wording worked well. Points are at the heart of your presentation, so they should be stated with force and confidence.Just as the letters of a headline stand out prominently, your plea to action should be emphasized directly, through a strong speech.Now you have to leave a sunny impression on the audience and let the audience feel your sincerity.

I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that brevity and economy are still necessary in the process of interacting with the audience.You will provide your motivation for your speech, or tell the audience how it will be beneficial to do what you say in your "points." However, it is very important that the "key points" you emphasize should be drawn from the examples you cited.If you're describing your own experience of saving money by buying a used car and then urging your audience to buy second-hand, don't deviate from the example by telling your audience that some used cars are better in style than recent cars.

For example, a salesman can give many reasons why you should buy their product; you can also give several reasons to support your argument, all related to the examples you use.However, it is better to pick the one cause or interest that stands out the most.The final words to your audience should be as clear and specific as an ad in a national magazine.It will be helpful for you to deal with the "why and why" of the presentation if you study the advertisements, which have been designed with a lot of intelligence.No ad tried to sell two or more ideas at once.In magazines with a wide range of sales, no ad uses more than one reason why you should buy it.The same company may change its motivational request from one medium to another, such as television to newspaper, but the same company seldom makes a different request in an ad, whether verbal or not. Still visual.If you study the advertisements in newspapers, magazines and TV, and analyze its content, you will be surprised to find that the number of times the "magic formula" is used to persuade people to buy things is really too much, so you can realize that "it is relevant" It is the latitude and longitude that makes the entire advertisement a unified whole.

Once, a senior government official made the U.S. Senate investigative committee fidget in a fog. He kept talking, vague, pointless, ambiguous, and didn't make his meaning clear at all.Finally, one commissioner, Senator Samuel Jean Irwin Jr. of North Carolina, took the opportunity to say a few words--something good. He said the official reminded him of a man in his hometown who wanted to divorce his wife, so he notified his lawyer and asked him to help him with the matter.Strangely, he also praised his wife in front of the lawyer for being virtuous, beautiful, and a competent wife and mother.

"Then why do you want to divorce her?" the lawyer asked him puzzled. "Because she's always talking," said the husband. "What did she say?" "It's just this annoyance and that dissatisfaction," said the husband, "but she never makes it clear." Many speakers are prone to this mistake. They keep talking and expressing their thoughts, but they never express their real thoughts clearly. People don't know what they are talking about. I didn't make it clear.Young friends, you must not underestimate the importance and difficulty of "speaking clearly".I once heard an Irish poet read his own poems at an evening party.Although he himself was intoxicated by it, few people could understand what he was talking about.Many conversationalists, whether in public or in private, make this mistake frequently.

I also once discussed with Sir Oliver Roger what the basics of public speaking are.Sir Roger has 40 years of experience in lecturing and touring at various universities.He emphasized that two things are the most important: first, knowledge and preparation; second, hard preparation and clear expression. Marshal Moltke, the famous Prussian general, said to his officers at the beginning of the war between France and Prussia: "Remember, everyone, any order that 'may' be misunderstood will 'will' be misunderstood." Napoleon also understood the dangers of this situation.One of the most prudent instructions he repeatedly gave to his secretary was: "Be clear! Be clear!" We spend a lot of time in expository talk every day, giving clarifications or instructions, giving explanations and reports.Among the various types of speeches given to audiences in various places each week, the speeches of explanation are second only to those of persuasion to obtain action responses.The ability to speak clearly is also the ability to move the audience to action.Irving D. Young, one of the titans of American industry, also emphasized the need for articulation today:

"When a person expands his ability to make himself known, he also expands his role. Of course, in our society, people are supposed to cooperate with each other even in the simplest things, so they must first understand each other. Language is the primary medium of understanding, so we must learn to use it, not roughly but precisely." Listen to these advices, my young friends, which will enable you to use language with clarity and precision, and will allow your listeners to understand you without difficulty.Ludwig Wetgenstein said: "Whatever can be thought, can be clearly thought. And whatever can be said, can also be clearly expressed."