Chapter 56 Chapter Eight: The Way to Captivate Your Audience Instantly

I once asked Mr. Ryan Harold Heck, the former president of Northwestern University, a person with rich practical experience in speaking, what is the most important thing for a speaker.After a little thought, he answered me like this: "At the beginning of the speech, the speaker should hold the audience's heart firmly." This is the true portrayal of Mr. Heck himself. Precisely design beginnings and endings.John Brant, Greatstone, Webster, Lincoln, and others did it.Virtually every speaker with common sense and experience does this. So, do beginners in public speaking do the same?Very rarely.Speech planning is time-consuming, it requires thinking and willpower, because brain activity is a difficult and complex process.Thomas Edison took the following quote from Joshua Ryaloz and carved it on the wall of his factory: There is no shortcut in the world to escape the hard work of thinking.

Beginners who give speeches overly believe in people's instant inspiration, but the results often disappoint them. They find: "The road ahead is full of quagmire and traps, and if you are not careful, you will fall into it." The recently deceased Lord Northcrave, who began as a poor man on a meager weekly wage, had, after a struggle, become the wealthiest and most influential newspaper magnate in the British Empire.The following quote from Bargas was enshrined by Northcliffe as the most important factor in his success: To foresee the future means to rule over everything. This quote should also be your mantra when designing your speech.You should anticipate what kind of opening to be unique and novel, to capture the audience's mind, and what impression your speech will give to everyone, and this impression is often difficult to change.

There have been many books on this subject since the days of Aristotle, and they usually divide a speech into three parts: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.Until recent years, the opening part of a speech was considered a casual joke, when the speaker was both a newsletter and an entertainer.That is to say, a hundred years ago, speakers were to the community what newspapers, magazines, radio, television, telephone, and movies are today. However, the situation has changed drastically now: the whole world has become very closely connected, and various inventions and creations have greatly accelerated the pace of our lives, which far exceeds that since King Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar II. any era in history.For example, we already have tools such as cars, airplanes, radios, and televisions, which allow us to reach all parts of the world or obtain information from any place conveniently and quickly.

Therefore, today's speakers must keep up with the fast pace of life today. If there is an opening confession in the speech, it must not be procrastinated, but as concise as a roadside billboard.Regardless, you should keep in mind that speaking audiences are very different today, and their thinking is usually: "Oh, are you going to give a speech? That's fine, keep it short and don't waste your time."