Chapter 90 So, express your thoughts perfectly

On one occasion, a U.S. Senate investigative committee was stymied by a senior government official and left in a fog.It turned out that the official continued to direct, but he was vague and without focus. He didn't make his own meaning clear to everyone at all, and the confusion of all members of the committee gradually increased.Afterwards, a senator from North Carolina, Samuel James Alvin Jr., made a few wonderful metaphors about the incident and made everyone laugh. He said: "The official reminded me of a man in my hometown. The man told the lawyer that he was going to divorce his wife, but he admitted to the lawyer that she was beautiful, a good cook and a model mother. .

"'Then why did you divorce her?' the lawyer asked him. "'Because she's always talking in my ear,' said the man. "'What did she say?' "'That's what pissed me off,' said the man, 'because she never made it clear.'" The senator's analogy reminds us of many orators who are as obnoxious as the man's wife when they speak in public. No one knows what they are talking about, and they never make it clear. Haven't made it clear.You must not underestimate "speaking clearly". Its importance and difficulty are actually great.

Marshal Moltke, the famous Prussian general, said to his officers at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War: "Everyone, please remember that any order that may be misunderstood will be misunderstood." Napoleon also knew this well. A danger of being "unclear".The most prudent instruction he ever gave to his secretary was, "Be clear! Be clear!" In the previous sections, we introduced a set of "magic formulas" that can help you deliver short speeches and effectively get your audience to act.So in this section, I will also teach you some methods to help you express yourself clearly.

The following suggestions will allow you to use language clearly and precisely so that your audience will have no trouble understanding your intentions. We have to recognize the status quo, and know that it is obviously impossible to hurriedly visit all the sights of Paris in one day.However, what if you could express all your points of view in a limited amount of time?The audience ended up with no impression at all! For example, it is impossible for us to tell people why a large organization was established, the methods it adopted, its achievements and shortcomings, and how it resolved industrial disputes in 3 to 6 minutes.If you insist on being comprehensive, the result is that no one will be impressed, but only confusion and vagueness, and only too simple outlines.

Instead, you can just tell one aspect of the organization and tell it in detail.In doing so, although you will leave a single impression on your audience, it will be clear and easy to understand and remember.However, if your presentation has a lot to talk about, I recommend at least a brief summary at the end of each section. Experienced speakers sometimes make such foolish mistakes—perhaps they are so versatile that they don't see the danger of distraction.But you must not learn from them, but stick to the theme.If your speech is clear, the audience will say, "I understand what he said, and I know where he is now!"

Before the speech, the arrangement of materials starts from the roughest raw materials, then goes through various processing, and finally completes the real product.How much detail to include depends on the timing of the presentation. Almost all speech topics can use a certain time sequence, spatial sequence or internal logical sequence of things to develop a speech.For example, the time sequence, we can unfold it in the order of "past, present, future", or start flashback from a certain day. In terms of spatial order, the speaker can take a certain point as a foothold and then expand outward from it; or proceed in accordance with the directions of east, south, west, and north.Suppose you want to describe the city of Washington, and you can lead the audience in all directions from the top of Capitol Hill.If you're describing a jet engine or a car, it's best to break it down into its parts and talk about them one by one.

However, some speech topics have their own inherent logical order.For example, the structure of the US government has its inherent organizational form. As long as it is introduced in terms of the three branches of legislation, administration, and justice, the effect will be clear. If you present the audience with all the language you want to express in a haphazard manner, it will definitely scare them away.If you want your audience to get an impression of order and order in your speech, one of the easiest ways is to make it clear during the speech that you have several points, which point you will talk about first, and which point will come next. What more.For example, you can say straight to the point like this:

"The first point I'm going to make is..." After discussing this point, you can prompt for a second point, a third point...and so on until the end. Economist Douglas, speaking as a tax expert and a senator from Illinois at a business conference held by a joint committee of Congress, used this approach equally deftly and effectively. He started it like this: "The theme of my speech is: The fastest and most effective way to grow the economy is to reduce personal income taxes for the middle and lower income classes who spend almost all their income." Then he continued his conversation in this way:

Specifically…… Going further... also…… I say this for three main reasons: first... second... third... In the end, he said: "In short, what we need to do is to immediately reduce and exempt the personal income tax imposed by the low- and middle-income class, so as to increase demand and purchasing power." Maybe you have this feeling: you have worked hard for a long time, but you still haven't explained what you mean to the audience.Originally, you are very clear about this matter, but in order for the audience to understand it, you need to explain it in depth.What should we do?My suggestion is that you might as well compare it to something familiar to your audience, and tell them that it is like another thing, like something they are familiar with.

When you speak to your audience about a topic they are not familiar with, can you expect them to have a deep understanding?Of course it is difficult.So, we have to figure out a way.Go about it in the simplest and most natural way you can think of, connecting what people don't know with what they already know and are very familiar with. Let’s take a look at how David described Jehovah’s care and mercy in the Bible: "God is my shepherd, I can't live without him for a day. He let me lie on the green grass, and he led me to the clear water..." On the vast green grassland, beside the clear water that the sheep can drink ——All of this is understood by the shepherds.

Another example is to introduce the contribution of catalysts in chemistry to industry.If you tell people that this is a substance that can change other substances without changing itself, it may be difficult for people to understand.You can say that it is just like a little boy, jumping, fighting, making noise, and pushing other children in the schoolyard, but in the end, he is safe and sound, and has never been hit or touched by anyone. Isn't that better?