Carnegie Language Breakthroughs and the Art of Communication

Chapter 17 Different categories of speech concepts (1)
Get a good response with a short speech
A famous British bishop addresses soldiers at Upton Camp during World War I.They will be sent to the front to fight, and of course only a few of them understand why they are sent to the front.But the archbishop ignored all these backgrounds and talked to them about "international goodwill" and the idea that "the Serbian nation has a right to a place under the sun." It's funny how half of them People don't even know if Serbia is a town or a disease.Facing such an audience, he might as well give them a resounding eulogy with the profound "nebula theory".This has exactly the same effect.Fortunately, none of the cavalry slipped away during the whole speech, not because they were fascinated, but because every exit was guarded by gendarmes to prevent them from slipping away.

I have no intention of disparaging the bishop, who is a scholar to the core.If he delivered such a speech in front of a group of religious people, he might seem to be the first to make a speech and show his skills; but now he is facing soldiers who are about to go to the front line. The result!Why is he like this?Obviously he did not know his audience, nor did he know the real purpose of his speech, which made him not know how to achieve his purpose.

So, what is the purpose of the speech?To sum up, any speech, whether it is clear or not, generally contains four goals, which are:

a. Persuade others to take action.

b. Explain the situation.

c. To enhance the impression and convince people.

d. Make people happy.

Let us illustrate these with a series of specific examples from President Lincoln's speech career.

Few people know that Lincoln once invented and patented a device.This device can lift a ship stranded on the beach or other obstacles.He also made models of this instrument in a mechanic's shop near his lawyer's office.Occasionally, when a friend came to the office and saw this model, he would take the trouble to explain its structure.The main purpose of this kind of explanation is to explain the situation so that the other party can learn more about it.

When he delivered that monumental speech at Gettysburg, when he gave his first and second inaugural addresses, when he gave the eulogy of Henry Clay's life when he died, he was on all these occasions , the main purpose of a speech is to enhance the audience's impression and convince people.

Every time he appeared before a jury throughout his career as a lawyer, the goal was to win a verdict in his favour.And when he makes political speeches, he is working to win votes.His purpose in speaking on these occasions is to get his audience to act.

Lincoln prepared a speech on invention two years before he was elected president.Of course his purpose in giving this speech was to entertain people, at least, that was his original goal.Unfortunately, he didn't succeed this time.He wanted to be a popular orator, but he suffered a lot of setbacks in this regard.He once gave a speech in a small town without anyone even listening.

In stark contrast to his speeches in this area, his speeches in other areas have been surprisingly successful, some of which have become classics of human language.What is the reason?Mainly, he gave these talks knowing what he was aiming for and how to get there.

Many speakers fail to match their goals with those of those they are speaking to, and when they get to the podium they scramble, slur their words, make mistakes, and inevitably fail.

Here is just one example.A member of the United States Congress once gave a speech in the old New York circus. Before he could finish speaking, there was a roar and boos from the audience, so that he had to leave the platform.What is the reason?Because he has very unwisely chosen to give an expository speech on this occasion.He told his audience how America was preparing for war.His audience doesn't want to be scolded here, what they want now is entertainment.At first they listened to him patiently and politely for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, hoping that his performance would end quickly.But he still babbled on and on and on.The patience of the audience is running out, they don't want to be patient anymore.Someone started booing and mocking him, others followed, and in a flash a thousand whistled, some even roared.But this speaker was really stupid and numb. He was completely unaware of the audience's mood at this time, and continued to speak with his head sullen.This annoyed them, so a melee came on stage.The helplessness of the audience rose to anger.This man was so ignorant, and tried to persuade the audience to be quiet.As a result, violent protests grew louder.Finally, the howls and roars of the audience drowned out his words.At this point, he could only give up his efforts, admit defeat, and leave the venue humiliated.

Please use the example of the congressman above as a reference to make the purpose of your speech suitable for your audience and the occasion you are facing.The congressman would not have suffered such a disastrous defeat if he had considered in advance whether the goals of his speech were in line with those of the audience who came to the political rally.Only by properly analyzing the audience and the occasion of the speech can you choose one of the above four purposes as the purpose of your speech.

To help you with the important part of "How to Structure a Speech" to persuade others to take action, this section devotes all its pen and ink to discussing "Getting a Good Response with a Short Speech."In the next three sections, we focus on discussing several other important goals of the speech: to explain the situation; to enhance the impression and convince people; to make people happy.Each goal requires a different strategy, each has its own way of organizing, each has its own pitfalls and obstacles to overcome.

So how do you organize your presentation material so that your audience will feel motivated to take action?Is there any way that we can arrange the speech materials so that we have an excellent opportunity to impress our audience with one sentence and make them willing to do what we ask?
I remember discussing this issue with colleagues in 1930.At the time, my speech courses were starting to gain popularity across the country.Due to the large number of people in a class, we had to limit the speeches to the students to 2 minutes.If the speaker's purpose is simply to entertain or explain a situation, this restriction will not affect the speech.But when we get to a speech where we want to encourage the audience to take action, it's a different story.If we follow the stereotyped format of a speech—introduction, body, and conclusion—a paradigm that has been followed by many speakers since Aristotle, the speech will not be effective in motivating the audience to action.Obviously, this required us to inject something new and different in order to be able to achieve the intended purpose within the set 2 minutes and get the audience into action.

We held seminars in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, asking all of our teachers for advice.Many of them taught in the speech departments of prestigious universities; some had achieved remarkable success in their careers;We hope to synthesize different backgrounds and use the wisdom of those with different backgrounds to devise a new method for the structure of speeches, so that this method can reasonably reflect the needs of our time and conform to the rules of psychology. And can use this to influence the audience and get them to take action.

Really hard work pays off.From these discussions, a "magic formula" for framing the speech was born.We used it in our speech training class as soon as it came out, and it's been with us ever since.What is this "magic formula"?In fact, it is very simple, and it can be said that it is broken at one point. Specifically, it is as follows: at the beginning, tell the audience the topic you want to talk about in the form of an example. Through this example, vividly illustrate the idea you want to convey to the audience. What.Next, state your argument in detailed and clear terms; third, state why, that is, emphasize to the audience what benefits it will have if they do what you say.

This formula is very suitable for today's fast-paced lifestyle.Speakers must no longer indulge in long, idle introductions.Today's audience is made up of busy people who expect speakers to say what they have to say, in straightforward language.They are used to digested, condensed news reports that get them straight to the facts without beating around the bush.They have all adapted to an aggressive advertising environment similar to those on Madison Avenue.An obvious feature of these advertisements is that, with the help of various signboards, TV, magazines and newspapers, through some bright and powerful words, all the information that the publishing media wants to express is brought out in one go.These advertising words are all carefully considered, without any waste.

We are sure that if you use this "magic formula", you will be able to grab the audience's attention and focus their attention on the key points of your speech.It can also save you from tedious opening remarks such as, "I don't have time to prepare this speech very well," or "When the host asked me to talk about this topic, I wondered for a moment why he chose me. ?” Remember, the audience isn’t interested in your onstage apology or justification, whether you mean it or say it as a formality.What they need is action.Whereas in the "magic formula," you give them action as soon as you speak.

This formula works really well for those terse conversations that also have some suspense built into them.When you express your point of view in this way, the audience will be attracted by your story, and they don't need to tell the whole point of the speech at the beginning, but let them listen to your story for two to three minutes first, and wait When the story is nearing the end, you will know the focus of your speech.This trick is even more necessary if you want your audience to do what you ask.Imagine, if the speaker is giving a fundraising speech, and he expects the audience to give generously to a disadvantaged group, and this group of people desperately needs the money, if our speaker says something like this: "Gentlemen and ladies, I will I'm charging you five dollars here." Will you give it?Guaranteed no one will act.People will definitely think you are a liar, and they will scramble to get out the door.Instead, what if the speaker begins by describing to the audience a visit to the "Children's Hospital" and lovingly recounts a desperate case you saw there: a toddler now living in a remote hospital , he was unable to operate due to lack of financial assistance.If all of you below can show your love and give him a helping hand, this child can be brought back to life.Try to compare, does this expression give him a greater chance of gaining the support of the audience?It can be seen that it is the story and the example that pave the way for the desired action.

Let's take a look at how Neilan Stone uses events or examples to impress the audience and arouse their support for the United Nations Children's Rescue Action:

I pray I don't have to run around and cry about it again.Think about it, the life and death of a child is only a bullet the size of a peanut. Is there anything more miserable than this in this world?I also hope that everyone here will never have to do anything because of these things, and don't have to live with such tragic memories forever afterward.But these relentless events in the world can't stop us, and I heard their voices in a bomb-ridden workers' quarter in Athens in January , saw their sad and frightened eyes... It was only a half-pound can of peanuts that caused this tragic scene.When I struggled to open the aid in my hand, a group of ragged children surrounded me and stretched out their hands frantically.There are also a large number of mothers, pushing and scrambling with babies in their arms... They all pushed the babies towards me, and their little skinny hands stretched twitchingly.I tried my best to make the most of the little aid I brought, to save even one hungry child.

I was nearly knocked over by them under their frenzied crowding.The eyes can only see hundreds of hands: begging hands, grasping hands, desperate hands, all pairs of pitifully small hands.I took pains to divide a little here and a little there.Move another place, share one here, and another there.Hundreds of hands reach out to me, begging me.Hundreds of eyes sparkled with hope as they got my handout... Finally, I stood there helpless with nothing but the empty blue jar in my hand... Hey, I hope this This situation will never happen again, forever away from us.

This "magic formula" can also be applied to writing business letters and giving instructions to employees and subordinates.Mothers can also use it to motivate their children, who in turn will find it easier to get their parents' gifts in this way.You will find that it is really a psychological weapon, and you can use it to convey your thoughts to others in your daily life.

Even in advertising, the "magic formula" is used every day.The Everedy Batteries had recently run a series of radio and television commercials, and the ad agency had designed them according to this formula.Here's what the ad actually looked like: It opens with the host anxiously telling about someone trapped in an overturned car late at night.After he described the accident in detail, the second act of the commercial entered: the host invited the victim out of the car to finish the story, describing how he was sent out by a flashlight using an Everedy battery. The light of the timely assistance.Then enter the third act of the ad: the host gets down to business and points out the main point of the ad, that is, if you buy the Ifredy battery, you can survive a similar emergency.The story itself, drawn from the battery company's archives, is all true.I have no way of knowing exactly how many extra batteries this ad made the company sell, but one thing is believable, that is, from the effect of this ad we can be sure that the "magic formula" really works, it allows you to effectively sell The audience states what you want them to do, or avoid doing.Let's discuss it step by step.

1. Give examples - those that come from real life examples
In your speech, describing an experience that has given you a revelation should take up the bulk of your speech and take up the most of your time.At this stage, you describe to your audience the event from which you learned something.Psychologists believe that there are two main ways in which we learn: one is to use the "Law of Exercise" (Law of Exercise), which is to use a series of similar events to cause a change in a certain behavior pattern; the other is to use the "Law of Effect". "(Law of Effect), that is, a single event that causes a change in behavior because of its surprising effect.Each of us should have had these unusual experiences, and it is not difficult to find many instances in the surface layer of our own memory.Our behavior is conditioned to be guided by these experiences, so we can reorganize them and use them to influence others.Because the average person responds to words in much the same way as they respond to what actually happens.In giving an example, you must make your own experience have a salutary effect, and thereby affect your listeners as much as it first affected you.In order to achieve this effect, you must describe your experience in great detail, highlight its characteristics, and produce a dramatic effect that will hold the audience's interest.Here are a few suggestions that hopefully will help you achieve these results.

A. Illustrated by a single personal experience
When you use an example based on a single personal experience with dramatic effect, its power is astounding.This event, which may have occurred only a few seconds before and after, will provide you with a revelation that will last a lifetime.Not long ago, a student in a training class recounted a horrific experience in which he tried to swim to shore from an overturned boat.I believe that after hearing his narration, all the audience present must make up their minds—if they encounter a similar situation in the future, it is best to do what the speaker suggested: stay where they are and wait for rescue.I also recall an experience told by another person, involving a small child and an overturned electric lawn mower, that remains vividly etched in my memory.To this day, if any child gets near my electric lawn mower, I take extra care for fear of any accidents.The lecturers in many training classes also said that after listening to the many valuable experiences of the students in the class, once they encountered similar situations in their own homes, they could take quick actions to prevent accidents from happening.For example, someone prepared a fire extinguisher in the kitchen at home after hearing the story of a fire caused by careless cooking.Some people also label the bottles and jars containing poison in their homes and put them in a safe place out of the reach of children. Lying in the bathtub holding a bottle with poison in his hand.

(End of this chapter)