Carnegie Language Breakthroughs and the Art of Communication

Chapter 21 Different categories of speech concepts (5)
There is nothing new in the method I am advocating; it was adopted by St. Paul of old.His well-known speech to the Athenians on the Massa Hill invoked this method so skilfully and subtly that it has been immortalized.

Paul was a well-educated person. After he converted to Christianity, his speech ability was of great help to spread the teachings.One day, he came to Athens. At that time, Athens had passed its heyday and began to decline.The situation at this time is described in the Bible as follows: both the Athenians and the strangers living there cared about other things, and only liked to talk or listen to the news that happened recently.

There were no radios, no telecommunications equipment, no outlets for the news, and those Athenians had to go around every afternoon asking for news.At this time, Paul came, which was their new favorite business.They circled Paul, new and curious, and took him to Alabagu.They said to Paul, "May we also know these new teachings that you are preaching? Because you have heard some strange things in our ears, and we want to know what they mean."

In other words, they were inviting Paul to give a speech, and of course Paul was very willing.In fact, that's exactly what he came here for.So he might stand on a plank or on a rock and, like many good speakers, was a little nervous at first.He may rub his hands, clear his throat, and begin to speak.

Since Paul didn't quite agree with the reasons why the Athenians invited him to speak on stage, "the new way...strange thing..." that was poisonous, he had to get rid of those notions.This is a land open to any dissent, but Paul remains reluctant to describe his faith as a strange, heterogeneous affair.He wants to combine his own beliefs with their original beliefs, so that he can better eliminate the opposition and let the other party accept him.But how?He thought for a moment, and then he had an idea, and began this immortal speech: "Men of Athens, I see that you fear God in all things."

Some versions of the Bible say, "You are all very religious." I think it's better and more correct to say that.These Athenians worshiped many gods and were very pious, and they were very proud of it.Paul praised them, and they were delighted to hear it, and drew closer to him.This is one of the great laws of the art of powerful speaking.Paul said again, "Because as I was passing here, and beholding what you worship, I saw an altar with the inscription: To an Unknown God."

"See, this proves that the Athenians were very pious, lest they neglect any god they did not know, and dedicated an altar to the unknown god. It is like some comprehensive insurance covering all possible insurances. ’” Paul referred to the altar, indicating that his praise was not flattery, but observation.

Then, Paul introduced the topic very cleverly: "I will tell you about the God you worship without knowing it."

"New Way...strange things..." Not at all.Paul only put forward some simple facts to connect his own beliefs with the original beliefs of the Athenians. This technique is really very clever.

He also mentioned the redemption and the resurrection of Jesus, and also quoted some Greek verses, and the speech ended well.Of course some people can't help but say some mocking things, but there are also quite a few people who say, "We're going to have to hear more of these things from you."

Therefore, if you want to persuade others, or impress others with your words, the best way is: transplant your ideas into their hearts, and avoid giving them opposing thoughts.Those who can do this will be able to exert great power in their speeches to influence others.

You have to face people who disagree with you almost every day and discuss certain topics with people.Are you trying to influence these people to agree with you?Whether at home, at work, or in other social settings?Is there room for improvement in the method you use?How to start?Is it going to be the Lincoln model or the Macmillan model?If you really put your heart into it, you are truly a valuable talent with both diplomacy and keen judgment.Remember President Wood Wilson's words: "If you said to me, 'Let's sit down and talk about it. If we disagree, where are the differences, what's the problem?' we'd find that we were just A small number of views are different, but most of them are still consistent. As long as we are patient with each other and open and honest, we can still move in harmony."

talk show
Not long ago, a group of business leaders and government officials went to a new drug factory that a drug company had just opened.The research director there assigned six or seven subordinates to stand up and introduce their research work and results one by one.They have just recently developed a new vaccine that can fight infectious diseases, new antibiotics that can kill viral viruses, and new sedatives that can relieve tension and so on.These finished products are first tested with other animals, and then used on humans, and the results are very good.

"That's great!" said an official to the director of research. "You guys are like magical magicians. But why don't you come on stage and say a few words?"

"I can only talk to my feet, not to my audience," replied the research director gloomily.

Not long after, the chairman said something amazing.

"We haven't heard the director of research speak yet," said the chairman. "He doesn't like to give formal speeches, but I'm sure he can say a few words to us."

This scene is really embarrassing.The director had no choice but to stand up, said a few words briefly, and apologized to everyone. This was the general outline of his speech.

Like this research director, he can be said to be extremely accomplished in his professional field, but like ordinary people, he dare not speak in front of everyone.It really shouldn't be like this, he should somehow learn to stand up and talk impromptu to the public.In our training class, I haven't seen anyone who can't do that.At the beginning, some people flatly refused to speak.But it didn't take long, as long as he made up his mind, no matter what difficulties there were, he could still complete the task.

"If I'm prepared and practiced, I can stand up and give a speech without any problem," you might say, "but if I'm called on to speak, I don't know what to say."

Being able to put your thoughts in order is even more important than preparing a lengthy speech.Because in this modern society, even in general leisure occasions, there is an increasing need for verbal communication.Therefore, the ability to mobilize one's own thoughts quickly and express them fluently is indeed necessary.Today, many important projects in industry or government are usually decided not by one person, but by many people at a conference table.Therefore, everyone must speak and stand up to state their opinions, so as to form a group opinion, which shows the importance of impromptu conversation ability and its impact.

1. Improvised speaking requires regular practice

Every person of normal intelligence and moderate control of himself can usually give decent, even very good impromptu conversation.The so-called impromptu talk or impromptu talk means "to speak without thinking".There are several ways to strengthen your ability to express yourself fluently when asked to speak a few words at the last minute.One of them, which I found very useful, was published in American Magazine by a movie star named Douglas Fairbank.It was originally a game used by movie stars to train wit and response, and the introduction is as follows:
Each of us wrote a topic on a slip of paper, then folded the slip of paper and put it in a box and shook it vigorously.We invite a person to draw a topic, and then immediately go to the stage to give a 1-minute speech on the topic that was drawn.We never use the same title.One night, the topic I drew was "Talking about Lampshades".Do you think there is nothing to talk about?Just try it out.

Most importantly, each of us has benefited greatly from this game, greatly improving our ability to impromptu conversation.We have added a lot of knowledge from many different topics.But more importantly, we learned how to organize our thoughts on a topic in a short period of time—we learned how to stand up and think.

In our training sessions, there are several opportunities for students to get up and give impromptu speeches.Long-term experience has made me understand that this type of training has two effects:
a. Demonstrate that the class can think standing up.

b. The experience of extemporaneous speaking makes them feel more confident and secure in prepared conversations.What they found was that if an unfortunate "empty-headed" accident occurred during a prepared speech, they could use extemporaneous speaking techniques to make up for it until they were back on track.

Yes, every once in a while everyone in the class hears the announcement: "Each of you will be given a different topic tonight, but you won't know what you're going to talk about until a moment before you go on stage. Good luck transport!"

What was the result?An accountant finds himself drawn "Talk about advertising" and an advertising salesman finds himself drawn "Talk about kindergarten"; "Teaching"; a clerk is assigned a topic of "Talking about Production," and a production expert may be given a topic of "Talking about Traffic."

They will show embarrassment and give up?No, never.They don't pretend to be authorities either, they just talk about the parts they are more familiar with according to their own knowledge.Of course, at the beginning, everyone didn't speak very well, but after all they all stood up and spoke.For some people, this may not be difficult, but for some people, it is indeed an easy task, but they all did not give up, and they all found that they spoke much better than they imagined.They can't even believe that they can develop this ability.

I believe that if these people can do it, so can others—with willpower and confidence, and the more you practice, the easier it becomes.

Another method used to train impromptu conversation is called "Solitaire".One student starts telling the story, and the others continue.For example, a first student might start like this: "One day, I was flying a helicopter when I suddenly noticed a group of flying saucers gradually coming towards me. I started to descend, but the nearest flying saucer had a small man Start firing at me, and I..."

At this time, the bell rang, indicating that the speaker stopped here, and the second student continued to tell the story.By the time each student has picked up his part, often the ending of the story becomes a waterway on Mars, or a hall of representatives, and so on.

It's also a way to train your impromptu conversation skills.The more you practice things like this, the easier it will be for you when it comes time to actually speak.

2. Be mentally prepared to speak impromptu at any time

When you are invited to give an impromptu speech, usually you have to speak authoritatively on a subject.The problem is, you have to face the situation and decide what to say in such a short period of time.One of the best ways to become proficient at this is to be mentally prepared at all times.When you attend a meeting, you have to think, if someone asks you to speak impromptu, what should you say, how should you refuse or agree?
So, my first piece of advice to you here is this: Be mentally prepared to speak on stage at any time, in every situation or situation.

First, you have to think, and that's the hard part.However, I believe that any good impromptu talker will spend hours analyzing and researching the needs of the occasion before preparing to attend a party.It's as if the pilot of an airplane has to be ready at all times, and he knows what to do in case of an emergency on the plane.Experts who are good at impromptu speech usually do exercises, which is actually "non-improvisation" because they have prepared a little in advance.

Second, since you already know the subject matter, what remains is how to organize the material to fit the time and the situation on site.Impromptu speeches are usually short, so decide as quickly as possible on the material you will use to suit the situation.There is no need to apologize for being unprepared. This is something everyone understands, so you might as well get into the topic as soon as possible.

3. Go straight to the example
Why is it recommended that you do this?There are three main reasons:
a. You don't have to worry about words anymore.Because what comes from experience, it is easier to describe.

b. You can immediately get into the speaking situation and forget about the "1st minute anxiety".

c. To grab the audience's attention.As I say in this book, examples from real life can definitely attract listeners immediately.

The attention of the audience is very important in the first minute of your speech.Because the process of communication is two-way, the speaker is very sensitive to the attention of the audience. Once he feels accepted or expected, just like the electric waves sent by the audience's brain, the speaker will try his best to continue speaking, so that Respond to the audience's attention and expectations.In this way, a rapport is established between the speaker and the audience, which is the key to a successful speech—and the key to all communication.That's why I ask you to start with an example.

4. The language is strong and lively

This book has also been mentioned many times before, if the speaker is very energetic and has a strong voice, your external anger will affect your inner spiritual strength.Have you ever seen someone like to use hand gestures when giving a speech?After starting to use gestures, the speech usually becomes fluent, and even the language is witty, which attracts the attention of the audience.Physical activity and mental state are closely related, for example, we often use the same word to describe physical or mental activity.Such as: "capture a concept", "capture a certain thought" and so on.Liam James also pointed out that once our physiology is charged and strong, our spirit will soon start to work.Therefore, when you give a speech, you must fully devote yourself to it, and you must speak lively and powerfully, so that you will be welcomed by the audience.

5. Here and now, start now

When someone taps you on the shoulder and says, "Would you like to say a few words?" Or there may be no prior signal-you may be enjoying the talk of the host of the show, and suddenly you find that he is talking about you.All eyes are thrown in your direction, and before you know what's going on, you've been chosen to be the next impromptu speaker.

In this situation, you are likely to be at a loss as to where to start.Like Steven Leaker's bewildered knight, as soon as he mounts, he "crawls about."Now, this is a time when composure is desperately needed.Take a deep breath first, and pay attention to the nature and characteristics of the meeting to decide what you are going to say.Usually, the audience is most interested in themselves.So, there are at least three directions in which your conversation can come from:
The first is the audience itself.Remember, this is the easiest way.Tell something about your audience: who they are, what they do, especially what they contribute to the community or humanity, etc., with specific examples.

The second is occasion.Of course you know why this party is held?Is it a commemoration?Awards ceremony?Annual party?Or a political party?
The third is that if you have paid attention to the lecture before this, mentioning or praising other speakers is also good material.The most successful impromptu speakers, what they say is really off-the-cuff and related to the situation in the scene.For example, the audience, the occasion, or the statements of other speakers, etc., are as appropriate as hands and gloves.Their stuff is specialty, made for the occasion, so success is to be expected.

6. Talking off-the-cuff, not off-the-cuff
The meaning of this sentence is that impromptu talk is not about talking indiscriminately, trivially talking about incoherent things.You still have to express what you want to convey in a coherent way.The examples you give should be consistent with your central idea, and if you speak with enthusiasm, you will find that this kind of speech without prior preparation is actually more lively and powerful.

If you keep the suggestions in this chapter in mind and find opportunities to practice them, you can become a satisfying impromptu speaker.

(End of this chapter)