First AID for persuasive public-speaking

Persuasive public-speaking is about getting people to do stuff. But before you can get anyone to do anything, there are three critical things that need to happen. How you make them happen is up to you, but happen, they must if you will succeed. While these three things seem simple, achieving them can be tricky - especially in this day and age.

This article is about those three critical first steps, why they are important and how you can use them in your public (and private) speaking.

But First…

It helps to keep one thing in mind: All presentations are persuasive.

In a really broad sense, virtually all interactions and conversations are persuasive. Dale Carnegie famously wrote in his timeless classic work How to Win Friends and Influence People that everything people ever do is because they want something.

Even if you are doing something for fun or a noble cause, you want something—fun or the achievement of the noble cause.

All presentations are aimed at creating a change in people.

When it comes to presentations, this is especially true. All presentations are aimed at creating a change in people. Even presentations that are purely entertaining or informational are intended to persuade people to enjoy themselves or think differently about a subject.

But to do that you need AID. That brings me to the three critical steps in persuasion.

First AID, First A of persuasive speaking

The first thing you need in persuasive public-speaking is so obvious that it continues to boggle my mind how few presenters give it the required amount of attention. What is it? Well, it is Attention.

Attention is the A in your first AID for persuasive public-speaking. Didn't I tell you it was obvious? But when was the last time you sat down with your presentation script or content and intentionally reviewed it for "attention-grabbingness"? When was the last time (if ever) that you constructed a phrase, picked a story or performed a gesture with the aim of grabbing attention? And “grab” is exactly what you have to do.

Pranks and persuasion

One of my favourite pranks to play on my wife and friends is to walk up to them while they are listening to music on headphones, and then to gesticulate dramatically while pretending to speak. The funniest part is when the person takes the headphones off and realizes that I am not saying anything. This is usually when I laugh. Sometimes, they laugh too.

As a side note, saying something funny can be a very effective way to grab attention. Read more here.

Unfortunately, my wife no longer falls for it and as I run out of yet "unpranked" friends, I find myself having the urge to do this to strangers on the train too. Thankfully, I have not given in… yet.

But what does this have to do with persuasive public-speaking? Turns out, quite a bit.

Attention is the currency of persuasion.

You see, trying to persuade an audience without firmly securing their attention is like my prank of talking to someone with headphones on. Except, it is not a prank. And you, unlike me in prank-mode, actually have something important to say! However, you are not getting across because even if they politely smile and nod (like my wife does now), they are not really hearing you.

People are more distracted today than they have ever been. The rise of mobile connectivity technology has made it more difficult to secure people's attention. As a speaker, you are competing with phone calls, apps, email, SMS, RSS feeds, instant messaging etc. for your audience's attention. It is no longer a given that the audience will be mentally present. Our attention is diffuse these days and it takes a lot to really pull our focus to any one thing.

To ignore this is for your speech to be DOA - Dead On Arrival. Therefore, it helps to review and craft your persuasive public-speaking content with an eye for attention. Remember that how you start is can make or break you. And not just how you start your entire presentation, but how you start important sections (or points) in your speech.Now on to the I of First AID.

I am Interested, tell me more

The second step, after getting your audience’s attention is also obvious—keep it! How? With interest.

Research shows that our attention spans are getting shorter. Getting attention is only the first step. If the audience does not see any reason to continue to pay attention, they will switch off. Therefore, you must be intentional about making your persuasive public-speaking effort interesting. Interesting to who? The audience.

This is easy to say but can be hard to do. But if you can answer two important questions about your audience with a high degree of accuracy, you will be well on your way to choosing or creating content they will find interesting. The questions are: Who are they? And why have they come?

These are big questions that take time and effort to suss out. But knowing the answers changes your preparation from a crap shoot to a real design. One with content that will not only grab attention, but hold it with interest as well. If you will be using research, learn how to make it more interesting by reading this article. And now, for the D in AID.

Do you want this? Persuasive public-speaking awakens Desire

One of the biggest misconceptions about persuasion is that you are making someone do something they do not want to do. That is not persuasion. It might be coercion or manipulation, but it is not persuasion.

Persuasion is about presenting information in a way that awakens a desire in the listener to take action on something or think differently about something. Sometimes, the desire is unconscious and hearing you brings it to the surface. Other times, the desire is conscious but hearing you removes barriers and objections. Persuasive public-speaking is the same thing – except with a bigger audience.

In a nutshell, skilled persuasive speakers do not push their ideas on people, they create pull for their ideas instead.  To use a food analogy, no matter how tasty a dish is, people do not appreciate being force-fed, as any toddler can tell you. But they do like a good spread – especially if it is a spread of food they like (or would be willing to try) – also like any toddler can show you.

If your presentation is worth giving, it is worth giving well.

Therefore, the third and last step to AID you in your persuasive public-speaking efforts is Desire. Specifically, to arouse desire.

You do this by speaking to hopes and fears – the stuff of desire. People desire the attainment of their hopes and safety from their fears. Can your presentation provide something to help along those lines? Then make sure you awaken the Desire for it. Only after you have gotten their attention and interest though.

First, aid the audience

If your presentation is worth giving, it is worth giving well.

Whether it is a sales pitch, a motivational talk, a lecture or a stand-up comedy routine, you can make a positive impact on your audience through it. Sadly they won’t even give you a chance to aid them if you fail to aid your message by using these three critical steps in your presentation—grab their attention, get them interested and give them what their desire.

Until the next article, speak with skill.