Tag: speech

Have you ever noticed that from the moment you get off your bed in the morning till the time you lay to sleep at night, one person or the other is trying to “sell” something to you? Of course, it may or may not be literal selling, but someone is trying to make you think, speak or act in a certain way. For instance, if you live in a populated place like Lagos and you have the traffic to contend with on your way to work in the morning, you may find bus conductors trying to persuade you to board their vehicles. While one is trying to convince you that the bus is just waiting for you to move, another is trying to make you see that his fare is cheaper. After finally making your choice and you are seated for the ride, you suddenly see a passenger (at least so you thought until now) stand up to tell you about this “all powerful,” “hyperactive” and “multi-functional” drug. At the beginning of his speech, you look around and find that most people are like you- uninterested. But the man starts with prayers that people feel compelled to say “amen” to, since no one wants the reverse version of those words. Before you know it, people are trying out the free samples, buying the drug or penning down the number of the salesman for future contacts.

Do we have to mention all the billboards and other advertisements you see on your way? Every advertiser is trying to make you see that one product is better than the other. How about your friends at work? They too try to influence your decisions on things like where to take lunch, what to do during the weekend, brands of products that befit your status, etc. Face it; your day is practically full of persuasion!

What then is persuasion? Michael and Suzanne Osborn define persuasion as “the art of gaining fair and favourable consideration for our points of view.” Let’s do a little breakdown of this definition. The first thing we must know about persuasion is that it is an art. It is a creative process that depends on its creator. No two people can persuade the same way. Also like art, it must be developed. I have no doubt that some people are naturally persuasive, but just like talent is refined by knowledge, so is persuasion. Persuasion should be fair. If we want people to see things from our point of view, it is only fair that we respect their own points of view too. False information should not be presented as true just for the sake of swaying people to our side. Favourable consideration means that we attempt to make people appreciate our views and preferably adopt them. Please note that the word “consideration” is as important as the word “favourable.” Consideration suggests that we aim at making our audience pay attention to our points to the extent that they consider them worthy of their time and attention.

According to Aesop, “persuasion is often more effectual than force.” While you may force a horse to the steam, making it drink will be another matter entirely. Henry David Thoreau, an author, poet, development critic and also a notable activist in the abolition of slave trade, also rated persuasion highly. He said, “Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.” His point here is that when you melt a thing, you can mould it again, but when you break it into pieces, chances are that all the parts will never be complete again. The person you win through persuasion will most likely respect or admire you, while the one you win through force will most definitely resent you.

Persuasion makes use of a lot of techniques to convince the audience, but if you ask me, persuasion thrives predominantly on emotional appeal. In the continuation of this article, we shall examine elements of effective persuasive speeches such as facts, figures, illustrations, etc. Nevertheless, we must establish at this point that most of the decisions you make after listening to a persuasive speech are emotional. Why would a youth decide to abstain from sex after listening to a talk on HIV/AIDS? It’s because he/she is afraid of death; fear is an emotion. Why would you decide to part with your hard earned money after listening to a speech on motherless babies? It’s because of pity or compassion; pity and compassion are emotions. Everett Dirksen said that “the mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion.”

Learning the art of persuasion is one of the most important investments you can make into your life. Every day of your life, you are either persuading or you are being persuaded. Both ways are cool; just don’t be ignorant of the process. I observed in my e-book titled ‘How to turn information into money’ that information provides you with the platform for creativity. If you are not aware of what others have done, you may spend your entire life creating an invention that is already selling in the market. Also, information is most effective when you adapt it to your specific situation. Hence, the knowledge of persuasion will give you an edge in your career and other areas of your life. As we explore existing information about this invaluable speech together, prepare to ‘customize’ it for your personal use, and you’ll be surprised at the results. Do have a blessed weekend.

Welcome again. Last week we explored the concept of informative speech. We defined the term and also said that an informative speech is one that is directed at enlightening the listeners. It is designed in such a way that valuable information is passed across to the audience either for the first time or to provide a fresh perspective. Among the requirements for an informative speech that we examined were that the speaker must be knowledgeable, the presentation must be systematic, and that audience’s knowledge must equal the speaker’s knowledge at the end of the speech.

Today, we shall consider some strategies that will help you to deliver your informative speech effectively. The strategies are as follows:

•Determine your Objectives: it is not enough to want to inform your audience, you must tell us what about. Unless you know what exactly you intend to achieve, it will be difficult to measure your success. Your objectives must be clear, realistic and measurable. Consider these examples and select the one you believe is clearer, more realistic and more measurable; a) At the end of this lecture, my audience should know about HIV/AIDS. b) At the end of this lecture, my audience should be able to explain the causes, treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Obviously, “b” is better. While it will be a problem to determine what “know” means in the first example, it will be easy to tell when the audience can explain the elements stated in the second one. If you state your objectives clearly, they will guide your focus.

•Research your Topic: we call this an informative speech right? Then we cannot possibly deliver it without proper research. Imagine a teacher coming to class without having a clue about the subject! Imagine an elementary school English teacher attempting to teach higher institution students physics! The moment your listeners perceive that they know more than you do, you will lose your initial respect and attention. Remember that you must have earned a right to talk on the subject. Have you noticed that before a speaker is invited to the podium, proper introduction is made, which may include the speaker’s credentials, former speaking opportunities, places travelled to, practice in relevant fields, etc? All those are done to gain credibility. The person you don’t respect you won’t listen to. All these mean that you must know about the subject more than your audience does, or you must have a deeper insight to present than they already know. When you find a speaker making a presentation and members of the audience are chatting, reading or drawing trees and houses in their notebooks, there is something terribly wrong.

•Outline your Points: one way to make sure that your message is simple enough for your audience to relate with is to outline your points. I have heard it said several times, and I have experienced it too, that any time you are addressing an audience and you make a statement like, “There are three major types of …” people pick up their pen and start to write. The psychology of this is that people attach importance to clearly defined points. This strategy helps to simplify information. Everybody knows that making money can be a lot of work, but whenever we encounter books with titles such as, “Five Secrets of Wealth,” “10 Steps to Becoming a Millionaire,” and other similar ones, we go for them. Why is that so? It is because we appreciate it when someone else has already conceptualized the process and provides us with the abridged version. On the other hand, if a speaker goes on and on without any major point for us to hold unto, you see notebooks empty. The question on our minds will be, “How does he expect us to understand all that?” The human mind is systematic in its operation. The mind is always looking for connections and relationships between things. Therefore, to be an effective speaker, we must learn to provide simple points that our audience can relate with. I’m sure you would have noticed that I am using the same principle in this article.

These are some basic strategies that you can use to make your informative speech more effective. There are, of course, several others but we will leave them till a later date. Last week, I mentioned that we will explore what some refer to as “Demonstrative Speech,” but which I believe need not be separated from informative speech. Next week, we will focus on this, look forward to it.