There you are -- standing before a new audience -- yearning to reach each person with your ideas. How are you to do this? Gerry Spence in his "How to Argue and Win Every Time," showed me a vision of the possible. Enter into his world with me. Experience the methods of this master.
--- "Your words are your verbal fingerprints.
"They're the fingerprints of your personhood. The energy in your phrases is an extraordinary mix of traits and talents and experience that's unique. It's yours alone."
You start by being credible. To be credible, stand psychologically naked before your audience. Resolute authenticity, no trickery, pure truth -- these are your credibility tools. "In the course of human history, truth-telling has been designated as the highest of virtues in every culture. This is why the credibility that results therefrom is always so powerful."
Stand tall and proud. Walk like a matador. "The way you move is your autobiography in motion."
--- Use image-laden words.
"Words that do not create images should be discarded. Words that have no intrinsic emotional or visual content ought to be avoided. Words that are directed to the sterile, intellectual head-place should be abandoned. Use simple words that create pictures, words that generate feeling. Tell yourself, 'If I am real, the right words will come.'"
Prove your points with stories. "Why is the story so powerful? It speaks in the language form of the species. Its structure is natural. It permits you to speak easily, openly, powerfully, from your heart zone. It provokes interest. It is an antidote to the doldrums. A story touches us in our tenders, in those soft, unprotected places where our decisions are always made."
--- "The magic, the joy of preparation:
"True preparation is not work. It is the joy of creating. Preparation is wading into life, languishing in it, rolling in it, embracing it, smearing it over yourself, living it. I say, go play. Write out your ideas. Watch new ideas come popping out from magical depths. Learn how it feels to discover, not only what there is to know about your ideas, but also what there is to discover about the most uniquely interesting person in the history of mankind -- namely, you."
Let your words be "powered by your stories. Make them rich with the emotional commitment of a person who cares. Tune in to the power of the heart zone. Tell me how it was! How it is! Make me see it! Make me feel it! Make me understand! Make me care! If I cannot care, I cannot make anyone else care."
--- "Action, not abstraction:
Stick with the action. Avoid the abstraction. The power of the story is in its ability to create action and to avoid abstraction."
--- "Charisma:
Charisma is energy, energy from the heart zone. Charisma occurs when your feelings are transferred in their purest form to the audience. Charisma is not diluted feelings. It is not disguised. It is raw feeling. Charisma is the passing of our pure energy, our pure passion, to the audience."
--- "Open the floodgates:
Focus on your feelings. Feel your feelings. Feel your passion for your ideas. Feel the fervor that comes steaming up. Feel the love that caresses. Feet the joy! Let your feelings run free."
I recommend that -- if you choose to be a consummate speaker -- you buy this book. It includes many more powerful and poignant ideas. Any bookstore can get it for you. The publisher is St. Martin's Press, N.Y. ISBN# 0-312-11827-9.
Copyright Burt Dubin - Burt Dubin is president of the Personal Achievement Institute. Burt works with people who want to be speakers
and speakers who want to be masters.
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