Check that your body language, tone of voice, and other aspects of nonverbal communication reinforce the spoken part of your message.
The following techniques can help:
Paraphrase: Mirror the resister’s points. For example, “So you’re saying that you think I’m just advancing the party line. Is that right?’ Paraphrasing prompts you listener to respond with comments such as, “Well, yeah—I do.” By getting the person to agree with you—even in this small way—you establish common ground, which can make the individual more receptive to your ideas.
Clarify the issues: Identify the resister’s primary concerns. For instance, “So what I hear you saying is that you have two main problems with my proposal. The first one you mentioned is probably the most important, right?’ Again you’ve established a level of understanding and agreement. You’ve also shown that you’re capable of sorting out the vital issues.
Check that your body language, tone of voice, and other aspects of nonverbal communication reinforce the spoke part of your message. If they don’t, you resisters may view you as not credible or as conflicted about your position—two things that can stiffen their resistance.
For example, to telegraph confidence in your position, check that your posture is upright, your gestures, assertive, your gaze direct, and your voice loud enough to be heard—but not so loud as to intimidate or annoy listeners.
Many successful persuaders rehears nonverbal behaviors just as much as spoke presentations. Effective persuaders also recognize when they are becoming overly emotional or angry—two behaviors that are inappropriate in many persuasion situations. They recover by openly acknowledging and apologizing for such behaviors. Having the courage to publicly admit a mistake in this way can help further establish trust and credibility.
ACTION POINT: Reinforce the verbal techniques of paraphrasing and clarifying the issues with the appropriate body language.
Showing posts with label Presenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Presenting. Show all posts
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Providing Compelling Evidence
The real message isn’t what you say. It’s what the other person remembers." – Harry Mills.
The evidence you provide to support your proposal—such as testimonial, examples, statistics, and graphical evidence—can strengthen your persuasiveness.
Testimonials enhance persuasiveness when they come from sources your audience considers expert and credible. For instance, if you’re advocating the adoption of a new technology, provide quotations from companies similar to yours that have adopted the technology with excellent results.
Examples capture people’s attention by turning generalizations and abstractions into concrete proof. To illustrate, cite examples of what a proposed new technology can accomplish.
Statistics become especially effective if you make them understandable an memorable. How? Help people grasp the meaning of large numbers. For instance, to convey $1 trillion, say, "If you were to count a trillion one-dollar bills—one every second, 24 hours a day—it would take you thirty-two years." Personalize numbers: "four out of ten people in this room exaggerate their expenses." Cite jaw-dropping comparisons: "Our main competitor processes orders fifty times faster than we do."
Graphical evidence, such as slides, flip charts, videotapes and product samples can boost your success. That’s because three-quarters of what people learnt they acquire visually. Choose a medium that’s appropriate to your message; convey one concept per slide or other visual; and consider the psychological impact of colors. (Red, for example, means "We’re in debt" to financial managers, but to engineers it signifies that a wire has electricity running through it.) Also, when you create charts and tables, first determine the main trends or patterns you want to emphasize, and then take care not to distort or misrepresent information.
ACTION POINT: When carefully selected and compellingly presented, evidence in all its forms can help your audience see how reasonable your idea really is.
The evidence you provide to support your proposal—such as testimonial, examples, statistics, and graphical evidence—can strengthen your persuasiveness.
Testimonials enhance persuasiveness when they come from sources your audience considers expert and credible. For instance, if you’re advocating the adoption of a new technology, provide quotations from companies similar to yours that have adopted the technology with excellent results.
Examples capture people’s attention by turning generalizations and abstractions into concrete proof. To illustrate, cite examples of what a proposed new technology can accomplish.
Statistics become especially effective if you make them understandable an memorable. How? Help people grasp the meaning of large numbers. For instance, to convey $1 trillion, say, "If you were to count a trillion one-dollar bills—one every second, 24 hours a day—it would take you thirty-two years." Personalize numbers: "four out of ten people in this room exaggerate their expenses." Cite jaw-dropping comparisons: "Our main competitor processes orders fifty times faster than we do."
Graphical evidence, such as slides, flip charts, videotapes and product samples can boost your success. That’s because three-quarters of what people learnt they acquire visually. Choose a medium that’s appropriate to your message; convey one concept per slide or other visual; and consider the psychological impact of colors. (Red, for example, means "We’re in debt" to financial managers, but to engineers it signifies that a wire has electricity running through it.) Also, when you create charts and tables, first determine the main trends or patterns you want to emphasize, and then take care not to distort or misrepresent information.
ACTION POINT: When carefully selected and compellingly presented, evidence in all its forms can help your audience see how reasonable your idea really is.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Structuring Your Presentation Effectively
Get your audiences attention right away with a dynamic opening.
How you begin and end your presentation is especially critical. Get your audiences attention right away with a dynamic opening. Conclude with a call for action in which you clearly indicate what you want from your listeners
Consider the following examples of structure:
Problem and solution. Describe a pressing problem and then solve it by presenting a convincing solution. Use this structure with an uninterested audience or one that is uniformed about he problem.
Presentation of both sides and then refutation. To win over neutral or hostile audiences, argue both sides. First present your opponents’ side, thereby showing that you accept the validity of their position and increasing their receptivity. Then refute their case by challenging their evidence and disproving their arguments.
Cause and effect. Discuss the causes underlying a problem, and then show how your idea will remove those causes. Or emphasize the undesirable effects of a problem, and then explain how your proposal will mitigate those effects. Use this structure for mixed audiences.
Motivational sequence. Capture your audience’s attention with a startling statistic, anecdote, or joke—and then identify a pressing need. Explain how your proposal will satisfy that need, and help listeners visualize the bright future in store if they adopt your proposal. Finally, tell you audience the actions you want them to take. Use this structure for supportive audiences.
ACTION POINT: Make use of the four examples above to make your presentations more effective.
How you begin and end your presentation is especially critical. Get your audiences attention right away with a dynamic opening. Conclude with a call for action in which you clearly indicate what you want from your listeners
Consider the following examples of structure:
Problem and solution. Describe a pressing problem and then solve it by presenting a convincing solution. Use this structure with an uninterested audience or one that is uniformed about he problem.
Presentation of both sides and then refutation. To win over neutral or hostile audiences, argue both sides. First present your opponents’ side, thereby showing that you accept the validity of their position and increasing their receptivity. Then refute their case by challenging their evidence and disproving their arguments.
Cause and effect. Discuss the causes underlying a problem, and then show how your idea will remove those causes. Or emphasize the undesirable effects of a problem, and then explain how your proposal will mitigate those effects. Use this structure for mixed audiences.
Motivational sequence. Capture your audience’s attention with a startling statistic, anecdote, or joke—and then identify a pressing need. Explain how your proposal will satisfy that need, and help listeners visualize the bright future in store if they adopt your proposal. Finally, tell you audience the actions you want them to take. Use this structure for supportive audiences.
ACTION POINT: Make use of the four examples above to make your presentations more effective.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Winning Your Audience’s Mind
...you need to win your listeners' mind and their hearts.
Reason and emotions play major roles in the way people make business decisions. To persuade others, you thus need to win your listeners' mind and their hearts. In this series, we focus on appealing to your audience members' minds. You can do this in several ways:
The way you structure your presentation
The evidence you provide to back up your proposal
The benefits of your idea that you emphasize
The words you use
How do you decide what to say first, second, and so on in making a persuasive proposal? Sometimes your assessment of your audience's receptivity will influence the structure you select. At other times, your subject matter will suggest the appropriate structure. And you might decide to use one structure to present your case to one audience (for example, a receptive group) and another to present the same case to another audience (such as a skeptical audience).
ACTION POINT: Consider how your subject matter best matches your audience's receptivity for your presentations.
Reason and emotions play major roles in the way people make business decisions. To persuade others, you thus need to win your listeners' mind and their hearts. In this series, we focus on appealing to your audience members' minds. You can do this in several ways:
The way you structure your presentation
The evidence you provide to back up your proposal
The benefits of your idea that you emphasize
The words you use
How do you decide what to say first, second, and so on in making a persuasive proposal? Sometimes your assessment of your audience's receptivity will influence the structure you select. At other times, your subject matter will suggest the appropriate structure. And you might decide to use one structure to present your case to one audience (for example, a receptive group) and another to present the same case to another audience (such as a skeptical audience).
ACTION POINT: Consider how your subject matter best matches your audience's receptivity for your presentations.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Understanding Your Audience
Steps for understanding your audience quickly.
1. Scan the surrounding environment. - Browse the audience; look for general patterns in people's appearance and behavior. What is the overall mood of the gathering? What's going on in the background that may be influencing your audience members? For example are there many distractions?
2. Identify key traits you want to read. - Focus on the person or individuals you want to read. mentally draw up a list of several key traits you want to observe in those audience members. For example, do you want to gain a sense of your listeners' energy levels, ability to focus on your message, and openness to new ideas? Do you want to gauge their emotional state and confidence levels?
3. Interpret behaviors. - Bring the key traits you identified in step 2 into sharper focus. Examine the behaviors associated with those trains in minute detail. For example, to detect readiness to hear your message, observe whether your audience members are making eye contact with you, showing lively facial expressions, and nodding in agreement. To detect boredom or indifference, watch for blank stares, heads held in their palm of the hand, finger or foot tapping, and doodling. To detect openness, look for unfolded arms, warm smiles, leaning forward, and open palms.
4. Test your assumptions. - Look for ways to test your assumptions about the traits you observed in step 3. for example, don't assume too quickly that leaning forward always signifies openness. For some individuals, that posture may mean they're having trouble hearing you. In this case, you might test your assumptions by asking, "Can everyone hear me okay?" And whereas dropping eyes or limited eye contact may indicate boredom in some people, those same behaviors may reveal fatigue in others--especially if you're presenting your case after lunch or fist thing in the morning.
ACTION POINT: Think about the range of possible meanings for the behaviors you're observing and test your conclusions to ensure that you're reading your audience as accurately as possible.
1. Scan the surrounding environment. - Browse the audience; look for general patterns in people's appearance and behavior. What is the overall mood of the gathering? What's going on in the background that may be influencing your audience members? For example are there many distractions?
2. Identify key traits you want to read. - Focus on the person or individuals you want to read. mentally draw up a list of several key traits you want to observe in those audience members. For example, do you want to gain a sense of your listeners' energy levels, ability to focus on your message, and openness to new ideas? Do you want to gauge their emotional state and confidence levels?
3. Interpret behaviors. - Bring the key traits you identified in step 2 into sharper focus. Examine the behaviors associated with those trains in minute detail. For example, to detect readiness to hear your message, observe whether your audience members are making eye contact with you, showing lively facial expressions, and nodding in agreement. To detect boredom or indifference, watch for blank stares, heads held in their palm of the hand, finger or foot tapping, and doodling. To detect openness, look for unfolded arms, warm smiles, leaning forward, and open palms.
4. Test your assumptions. - Look for ways to test your assumptions about the traits you observed in step 3. for example, don't assume too quickly that leaning forward always signifies openness. For some individuals, that posture may mean they're having trouble hearing you. In this case, you might test your assumptions by asking, "Can everyone hear me okay?" And whereas dropping eyes or limited eye contact may indicate boredom in some people, those same behaviors may reveal fatigue in others--especially if you're presenting your case after lunch or fist thing in the morning.
ACTION POINT: Think about the range of possible meanings for the behaviors you're observing and test your conclusions to ensure that you're reading your audience as accurately as possible.
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