第7章 Making the Short Talk to Get Action 激励听众采取行动的演讲

Part Three The Purpose of Prepared and Impromptu Talks

Now we develop in detail two acceptable methods of delivering a talk, the extemporaneous and the impromptu method.

Three chapters are devoted to talks to persuade, inform, and convince as prepared extemporaneously.

One chapter discusses impromptu speaking, which may be persuasive, informational, or entertaining as the onthe-spot occasion demands.

Success in the use of either the extemporaneous or the impromptu method is most assured when the speaker has clearly formulated in his mind the general purpose of a talk.

A FAMOUS ENGLISH BISHOP, during World War I, spoke to the troops at Camp Upton. They were on their way to the trenches; only a very small percentage of them had any adequate idea why they were being sent. I know; I questioned them. Yet the Lord Bishop talked to these men about “International Amity,” and “Serbia's Right to a Place in the Sun.” Why, half of them did not know whether Serbia was a town or a disease. He might just as well have delivered a learned disquisition on the nebular hypothesis. However, not a single trooper left the hall while he was speaking; military police were stationed at every exit to prevent their escape.

I do not wish to belittle the bishop. He was every inch a scholar, and before a body of churchmen he would probably have been powerful; but he failed with these soldiers, and he failed utterly. Why? He evidently knew neither the precise purpose of his talk nor how to accomplish it.

What do we mean by the purpose of a talk? Just this: every talk, regardless of whether the speaker realizes it or not, has one of four major goals. What are they?

1. To persuade or get action.

2. To inform.

3. To impress and convince.

4. To entertain.

Let us illustrate these by a series of concrete examples from Abraham Lincoln's speaking career.

Few people know that Lincoln once invented and patented a device for lifting stranded boats off sand bars and other obstructions. He worked in a mechanic's shop near his law office making a model of his apparatus. When friends came to his office to view the model, he took no end of pains to explain it. The main purpose of those explanations was to inform.

When he delivered his immortal oration at Gettysburg, when he gave his first and second inaugural addresses, when Henry Clay died and Lincoln delivered a eulogy on his life—on all these occasions, Lincoln's main purpose was to impress and convince.

In his talks to juries, he tried to win favorable decisions. In his political talks, he tried to win votes. His purpose, then, was action.

Two years before he was elected president, Lincoln prepared a lecture on inventions. His purpose was to entertain. At least, that should have been his goal; but he was evidently not very successful in attaining it. His career as a popular lecturer was, in fact, a distinct disappointment. In one town, not a person came to hear him.

But he succeeded notably in his other speeches, some of which have become classics of human utterance. Why? Largely because in those instances he knew his goal, and he knew how to achieve it.

Because so many speakers fail to line up their purpose with the purpose of the meeting at which they are speaking, they often flounder and come to grief.

For example: A United States congressman was once hooted and hissed and forced to leave the stage of the old New York Hippodrome, because he had—unconsciously, no doubt, but nevertheless, unwisely—chosen to make an informative talk. The crowd did not want to be instructed. They wanted to be entertained. They listened to him patiently, politely, for ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, hoping the performance would come to a rapid end. But it didn't. He rambled on and on; patience snapped; the audience would not stand for more. Someone began to cheer ironically. Others took it up. In a moment, a thousand people were whistling and shouting. The speaker, obtuse and incapable as he was of sensing the temper of his audience, had the bad taste to continue. That aroused them. A battle was on. Their impatience mounted to ire. They determined to silence him. Louder and louder grew their storm of protest. Finally, the roar of it, the anger of it, drowned his words—he could not have been heard twenty feet away. So he was forced to give up, acknowledge defeat, and retire in humiliation.

Profit by his example. Fit the purpose of your talk to the audience and the occasion. If the congressman had decided in advance whether his goal of informing the audience would fit the goal of the audience in coming to the political rally, he would not have met with disaster. Choose one of the four purposes only after you have analyzed the audience and the occasion which brings them together.

To give you guidance in the important area of speech construction, this entire chapter is devoted to the short talk to get action. The next three chapters will be devoted to the other major speech purposes:to inform, to impress and convince, and to entertain. Each purpose demands a different organizational pattern of treatment, each has its own stumbling blocks that must be hurdled. First, let's get down to the brass tacks of organizing our talks to get the audience to act.

Is there some method of marshaling our material so that we will have the best chance for successful follow through on what we ask the audience to do? Or is it just a matter of hit-and-miss tactics?

I remember discussing this subject with my as sociates back in the thirties when my classes were beginning to catch on all over the country. Because of the size of our groups we were using a two-minute limit on the talks given by class members. This limitation did not affect the talk when the purpose of the speaker was merely to entertain or inform. But when we came to the talk to actuate, that was something else. The talk to get action just didn't get off the ground when we used the old system of introduction, body, and conclusion—the organizational pattern followed by speakers since Aristotle. Something new and different was obviously needed to provide us with a sure-fire method of obtaining results in a two-minute talk designed to get action from the listeners.

We held meetings in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. We appealed to all our instructors, many of them on the faculties of speech departments in some of our most respected universities. Others were men who held key posts in business administration. Some were from the rapidly expanding field of advertising and promotion. From this amalgam of background and brains, we hoped to get a new approach to speech organization, one that would be streamlined, and one that would reflect our age's need for a psychological as well as a logical method for influencing the listener to act.

We were not disappointed from those discussions came the Magic Formula of speech construction. We began using it in our classes and we have been using it ever since. What is the Magic Formula? Simply this: Start your talk by giving us the details of your Example, an incident that graphically illustrates the main idea you wish to get across. Second, in specific clearcut terms give your Point, tell exactly what you want your audience to do; and third, give your reason, that is, highlight the advantage or benefit to be gained by the listener when he does what you ask him to do.

This is a formula highly suited to our swiftpaced way of life. Speakers can no longer afford to indulge in long, leisurely introductions. Audiences are composed of busy people who want whatever the speaker has to say in straightforward language. They are accustomed to the digested, boiled-down type of journalism that presents the facts straight from the shoulder. They are exposed to hard-driving Madison Avenue advertising that shoots the message in forceful, clear terms from signboard, television screen, magazine, and newspaper. Every word is measured and nothing is wasted. By using the Magic Formula you can be certain of gaining attention and focusing it upon the main point of your message. It cautions against indulgence in vapid opening remarks, such as: “I didn't have time to prepare this talk very well,” or “When your chairman asked me to talk on this subject, I wondered why he selected me.” Audiences are not interested in apologies or excuses, real or simulated. They want action. In the Magic Formula you give them action from the opening word.

The formula is ideal for short talks, because it is based upon a certain amount of suspense. The listener is caught up in the story you are relating but he is not aware of what the point of your talk is until near the end of the two—or three-minute period. In cases where demands are made upon the audience, this is almost necessary for success. No speaker who wants his audience to dig deep in their pocketbooks for a cause, no matter how worthy, will get very far by starting like this: “Ladies and gentlemen. I'm here to collect five dollars from each of you.” There would be a scramble for the exits. But if the speaker describes his visit to the Children's Hospital, where he saw a particularly poignant case of need, a little child who lacked financial help for an operation in a distant hospital, and then asks for contributions, the chances of getting support from his audience would be immeasurably enhanced. It is the story, the Example, that prepares the way for the desired action.

Note how the incident-example is used by Leland Stowe to predispose his audience to support the United Nations' Appeal for Children:

I pray that I'll never have to do it again. Can there be anything much worse than to put only a peanut between a child and death? I hope you'll never have to do it, and live with the memory of it afterward. If you had heard their voices and seen their eyes, on that January day in the bombscarred workers' district of Athens…Yet all I had left was a half-pound can of peanuts. As I struggled to open it, dozens of ragged kids held me in a vise of frantically clawing bodies. Scores of mothers, with babes in their arms, pushed and fought to get within arm's reach. They held their babies out toward me. Tiny hands of skin and bone stretched convulsively. I tried to make every peanut count.

In their frenzy they nearly swept me off my feet. Nothing but hundreds of hands:begging hands, clutching hands, despairing hands; all of them pitifully little hands. One salted peanut here, and one peanut there. Six peanuts knocked from my fingers, and a savage scramble of emaciated bodies at my feet. Another peanut here, and another peanut there. Hundreds of hands, reaching and pleading; hundreds of eyes with the light of hope flickering out. I stood there helpless, an empty blue can in my hand…Yes, I hope it will never happen to you.

The Magic Formula can be used also in writing business letters and giving instructions to fellow employees and subordinates. Mothers can use it when motivating their children, and children will find it useful when appealing to their parents for a favor or privilege. You will find it a psychological tool that can be used to get your ideas across to others every day of your life.

Even in advertising the Magic Formula is used every day. Eveready Batteries recently ran a series of radio and television commercials built upon this Formula. In the Example step, the announcer told of someone's experience of being trapped, for instance, in an overturned car late at night. After giving the graphic details of the accident, he then called upon the victim to finish the story by telling how the beams of the flashlight, powered by Eveready Batteries, brought help in time. Then the announcer went on to the Point and Reason: “Buy Eveready Batteries and you may survive a similar emergency.” These stories were all true experiences out of the Eveready Battery Company's files. I don't know how many Eveready Batteries this particular advertising series sold, but I do know that the Magic Formula is an effective method of presenting what you want an audience to do, or to avoid. Let us take up the steps, one at a time.

FIRST/ GIVE YOUR EXAMPLE, AN INCIDENT FROM YOUR LIFE

This is the part of your talk that will take up the major portion of your time. In it you describe an experience that taught you a lesson. Psychologists say we learn in two ways:one, by the Law of Exercise, in which a series of similar incidents leads to a change of our behavioral patterns; and two, by the Law of Effect, in which a single event may be so startling as to cause a change in our conduct. All of us have had this type of unusual experience. We do not have to search long for these incidents because they lie close to the surface of our memories. Our conduct is guided to a large extent by these experiences. By vividly reconstructing these incidents we can make them the basis of influencing the conduct of others. We can do this because people respond to words in much the same way that they respond to real happenings.

In the Example part of your talk, then, you must recreate a segment of your experience in such a way that it tends to have the same effect upon your audience as it originally had upon you. This places upon you the obligation to clarify, intensify, and dramatize your experiences in a way that will make them interesting and compelling to your listeners. Below are a number of suggestions which will help to make the Example step of your action talk clear, intense, and meaningful.

BUILD YOUR EXAMPLE UPON A SINGAE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

The incident type of example is particularly powerful when it is based upon a single event that had a dramatic impact upon your life. It may not have taken more than a few seconds, but in that short span of time you learned an unforgettable lesson. Not long ago a man in one of our classes told of a terrifying experience when he tried to swim to shore from his overturned boat. I am sure that everyone in his audience made up his mind that, faced with a similar situation, he would follow this speaker's advice and stay with the capsized boat until help came. I remember another example of a speaker's harrowing experience involving a child and an overturned power mower. That incident was so graphically etched in my mind that I will always be on guard when children are hovering near my power mower.

Many of our instructors have been so impressed by what they have heard in their classes that they have acted promptly to prevent similar accidents around their homes. One keeps a fire extinguisher handy in his kitchen, for instance, because of a talk he heard which vividly recreated a tragic fire that started from a cooking accident. Another has labeled all bottles containing poison, and has seen to it that they are out of the reach of his children. This action was prompted by a talk detailing the experience of a distraught parent when she discovered her child unconscious in the bathroom with a bottle of poison clutched in her hand.

A single personal experience that taught you a lesson you will never forget is the first requisite of a persuasive action talk. With this kind of incident you can move audiences to act—if it happened to you, your listeners reason, it can happen to them, and they had better take your advice by doing what you ask them to do.

START YOUR TALK WITH A DETAIL OF YOUR EXAMPLE

One of the reasons for starting your talk with the example step is to catch attention at once. Some speakers fail to get attention with their opening words because all too often these words consist only of repetitious remarks, clichés, or fragmentary apologies that are of no interest to the audience. “Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking,” is particularly offensive, but many other commonplace methods of beginning a talk are just as weak in attention-getting value. Going into the details of how you came to choose the subject, revealing to the audience that you are not too well prepared (they will discover that fact soon enough), or announcing the topic or theme of your talk like a preacher giving the text of the sermon are all methods to avoid in the short talk to get action.

Take a tip from top-flight magazine and newspaper writers:begin right in your example and you will capture the attention of your audience immediately.

Here are some opening sentences that drew my attention like a magnet: “In 1942, I found myself on a cot in a hospital”; “Yesterday at breakfast my wife was pouring the coffee and…”; “Last July I was driving at a fast clip down Highway 42…”; “The door of my office opened and Charlie Vann, our foreman, burst in”; “I was fishing in the middle of the lake; I looked up and saw a motor boat speeding toward me.”

If you start your talk with phrases that answer one of the questions, Who? When? Where? What? How? or Why? you will be using one of the oldest communication devices in the world to get attention—the story. “Once upon a time” are the magic words that open the floodgates of a child's imagination. With this same human interest approach you can captivate the minds of your listeners with your first words.

FILL YOUR EXAMPLE WITH RELEVANT DETAIL

Detail, of itself, is not interesting. A room cluttered with furniture and bric-a-brac is not attractive. A picture filled with too many unrelated details does not compel the eyes to linger upon it. In the same way, too many details—unimportant details—make conversation and public speaking a boring test of endurance. The secret is to select only those details that will serve to emphasize the point and reason of the talk. If you want to get across the idea that your listeners should have their cars checked before going on a long trip, then all the details of your example step should be concerned with what happened to you when you failed to have your car checked before taking a trip. If you tell about how you enjoyed the scenery or where you stayed when you arrived at your destination, you will only succeed in clouding the point and dissipating attention.

But relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picturize it for the audience. To say merely that you once had an accident because of negligence is bald, uninteresting, and hardly likely to move anyone to be more careful behind the wheel of a car. But to paint a word picture of your frightening experience, using the full range of multisensory phraseology, will etch the event upon the consciousness of the listeners.

For instance, here is the way one class member developed an Example step that points up vividly the need for great caution on wintry roads:

I was driving north on Highway 41 in Indiana one morning just before Christmas, in 1949. In the car were my wife and two children. For several hours we had been creeping along on a sheet of mirror-like ice; the slightest touch on the steering wheel sent the rear of my Ford into a sickening slide. Few drivers got out of line or attempted to pass, and the hours seemed to creep as slowly as the cars.

Then we came to an open stretch where the ice was melted by the sun and I stepped on the accelerator to make up for lost time. Other cars did the same. Everybody suddenly seemed in a hurry to get to Chicago first. The children began to sing in the back seat as the tension of danger subsided.

The road suddenly went uphill and into a wooded area. As the speeding car reached the top I saw, too late, that the northern slope of the hill, still untouched by the sun's rays, was like a smooth river of ice. I had a fleeting glance of two wildly careening cars in front of us and then we went into a skid. Over the shoulder we went, hopelessly out of control, and landed in a snowbank, still upright; but the car that had been following us went into a skid, too, and crashed into the side of our car, smashing in the doors and showering us with glass.

The abundance of detail in this example made it easy for the audience to project themselves into the picture. After all, your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. The only way you can possibly achieve this effect is to use an abundance of concrete details. As was pointed out in Chapter Four, the task of preparation of a talk is a task of reconstructing the answers to the questions Who? When? Where? How? and Why? You must stimulate the visual imagination of your listeners by painting word pictures.

RELIVE YOUR EXPERIENCE AS YOU RELATE IT

In addition to using picturesque details, the speaker should relive the experience he is describing. Here is where speaking approaches its sister field of acting. All great speakers have a sense of the dramatic, but this is not a rare quality, to be found only in the eloquent. Most children have a plentiful supply of it. Many persons of our acquaintance are gifted with a sense of timing, facial expression, mimicry, or pantomime that is a part, at least, of this priceless ability to dramatize. Most of us have some skill along these lines, and with a little effort and practice we can develop more of it.

The more action and excitement you can put into the retelling of your incident, the more it will make an impression on your listeners. No matter how rich in detail a talk may be, it will lack punch if the speaker does not give it with all the fervor of recreation. Are you describing a fire? Give us the feeling of excitement that ran through the crowd as the firemen battled the blaze. Are you telling us about an argument with your neighbor? Relive it; dramatize it. Are you relating your final struggles in the water as panic swept over you? Make your audience feel the desperation of those awful moments in your life.

For one of the purposes of the example is to make your talk memorable. Your listeners will remember your talk and what you want them to do only if the example sticks in their minds. We recall George Washington's honesty because of the cherry tree incident popularized in the Weem's biography. The New Testament is a rich storehouse of principles of ethical conduct reinforced by examples full of human interst—for instance, the story of the Good Samaritan.

In addition to making your talk more easily remembered, the incident-example makes your talk more interesting, more convincing, and easier to understand. Your experience of what life has taught you is freshly perceived by the audience: they are in a sense, predetermined to respond to what you want them to do. This brings us right to the doorstep of the second phase of the Magic Formula.

SECOND/ STATE YOUR POINT, WHAT YOU WANT THE AUDIENCE TO DO

The Example step of your talk to get action has consumed more than three-quarters of your time. Assume you are talking for two minutes. You have about twenty seconds in which to hammer home the desired action you wish the audience to take and the benefit they can expect as a result of doing what you ask. The need for detail is over. The time for forthright, direct assertion has come. It is the reverse of the newspaper technique. Instead of giving the headline first, you give the news story and then you headline it with your Point or appeal for action. This step is governed by three rules:

MAKE THE POINT BRIEF AND SPECIFIC

Be precise in telling the audience exactly what you want them to do. People will do only what they clearly understand. It is essential to ask yourself just exactly what it is you want the audience to do now that they have been disposed to action by your example. It is a good idea to write the point out as you would a telegram, trying to reduce the number of words and to make your language as clear and explicit as possible. Don't say: “Help the patients in our local orphanage.” That's too general. Say instead: “Sign up tonight to meet next Sunday to take twenty-five children on a picnic.”

It is important to ask for an overt action, one that can be seen, rather than mental actions, which are too vague. For instance, “Think of your grandparents now and then,” is too general to be acted upon. Say instead: “Make a point of visiting your grandparents this weekend.” A statement such as, “Be patriotic,” should be converted into “Cast your vote next Tuesday.”

MAKE THE POINT EASY FOR LISTENERS TO DO

No matter what the issue is, controversial or otherwise, it is the speaker's responsibility to word his point, the request for action, in such a way that it will be easy for his listeners to understand and to do. One of the best ways to do this is to be specific. If you want your listeners to improve their ability to remember names, don't say: “Start now to improve your memory of names.” That is so general it is difficult to do. Say instead: “Repeat the name of the next stranger you meet five times within five minutes after you meet him.”

Speakers who give detailed action points are more apt to be successful in motivating their audiences than those who rest upon generalities. To say: “Sign the get well card in the back of the room” is far better than to urge your listeners to send a card or write a letter to a hospitalized fellow class member.

The question whether to state the point negatively or positively should be answered by looking at it from the listeners' point of view. Not all negatively phrased points are ineffective. When they epitomize an avoidance attitude they are probably more convincing to listeners than a positively stated appeal. Don't be a bulb-snatcher was an avoidance phrase employed with great effect some years ago in an advertising campaign designed to sell electric light bulbs.

STATE THE POINT WITH FORCE AND CONVICTION

The Point is the entire theme of your talk. You should give it, therefore, with forcefulness and conviction. As a headline stands out in block letters, your request for action should be emphasized by vocal animation and directness. You are about to make your last impression on the audience. Make it in such a way that the audience feels the sincerity of your appeal for action. There should be no uncertainty or diffidence about the way you ask for the order. This persuasiveness of manner should carry over to your last words, in which you give the third step of the Magic Formula.

THIRD/ GIVE THE REASON OR BENEFIT THE AUDIENCE MAY EXPECT

Here again, brevity and economy are necessary. In the reason step you hold out the incentive or reward the listeners may expect if they do what you have asked in the Point.

BE SURE THE REASON IS RELEVAN TO THE EXAMPLE

Much has been written about motivation in public speaking. It is a vast subject and a useful one for anyone engaged in persuading others to act. In the short talk to get action, on which we are centering our attention in this chapter, all you can hope to do is highlight the benefit in a sentence or two and then sit down. It is most important, however, that you focus upon the benefit that was brought out in the Example step. If you tell of your experience in saving money by buying a used car, and urge your listeners to buy a secondhand car, you must emphasize in your reason that they, too, may enjoy the economical advantages of buying secondhand. You should not deviate from the example by giving as your reason the fact that some used cars have better styling than the latest models.

BE SURE TO STRESS ONE REASON AND—ONE ONLY

Most salesmen can give a half-dozen reasons why you should buy their product, and it is quite possible that you can give several reasons to back up your Point and all of them may be relevant to the Example you used. But again it is best to choose one outstanding reason or benefit and rest your case on it. Your final words to the audience should be as clearcut as the message on an advertisement in a national magazine. If you study these ads upon which so much talent has been expended, you will develop skill in handling the point and reason of your talk.

No ad attempts to sell more than one product or one idea at a time. Very few ads in the big circulation magazines use more than one reason why you should buy. The same company may change its motivational appeal from one medium to another, from television to newspapers, for instance, but rarely will the same company make different appeals in one ad, whether vocal or visual.

If you study the ads you see in magazines and newspapers and on television and analyze their content you will be amazed at how often the Magic Formula is used to persuade people to buy. You will become aware of the ribbon of relevancy which binds the whole ad or commercial together into a unified package.

There are other ways of building up an example, for instance, by using exhibits, giving a demonstration, quoting authorities, making comparisons, and citing statistics. These will be explained more at length in Chapter Thirteen, where the longer talk to persuade will be discussed. In this chapter, the formula has been restricted to the personal incident type of example because, in the short talk to get action, it is by far the easiest and most interesting, dramatic, and persuasive method a speaker can use.

第三篇 成功发表商务演讲

现在我们要详细介绍两种演讲技巧：有准备的演讲技巧和即兴演讲技巧。

这三章介绍说服性演讲、说明性演讲和增强印象使人信服性演讲的相关知识。

一章讨论即兴演讲，它可能是说服、说明性演讲，或者是临时需要而做的即席演讲。

如果演讲者清楚地知道演讲的目的，就可以成功地使用有准备的演讲技巧或即兴演讲技巧。

第一次世界大战期间，一位著名的英国主教在厄普顿营对即将奔赴战场的士兵发表讲话。只有一些士兵明白作战的意义，这一点我很清楚，因为我和他们聊过。可是，这位主教先生却对他们大谈什么“国际亲善”，以及“塞尔维亚在太阳底下应占有一席之地”，而士兵们有一半却对塞尔维亚在哪里都不清楚。所以，他不如发表一篇谁也不懂的“星云假说”的学术演讲，反正效果完全一样。不过，在他演讲的过程中没有一个士兵跑开的，因为有宪兵站在每个出口，防止他们跑出去。

我无意取笑这位主教，他是一位真正的学者，在宗教人士面前他很可能令人折服；但面对这些军人他却失败了，而且是彻底失败。为什么呢？因为他不知道自己演讲的真正目的，当然不知道怎么做了。

讲话的目的是什么呢？不论你自己是不是了解，任何讲话一般包括以下所列的四个目的中的一个。它们是什么呢？

1.说服听众采取行动。

2.说明情况。

3.增强印象，使人信服。

4.给人们带来欢乐。

我们就以林肯总统一系列具体的演讲为例来说明吧。

很少有人知道林肯曾发明过一种装置，它可以将搁浅在沙滩或其他阻碍物中的船只吊起来，并获得了专利。他在他的律师事务所办公室附近一家机械厂制作了这种装置的模型，每当有朋友来看模型时，他就不厌其烦地讲解它。这种讲解的主要目的，就是说明情况。

他在葛底斯堡发表不朽的演讲，第一次和第二次总统就职演讲，在亨利·柯雷去世时做的悼词……所有这些演讲的主要目的是增强听众的印象，使他们信服。

他对陪审团讲话时，想赢得有利的决定；发表政治演讲时，想赢得选票。这种演讲的目的，就是要让听众采取行动。

而在林肯当选总统的两年前，他曾精心准备了一场关于发明的演讲。他本想给人们带来一些欢乐，这至少是他的目的，可惜他在这方面没有成功。他原本想当一个大众演讲家，结果遭到了挫折。甚至有一次，竟然没有一个人来听他的演讲。

但是林肯的许多演讲获得了神奇的成功，其中一些演讲已经成为人类语言中的经典之作。为什么他能成功呢？因为在这些演讲中，他明白自己的目的，并且知道怎样达到这个目的。

但是有许多演讲者却不能把自己的目标与听众的目标相结合，所以手忙脚乱，说话结巴，演讲也就难免失败了。

有一位美国国会议员曾被强行轰赶下了纽约旧马戏场的演讲台，因为他很不明智地选择了要做一次说明性演讲。听众可不想听什么教训，他们只想得到快乐。他们刚开始时耐心而有礼貌地听他讲了10分钟，但在后15分钟，大家都希望他最好尽快结束。可是他却不理会这些，仍然没完没了地说个没完。听众们再也不愿忍受了，开始有人嘲讽地喝彩，其他人接着起哄，立刻就有上千人吹起口哨，甚至大声吼叫起来。这位议员真是太愚蠢了，居然还感觉不到听众的心情，仍然继续讲他的话。这激怒了听众。一场战斗展开了。人们的不耐烦立即激化成怒火，他们决定让他闭嘴。于是，抗议声越来越大。最终，吼叫和愤怒淹没了他的声音——20英尺处都听不到他的声音了。他被吼叫和嘘叫声轰下了台，简直羞辱难当。

我们要以此为鉴，让自己的演讲适合听众和场合。那位议员如果事先斟酌一下自己演讲的目的是否适合前来参加政治集会的听众的目的，他就不会有如此惨败了。所以，一定要事先分析听众和场合之后，才可以从四种目的中选择一种来进行你的演讲。

为了让读者获得“搭建演讲架构”方面的指导，本章专门介绍如何“说服听众采取行动”。接下来的三章则着重讨论演讲的其他几个重要目标：说明情况；增强印象令人信服；带给听众欢乐。每一个目标都需要采取不同的组织方式，各自都有其易犯的错误和必须克服的障碍。首先，我们谈谈如何组织演讲素材，使听众乐意采取行动。

有没有什么方法，肯定可以把我们要演讲的材料组织好，让听众能轻松地抓住我们要求他们去做的事情呢？或者它只不过是一种偶尔有效的方法呢？

我记得在20世纪30年代曾和同事们讨论过这个话题。当时我的课程在全国各地开始受到欢迎。由于班上人数众多，我们便要求每个学员的演讲只有两分钟。如果演讲者的目标只定位在娱乐或说明情况，这个限制对演讲并不会造成影响。但是，当我们学习“鼓励听众采取行动”的演讲时，情况就不一样了。如果采用自亚里士多德以来就被演讲者遵循的传统的演讲模式——绪论、本论和结论，这种激励听众采取行动的演讲便无法展开。我们显然需要一些新鲜的东西为我们提供一个稳妥有效的方法，在两分钟之内得到结果，并从听众那里获得反应。

我们分别在芝加哥、洛杉矶和纽约举行会议，向所有的老师请教。他们当中有在名牌大学演讲系执教的；有在事业经营方面占有举足轻重地位的；也有来自正在快速扩张的广告和促销界的。我们希望结合这些背景和智慧，找到一种新的组织演讲结构的方法——一个合理的、能反映我们时代需要的、符合心理学和逻辑学的方法，以影响听众并让他们采取行动。

天道酬勤，我们从这些讨论中终于研究出组织演讲结构的“魔术公式”。这个方法在班上采用后，我们一直使用到今天。这个“魔术公式”是什么呢？很简单：一开始就描述实例的细节，生动地说明你希望传达给听众的意念；其次，详细而清晰地表达你的观点，确切地说出你想让听众做什么；第三，陈述缘由，向听众强调，如果按照你所说的去做，他们会获得什么好处。

这个公式非常适合当今快节奏的生活。演讲者不能再沉湎于冗长而闲散的绪论之中。人们越来越忙，他们希望讲演者以直接的言语，一针见血地说出要说的话。他们习惯于听精简而浓缩的新闻报道，使他们不必转弯抹角便能直接获得事实。他们全都被淹没在麦迪逊大街上铺天盖地的广告中。这些广告使用了招牌、电视、杂志和报纸上的一些鲜明有力的词语，把信息一股脑儿倾出；它们一字千金，没有半点儿浪费。所以利用这个“魔术公式”，可以保证引起听众的注意，并可以将焦点对准演讲的重点。它可以避免“我没有时间把这场演讲准备得很好”，或“你们的主席请我谈论这个题目时，我在想他为何要挑选我”之类毫无意义的开场白。听众对道歉或辩解不感兴趣，不论你的道歉或辩解是出于真心还是假意。他们要的是行动。在这个“魔术公式”里，你一开口便给了他们行动。

这套公式用于简短演讲时非常理想，因为其中有着某种程度的悬念。在你开始叙述时，听众就会被你的故事所吸引，但要等到两三分钟之后，他们才能知道你的重点。如果你希望听众照你的要求去做，这一招就很有必要。演讲者如果想让听众为某件事而慷慨解囊，却这样开口：“各位女士，各位先生，我来这儿是想向各位每人收取5美元。”那么，不管这件事多么值得他们掏钱，他们一定会争先恐后地夺门而逃。相反，如果演讲者描述自己去探访儿童医院的时候，看到迫切待援的病例：一个幼童在偏远的医院里，因为缺乏经济援助而无法动手术，然后向听众呼吁救助，肯定会获得听众的支持。为期望中的行动铺路的，正是生动的故事和实例。

让我们再看看列兰·史脱先生是怎样通过事件或事例来打动听众，让他们支持联合国儿童救援行动的：

我祈祷自己再也不要为此而奔走呼吁了：一个孩子和死亡之间，只差一颗花生。请想想，还有比这更凄惨的吗？我希望在座诸位也永远不要这样奔走呼吁，永远不要活在这种悲惨的记忆里。如果某一天，你在雅典被炸得千疮百孔的工人居住区里，听到了他们的声音，见到了他们的眼睛……可是，我的记忆中所留下的一切，只有半磅重的一罐花生。当我费力地打开它时，一群群衣衫褴褛的孩子把我团团围住，朝我伸出他们的手。还有大批的母亲，怀抱婴儿在推挤争抢……她们都把婴儿伸向我，婴儿那只剩皮包骨的小手抽搐地伸张着。我尽力使每颗花生都能起作用。

在他们疯狂地挤拥之下，我几乎被撞倒。我举目一望，只见上百只手：乞求的手、抓握的手、绝望的手——全都是瘦小得可怜的手。他们这里分一颗盐花生，那里分一颗盐花生。有六颗花生从我手里掉了下来，那些瘦弱的身体在我脚下争抢着。他们在这里分一颗，再在那里分一颗。数以百只的手伸向我，请求着；数以百只的眼睛闪射着希望的光芒。我无助地站在那里，手中只剩下一个蓝色的空罐子……啊，我希望这种情况永远都不会发生在诸位身上。

这套“魔术公式”还可运用于写商业书信和对员工作指示。母亲可以利用它来激励孩子，而孩子也会发现利用它向父母要求什么也很容易。你会发现它就像一把心理利器，在日常生活中，你可以通过它把自己的理念传达给别人。

即使在广告界，这套“魔术公式”每天也都被使用着。伊弗雷迪电池公司最近在广播和电视上做了一系列广告，就是根据这套公式设计的。首先是主持人讲一个故事：某个人因事故而在深夜被困在一辆翻倒的汽车里。主持人绘声绘色地描述这个意外之后，又请出受害者告诉观众，他是如何通过使用伊弗雷迪电池的手电筒发出亮光，及时为他带来援助的。然后，主持人再回到他的目标，点出“重点和缘由”:“购买伊弗雷迪电池，你就可以在类似的紧急事故中生存。”这些故事都来自伊弗雷迪电池公司的真实档案资料。我不知道这套广告帮助伊弗雷迪公司卖了多少电池，但我可以确信这套“魔术公式”真的很有用，可以有效地向听众陈述你要他们去做或避免去做的事情。

现在，我们还是一步步地进行讨论吧。

一、用自己生活中的事件作例证

你生活中的事例是演讲的一部分，应该占你演讲的大部分时间。在这个阶段，应该描述曾给你带来启示的经验。心理学家说，人们学习的方式有两种：一是练习律，即让一连串的类似事件来改变人的行为模式；二是效应律，即让单一的事件产生强烈的震撼力，并造成人们行为的改变。我们每个人都有过这种不同寻常的经验，这是不需要花太多的时间去苦苦搜寻的。我们的行为也多半受这些经验的引导。如果能把这些事件重新组织起来，就可以把它们变成影响别人行为的事实基础。这一点我们应该很容易做到，因为人们对言辞的反应和对实际发生的事情的反应都差不多。

在举例的时候，一定要把自己经验中的东西重新改造，使听众产生与你当初一样的感受。为了达到这个效果，你可以把你的经验清楚地叙述出来，突出其特点，并使之富有戏剧化，让它们听起来更有趣，也更有力量。下面的建议，可以让你举例的步骤清晰有力，具有意义。

1.根据个人经验举例

如果这种例子曾经是对你的生活造成强烈冲击的单一事件，将会很有威力。事情的发生也许不超过几秒钟，可是在那短短的一瞬间，你已经学到了难忘的一课。比如，不久前我们班上一个学员讲了他竭力从翻转的船边游上岸的可怕经历。我相信每个听众都会这样想，如果自己遇到了类似的情况，一定会听从他的忠告而留在船边，等待救援人员的到来。我还记得另一个演讲者讲的经历：这是关于一个孩子和一台翻转过来的电动剪草机的悲惨事件，这在我的脑海里留下了鲜明深刻的印象，以后只要有孩子在我的电动剪草机附近玩耍时，我就会提高警觉。

我们很多讲师，因为他们对在班上听到的事情印象深刻，所以回家后便立即采取行动，防止家庭再发生类似的意外。例如，有一个人因为听了一场关于烹饪意外而引起的火灾的演讲之后，就立即将灭火器放在厨房内。另一个人也从演讲中吸取教训，把家中所有装毒品的瓶子贴上标签，并特别留意把它们放在孩子们拿不到的地方。这是因为他听了一场演讲：一个母亲发现她的孩子不省人事地躺在浴缸里，手里拿着一瓶毒药。当时这位母亲真是心神发狂了。

一次使你永远都不会忘记的教训，是说服性演讲必备的条件。利用这种事件，可以打动听众并让他们采取行动——因为听众会这样推理，如果你会遭遇到，他们也可能会遭遇到，那么最好是听你的忠告，做你希望他们做的事。

2.开门见山叙述事例的细节

在演讲一开始就进入举例阶段，这样做可以立即抓住听众的注意力。有些演讲者不能一开始就获得听众的注意，往往是因为只讲那些老套话或琐碎的道歉，听众对此当然不感兴趣。“敝人不习惯当众演讲”，这是不是很刺耳讨厌？但是很多陈腐的开题方式也同样令人厌烦。如数家珍地详细描述自己如何选择演讲题目，或对听众说自己准备不充分（他们其实很快就会发现这个事实的），或像个牧师讲道似的宣布演讲的题目或主题……这些都是要在简短演讲中必须避免的。

请记住某位一流报纸杂志作者的一句忠言：直接开始你的例证，就可以立即抓住听众的注意力。

我在这里列出一些开场白，它们都像磁石一样吸引着我的注意力：“1942年，我发现自己躺在医院的病床上”; “昨天早饭时，我妻子正在倒咖啡……”; “去年7月，当我快速驾车驶下42号公路时……”; “我办公室的门被打开了，我们的领班查理·冯闯了进来”; “我正在湖中央钓鱼；我一抬起头，看到一艘快艇正朝我快速开来”。

如果在开场白中讲清楚了人物、时间、地点、事件和发生的原因，那么你就是在使用最古老的获取听众注意力的沟通方式。“从前”是一个很有魔力的字眼，它可以打开孩子们幻想的水闸。采用相同的趣味方式，你也能一开口就抓住听众的注意力。

3.使事例充满相关细节

细节本身并不具备趣味性。例如，到处散置着家具和古董的房间并不好看，一幅图画全是不相关的细物也不能让人们停留注视。同样，无关紧要的细节太多，也会让当众演讲成为无聊的活动。所以，你必须选择那些能强调你的演讲重点和缘由的细节。如果你想告诉大家，在长途旅行前应该先检查车辆的性能状况，那么你应该详细讲述某次旅行前，因为你没有事先检查车辆而发生的悲剧。相反，如果你先讲怎样观赏风景，或者到达目的地后在什么地方过夜，就只会遮盖重点，分散听众的注意力。

如果你能围绕话题重点，用相关细节来渲染你的故事，这确实是最好的方法。它可以重现当时的情况，让听众感觉如在眼前。相反，只说你从前因疏忽而发生意外，就很难让听众小心驾车，因为这样的方法不会让人感到有吸引力。如果你把惊心动魄的经历转化为语言，使用各种辞藻来表达你的切身感受，那么就能把这件事深深地烙在听众的大脑中。

请看下面的实例，这是一个训练班的学员讲的例子，生动地指出了在寒冬时开车要多么小心：

1949年圣诞节前一天的早上，我在印第安纳州41号公路上往北行驶，我的妻子和两个孩子也在车里。我们已经沿着一段平滑如镜的冰路，缓慢地行驶了好几个小时。稍稍触及方向盘，我的福特车就会任意打滑。很少有司机会离线超车，时间就这样一小时一小时地慢慢过去。

我们来到一处开阔的转弯处。这儿的冰雪已经被阳光照射得开始融化，所以我就加大了油门，想弥补失去的时间。其他人也和我一样，大家似乎都很匆忙，想第一个抵达芝加哥。由于不再紧张了，孩子们也开始在车后座上唱起歌来。

汽车突然走上一段上坡路，进了一处森林地带。当汽车急驰到顶端时，我突然看到——可是太迟了——北边的山坡因为没有阳光照射，所以路面的冰还没有融化。我看到我们前面有两辆车疯狂地侧翻了下去，然后我们的车也滑了下去。我们飞过路沿，完全失去了控制，然后落进雪堆里，仍然直立着。但紧跟着我们的车也滑了下来，正好撞到我们车的一侧，我们的车门被撞碎了，我们身上全是碎玻璃。

这个事例中丰富的细节，很容易让听众身临其境。毕竟你的目的就是要让听众看到你所看到的，让听众听到你所听到的，让听众感觉到你所感觉到的。而要做到这一点，唯一的方法就是使用丰富而具体的细节。正如第四章提到的，准备一场演讲就是回答如下问题：何人？何时？何地？如何？为什么？你必须用图画般的词汇去激发听众的想象力。

4.叙述事例时让经验重现

除了运用图画般的细节之外，演讲者还应该让情景再现。演讲和“表演”有相近的地方。所有伟大的演讲家都有一种表演的天分，但这并非只能在雄辩家身上找到的稀有特质，孩童们大多具有这种才能。我们所认识的许多人也都有这样的天赋，他们富于面部表情，善于模仿或做手势，这都是表演的宝贵资质。我们多数人也都有这样的技巧，只要稍微努力和练习，就能有一定的发展。

在描述事件时，如果能加入越多的动作和激动的情感，就越能给听众留下深刻的印象。演讲不论多么富于细节，如果演讲者不能以再创造的热情来讲述，就是没有力量的。例如，你想描述一场大火吗？那不妨为我们讲述消防队与火焰搏斗时人们感受到的激烈、焦灼、兴奋、紧张的感觉，并把这些传递给我们。你想告诉我们你同邻居之间的一场争吵吗？那就把它再现出来，戏剧化地表现出来。你想描述在水中做最后挣扎时的惊恐情绪吗？那就让我们感受到你生命中那些可怕时刻的绝望吧。

举例的目的之一，就是让听众对你的演讲牢记不忘。只有让事例深刻在听众的脑海中，他们才会记住你的演讲，以及你希望他们去做的事。我们之所以记得华盛顿的诚实，是由于他小时候砍樱桃树的事情，已经通过韦姆斯的传记而深入人心。《圣经·新约》是嘉言懿行的丰富宝库，其中的道德操守原则都是通过富有人情味的故事来传达和强化的，例如“善良的撒马利亚人”的故事。

这种事例，除了可以让你的演讲更容易被记住之外，还可以使你的演讲更加有趣，更具有说服力，也更容易理解。生活教给你的经验，已经被听众重新感知：就某种意义而言，他们已经下定决心按照你的意思去做。这样，我们就到了“魔术公式”第二道门前。

二、直接提出问题，提出诉求

在说服听众行动的演讲中，举例阶段已经用去了四分之三以上的时间。假设你只讲两分钟，那你就只剩下20秒钟来表达你期望听众采取的行动，以及他们采取这种行动会有什么好处。这时不再需要讲述细节了，该做直截了当的声明。这与报纸消息的技巧相反，你不是先说标题，而是先讲故事，再以自己的目的或对听众行动的诉求作为标题。这一阶段要注意三条法则：

1.使重点简明扼要

要简明扼要地告诉听众，你希望他们做什么。人们一般只会做他们清楚地了解的事情。所以，你最好先问自己，你究竟要在听众听了你的例证之后，他们该做什么？像写电报稿一样把重点写下来，是个很不错的主意，应该尽可能精简字数，又要使其清楚明白。不要说：“帮助我们本地孤儿院的病童吧。”因为这样太笼统。应该这样说：“今晚就签名，下星期天集合，带25名孤儿去野餐。”

要求采取公开行动很重要，这个行动应该是看得见的，而不是心理活动，否则就太含混了。例如“时时想想祖父母吧！”就太含糊而不好采取行动；而这样说“本周末就去看望祖父母吧！”则要更明确些。再比如说“要爱国”，如果改成“下星期二就请投下你的一票”，就更明确了。

2.使重点简单易行

不论问题是什么，不论人们是不是还在争论不休，演讲者必须把自己的重点和对行动的请求讲得让听众容易理解和实行。最好的方法之一就是要明确。例如，你想让听众加强记忆人名的能力，千万不要说“现在便开始加强你对人名的记忆”，因为这样太笼统了，让人无从做起。不如说：“在你遇到下一个陌生人的5分钟之内，就把他的姓名重复5次。”

演讲者对听众给予明确的行动指示，比概略的言辞更容易成功地引发听众的行动。例如“去讲堂后面，在祝贺康复的卡片上签名”，要比劝听众寄一张慰问卡，或写信给一位住院的同学更好。

至于是使用否定还是肯定的语气来叙述，应该取决于听众的观点。这两种方式之间并没有好坏之分。例如，以否定方式说明应该避免的东西，就比用肯定陈述的请求更具有说服力。“不要做摘灯泡的人”是否定的措辞，这是若干年前为了销售电灯泡而设计的广告，它就收效很好。

3.强烈而满怀信心地表明观点

演讲的核心是观点，因此你应该强烈而且信心十足地陈述出来。就像标题应该特别突出显著一样，你对听众行动的请求也应该通过激烈的演讲，直接表达出来。你现在就要给听众留下积极的印象，让听众感觉到你的诚意。你的请求不应有不确定或信心不足的语气，游说的态度也应该持续到最后一个词，然后再进行“魔术公式”的第三步。

三、说明原因或听众可能获得的利益

在这个阶段，简短扼要依然是必要的。在这第三步，你必须说出自己演讲的动机；或者告诉听众，如果按照你的要求去做，他们会有什么益处。

1.使缘由与事例相关

本书已经阐述了很多当众讲话的动机。这是个范围很大的题目，对于想说服听众采取行动的演讲者很有用处。在这一章我们谈的只是关于“获得听众行动的简短演讲”，你所要做的，就是用一两句话把好处说出来，然后坐下。不过，最重要的是你所强调的好处应该是从你所举的事例引出来的。如果你想说自己买旧车省钱的经验，然后力劝听众买二手货，那么你必须强调他们买了二手车会有何经济益处。千万不可偏离事例，说有些旧车的样式比最新的汽车要好。

2.必须强调一个理由，仅仅一个就足够

许多推销员可以举出半打理由，劝说你为什么应该购买他们的产品；你也能举出好几个理由，来支持你自己的观点，并且全都与你所使用的事例有关。然而，最好还是选一个最突出的理由或利益。说给听众的最后几句话应该清楚而明确，就像刊登在全国性的杂志里的广告词那样。如果你对这些融入了许多人的智慧设计出来的广告加以研究，你将会获得处理演讲中的“重点和缘由”的技巧。

没有哪个广告会一次推销两种或两种以上的产品或理念。在销售量很大的杂志中，也没有一个广告使用两个以上的理由来说明你为什么应该买某种商品。同一个公司也许会从一种媒介改为另一种媒介来刺激消费者的动机，如从电视改成报纸，但是同一家公司却很少在一个广告中做不同的诉求，不论是口头上的还是视觉上的。

如果你能研究一下报纸杂志和电视中的广告，分析它们的内容，你就会惊讶地发现，在劝说人们购买商品时，这一“魔术公式”被使用的次数实在是太多了。你可以由此体会到，“切题”是让整个广告成为一个统一整体的经纬线。

还有其他的方式来举例，例如陈列、展示、引述权威评论、比较和引用统计数字等。这些将在后面的章节详细介绍。本章中的“魔术公式”仅限于个人式的事例，因为在“获得听众行动的简短演讲”中，这套公式是迄今为止最简易、最有趣、最戏剧性而且最具说服力的方法。