Eight steps to persuade
One of the most challenging tasks for a speaker is persuasive presentation, where you want the audience to change their minds or act the way you ask them to. Every persuasive presentation can be approached by following these eight steps.
1. Establish your credibility
People are overloaded with information and are relentlessly assaulted by attempts to seduce them; therefore, you need to give them a reason to pay attention to you. This could be your own experience, the research you have done, or the established authorities you are relying on.
2. Show your conscience
In addition to being credible on a particular topic, you also need to show your understanding of the current situation.
The establishment of these first two points could be done in a single award. For example, “I have seen thousands of students progress at this institution over the last ten years and I have never seen such a demand on their time.”
3. Describe the problem
Explain what you think the problem is. Make it relevant to the audience with graphic descriptions of problem situations. Keep these descriptions relevant with introductory phrases like “This affects you because of…” or “What this means to you is…”. People are very drawn to the status quo, huddled within their comfort zone. You need to create a strong enough incentive to move them beyond this. The problem could be that they miss an opportunity that you know of.
4. Explain the solution
While you must be brutally honest and suitably vivid about issues; you must not dwell on them. Move quickly to describe your solution.
5. Define the Cost
There is always a cost. It can be financial, a time commitment, even just a change in mindset. Be honest and realistic about this cost so that you are in control of how it is perceived. Put it in perspective with comparisons or breakdowns. For example, “It will cost you less than the cost of your morning coffee” or “Just one minute a day, that’s all I ask.”
6. Describe the Benefits
Just as you were graphic when describing the problem, be equally graphic when describing the benefits they will receive in the desired future. Put clear and relevant images in the mind of your audience. As Dr. Noel Tichy (Professor of Management, University of Michigan) says: “The best way to get humans to venture into unknown terrain is to do
that familiar and desirable ground by taking them there first in your imagination.”
7. Take the first step
Once you’ve convinced them of their need to act, you need to tell them what to do. Make the first step in this process very easy and if possible something they can do now. You need to get them to act as quickly as possible, while they are still persuaded by your presentation and before they get distracted by something else.
8. End on a note of encouragement
The conclusion is the most important part, so it should end on a high. You do this by assuming that everyone in the audience has been sold on your presentation and by telling them how great life is going to be now that we are positively moving forward.
These steps, when followed in order, use proven principles to provide the best chance of persuading an audience. They will need to be supported by effective research beforehand to identify strong examples relevant to this audience and