Organizing a Persuasive Talk Using a Five Part Formula

 By Carl Huffman | Submitted On March 09, 2011

We learned in Speech 101 that a talk has three parts; an opening, body, and close. Specifically; "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them." In order for a speech to be truly effective you need these three and two more. Part one of our five-part formula is the opening statement. This is not the customary "Good morning I'm here to..." but rather it needs to be a "grabber," something that alerts the audience that they need to sit up and take notice. An audience will decide whether to listen or not in the first thirty seconds of your opening, so you need to say something to get their attention right away. There are a few options to accomplish this affect. You can start with a startling statistic, or a picture - either real or imaginary, or a dramatic question. 

The dramatic question is one of the easiest to use. To do this, review your talk and decide what is the most important benefit to your audience, then turn that into a question. Now that you have their attention, the second step is the introduction - Tell them what you are going to tell them." This is a necessary step so your audience will know just how you are going to deliver what you just promised them in your opening statement. If you fail to "tell them," they will be wondering and not listening. An audience is most attentive when they know just where the talk is going. Part three is the body- "Tell them." Here there are a few rules that need to be followed in order for a talk to be effective and get the desired results. First, observe parsimony - less is more this means only five main points and no more in the body. The audience will not try to remember any more than that, and any more will be overwhelming. 

Pick the five best points for the particular group then consider how much support is needed to be convincing. Again, less is more here so consider statistics, testimonials, or the best alternative is examples. We have passed on our knowledge from generation to generation by using stories, so using examples or stories is most convincing. If you can show your audience your premise is true by a success story, then it will become real for them. The key here is in the detail and it needs to be from your own experience or one you have personal knowledge of the event. To be effective, the example or story needs to come from the heart not just the mouth. Now the next critical area is the placement of the points in your body. There are two schools of thought here; one, lead with your best point, and second save your best point until the last for a climatic close. 

The current wisdom is always lead with your best point. After all, you have just given them a dramatic promise in your "grabber opening," so you need to give your best point to keep up the momentum, then take each point in succession. If you support each point with sufficient detail, and point out the benefits, then they will "stand on their own." This also gives a logical flow to the talk which is easy for them to follow. Now comes part four; namely "telling them what you told them." There is no surprise here just the straight forward approach is all that is needed. The purpose here is for retention. To accomplish this merely state each of your points but do it by paraphrasing not just verbatim. Finally, part five is the critical end to your talk. This is what they will remember the most so it needs to be the crescendo and leave your audience with a positive feeling. 

This will be your action close telling your audience what they must do to get the benefits you have promised them in the body of the talk. The best way to accomplish this is to answer the question you raised in your grabber opening. Your closing statement should be as dramatic as your opening showing your enthusiasm for your plan or premise. One final note here; do not close with a "thank you," as this can be a distraction and appear as condescending. Instead you want to be exuberant and excited about your talk and a good action close will achieve that. The logic of the "five-part formula" in preparing a speech, cannot be understated. If you follow this plan, you will find your audience to be more receptive and you will get the desired results. For more insight into this topic you can reach Carl at carlh007@aol.com 2/21/2021 Organizing a Persuasive Talk Using a Five Part Formula https://ezinearticles.com/?Organizing-a-Persuasive-Talk-Using-a-Five-Part-Formula&id=6056795 2/2 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Carl_Huffman/916089