Key Learnings for Delivering a Talk to Persuade

Do:

• Find a human-interest story that moves you greatly. Then tell it so true to life that your audience is moved the same way you are.

• Appeal to the nobler motives of the audience.

• Dramatize! Share your passion, your feelings, your commitment, your emotions. Let it all hang out. Hold nothing back.

• Be clear in what you want your listeners to do.

Don’t:

• Rely on an intellectual argument alone. The issue here is passion, not rules.

• Worry about being vulnerable. Your vulnerability is central to the power of the talk.

• Hold back. This talk will be successful if you give everything you’ve got to make it so.

• Remain seated. Sitting drains you of power. Stand straight and tall and speak from the heart!