Have you ever needed to persuade anyone in your life?
- your kids to clean their room
- your co-worker to assist you
- your boss to give you time off.
Research shows that while most people believe they cannot be sold, the fact is those same people can indeed be persuaded if they do not recognize that a ‘sales’ technique is being used.
For persuasion to work, whatever message you are conveying must be based in truth and delivered with the right intentions. After all you are persuading someone to your point of view, not conning someone to do or think something questionable.
Tips that will give you an edge in getting others to adopt your ideas are listed hereunder:
1. Aim at a narrow target
When attempting to coax someone to adopt their ideas, many people give every possible fact, figure and feature in hope that some of the information will stick and persuade the other party.
However, if you want to be effective at persuasion then you need to keep your focus during the conversation as narrow as possible. One of the ways to uncover what is important to the other person is either to ask directly or couch your question within a statement.
Allow the person to answer and give you the information you need. Then you can gauge how to direct your conversation based on their response.
2. Use stories to convey your message
Stories are an extremely effective way to persuade. One of the best ways to use stories as a persuasion tool is to simply tell your listener about something that is similar to your concept.
This indirect approach works wonders and keeps people from feeling like they are being sold.
3. Use a quote
The goal is to deliver truthful news or make a point in a way that does not reflect poorly on you or make you appear insincere.
An example would be to say ‘My father always used to tell me…..’ and then tell them what you want to tell them. Who could argue with your father?
None of these persuasion tools are magic or ‘smoke and mirrors’. They are designed to give you a slight edge in your dealings with others. A slight edge goes a long way.
Participating in Speak Easy Toastmasters would allow you to practice these persuasive tools. By using these tools you will find that others are more apt to adopt your ideas, resulting in more winning solutions for everyone involved.
Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, October 28th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
‘Sharpen your mind’
Speak Easy Toastmasters-‘Sharpen your mind’
Sharp thinking and reasoning processes are at the heart of clear speaking. However not enough people use their thinking skills. Mental stimulation improves brain function and protects against cognitive decline.
The brain is a muscle. Just as physical exercise helps keep your body in shape mental exercise helps your brain increase its power to analyze. You can improve your thinking processes at any age. As the Franklin Institute once wrote
‘Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action.’
Here are some suggestions for improving mental processes:
Ask Questions:
Asking questions is the core of critical thinking. Your mind should be alive to possibilities. Seek out reasons behind rationales. If an issue contains several elements, separate the aspects and arrange them in different order.
Become a skeptic:
Never accept anything at face value. Know that people can make both sides of the argument simply by marshaling different facts. Realize that experts do not necessarily have the answers.
Become a reader:
Reading is to a person what fuel is to a car. It stimulates the mind to keep churning. It increases your vocabulary and challenges your perceptive. As you read take down thoughts and ideas. The act of writing down something helps you to remember it.
Make people your school of life:
Everyone has something to share. Never end a personal encounter without learning something.
Participating in Toastmasters is a great form of mental stimulation.
Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, October 14th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
Sharp thinking and reasoning processes are at the heart of clear speaking. However not enough people use their thinking skills. Mental stimulation improves brain function and protects against cognitive decline.
The brain is a muscle. Just as physical exercise helps keep your body in shape mental exercise helps your brain increase its power to analyze. You can improve your thinking processes at any age. As the Franklin Institute once wrote
‘Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action.’
Here are some suggestions for improving mental processes:
Ask Questions:
Asking questions is the core of critical thinking. Your mind should be alive to possibilities. Seek out reasons behind rationales. If an issue contains several elements, separate the aspects and arrange them in different order.
Become a skeptic:
Never accept anything at face value. Know that people can make both sides of the argument simply by marshaling different facts. Realize that experts do not necessarily have the answers.
Become a reader:
Reading is to a person what fuel is to a car. It stimulates the mind to keep churning. It increases your vocabulary and challenges your perceptive. As you read take down thoughts and ideas. The act of writing down something helps you to remember it.
Make people your school of life:
Everyone has something to share. Never end a personal encounter without learning something.
Participating in Toastmasters is a great form of mental stimulation.
Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, October 14th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Rich Pickings
Speak Easy Club Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest was opened by the Club President, Margaret O’ Regan. Toastmaster Gerry Kelleher chaired the meeting.
Four experienced speakers took part in the Humorous Speech contest. Speaker No 1 Jerry Mulcahy’s speech was entitled ‘You don’t have to believe it’. He spoke humorously about the various drinks and cocktails available today but concluded that his orange with ice was what gave him his good health.
Gerry was followed by Margaret O’ Regan with a speech entitled ‘Free holiday how are you?’ Margaret was wined and dined in France with her family but pay back time came when she had to return the compliment and invite the French family to her Irish abode. A good time was had by all but not without parting with some hard earned cash.
Next came Michael Cronin who has successfully represented Speak Easy Toastmasters in the District 71 final and came home with the Silver. Michael’s speech on this occasion was entitled ‘Rich Pickings’. He gave several tips on how to embrace the recession during these recessionary times including substituting candles for 100 watt bulbs as well as taking out batteries out of alarm clocks in the morning and putting them back in at night (this action would allow the batteries to last for a year).
The final speaker was Michael Walsh who discussed the value of ‘Ghost Writers’.
He had a humorous take on pseudo experts in sport or weight management or other such so called important people who decide to publish books at Christmas to augment their already full bank account.
The humorous speech contest was followed by the table topic contest. Here there were 5 contestants who spoke on the topic ‘The best thing about memories is creating them. What do you think?’
All contestants were winners but unfortunately as in all competitions there can be only one winner and one runner up. (There were Judges from outside clubs so all was fair as they say in love and war.)
The winner of the humorous speech contest was Michael Walsh and the runner up was Michael Cronin. The winner of the table topic contest was Pat Sexton and the runner up was Liam Flynn.
Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, October 14th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
Four experienced speakers took part in the Humorous Speech contest. Speaker No 1 Jerry Mulcahy’s speech was entitled ‘You don’t have to believe it’. He spoke humorously about the various drinks and cocktails available today but concluded that his orange with ice was what gave him his good health.
Gerry was followed by Margaret O’ Regan with a speech entitled ‘Free holiday how are you?’ Margaret was wined and dined in France with her family but pay back time came when she had to return the compliment and invite the French family to her Irish abode. A good time was had by all but not without parting with some hard earned cash.
Next came Michael Cronin who has successfully represented Speak Easy Toastmasters in the District 71 final and came home with the Silver. Michael’s speech on this occasion was entitled ‘Rich Pickings’. He gave several tips on how to embrace the recession during these recessionary times including substituting candles for 100 watt bulbs as well as taking out batteries out of alarm clocks in the morning and putting them back in at night (this action would allow the batteries to last for a year).
The final speaker was Michael Walsh who discussed the value of ‘Ghost Writers’.
He had a humorous take on pseudo experts in sport or weight management or other such so called important people who decide to publish books at Christmas to augment their already full bank account.
The humorous speech contest was followed by the table topic contest. Here there were 5 contestants who spoke on the topic ‘The best thing about memories is creating them. What do you think?’
All contestants were winners but unfortunately as in all competitions there can be only one winner and one runner up. (There were Judges from outside clubs so all was fair as they say in love and war.)
The winner of the humorous speech contest was Michael Walsh and the runner up was Michael Cronin. The winner of the table topic contest was Pat Sexton and the runner up was Liam Flynn.
Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, October 14th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
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