Public Speaking Workshops

The Art of Public Speaking
Our Public Speaking training workshops are designed for both the inexperienced presenter or as a refresher for more experienced members of your company or organization. Our training workshops are offered in most major cities across the United States and Canada. All public speaking skills training workshops are small which will give you all the face to face time you need with our training team.

Our public speaking training workshops (presentation training) will eliminate your fear or inexperience in public speaking and dramatically improve your speaking skills whether you are persuading, educating, or informing. Our highly interactive workshops focus on professional business communication including preparation, structure, delivery, and strategy, use of visual aids, and handling questions & answers. Contact us today by phone at 713-627-7700 or via email: service@publicspeakingtraining.net

Public Speaking Skills Training: Persuasive Speaking's Deal Clincher - Visualization

A good persuasive talk will be focused on the audience's needs and designed to target the feelings that motivate their decision-making. It will be organized in a way to lead the audience's thinking down your path, whether your objective is DO, TRUE or VIEW. If done effectively, you could use persuasive speaking to convince your audience to DO what you want, or to prove to them that something is TRUE, or to sway them to your point of VIEW.

But there is a crucial technique in persuasive speaking that could well clinch the deal for you. Maybe the audience is not quite sure - they're still on the fence, still undecided. You can bring it all home by painting a picture for them of how things would be if they do or do not accept your proposal. Help them see the beneficial outcome of doing what you propose or the negative outcome if they don't.

Suppose you have a persuasive speaking engagement with a group of teenagers about the dangers of drinking and driving. You might wrap up by saying:

"Imagine yourself at a funeral, attended by hundreds of people - all your friends and family members. Everyone is crying. Your parents are so grief-stricken, they cannot talk. Everywhere, you hear mourners lamenting the loss of such a young life. The funeral is yours - because you chose to drink and then drive. You thought you could handle it, but it was the alcohol doing the thinking. You never thought this could happen to you, but getting behind the wheel after drinking sealed your fate. You just wanted to have a little fun. But your choice has not only taken your life, it has shattered the lives of all those who knew you."

That's an example of a negative visualization. Negative visualization is powerful in persuasive speaking because it makes us uncomfortable. We don't want to experience the "bad" outcome.

But positive visualization could also be an effective persuasive speaking tool. Suppose you were trying to persuade a community group to create a park in a vacant lot:

"Instead of this eyesore we have now, wouldn't you like to see beauty? Imagine this space alive with greenery and flowers, with a pond and a fountain. The playground would provide your children with a safe, fun place to play. You could stroll or run on its paths for exercise, or you could sit on one of the park benches and enjoy the view. There could be picnic tables so you could enjoy eating outdoors. A place for dogs to run free. It could be a haven for recreation, relaxation and appreciation in our community."

If you use vsualization in persuasive speaking to put your audience "in the picture" of your outcome, it can often be the deciding factor to move them to accept your proposal.

Barbara Busey: link

Subject: Public Speaking Skills Training