14Win the War of Words With an Audience
Because someday you’ll be arguing to an audience of a few or many
In this chapter you’ll discover the winning plays for arguing to an audience, plays that are different from those you’d use at less formal meetings.
The words you’ll craft for a listener’s ears are not the same as the words you’ll craft for a reader’s eyes. Readers can slow their pace to reread, to absorb, and to understand—luxuries that listeners don’t have.
Write out a rough draft of what you’ll say. Even if your talk will be ad-libbed. Unprepared speakers who drift and digress blow their chance to score. Unprepared speakers suffer the Dan Quayle Syndrome: a speech with a beginning, a muddle, and an end. “Hawaii is a unique state. It is ...
Get How to Win Any Argument, Revised Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
