[Part 2 of 5] Speak, Present With Confidence!

What Can You Learn About How to Persuade & Influence from Martin Luther King?

In the last training (part 1), we talked about one of the greatest speech of all time.

If you’ve missed that training, you can click here to go back to it.

For today, we’re going to talk about why that speech was so impactful.

Why was Martin Luther King able to persuade & influence?

What are some techniques that you can use to become a confident speaker or presenter?

As you know, having great communication skills can have a significant impact in your career in today’s world.

Because when you’re able to speak confidently & persuasively, you can:

■ Express ideas convincingly
■ Connect with people.
■ Persuade others.
■ Build trust and rapport.
■ Form a huge network of contacts.
■ Co-exist with others harmoniously.
■ Avoid and handle conflicts.
■ Become more likable.
■ Establish a good reputation.
■ Improve self-esteem.
■ Work in a team effectively.
■ Understand other people well.
■ Gain respect from others.
■ Excel in job interviews.
■ Land better jobs.
■ Creating first and lasting pleasant impressions.
■ And a whole lot more.

So what was One Thing that Martin Luther King did that you too can apply?

One of the most important thing is to know who your LISTENER is.

So how does knowing your listener help?

You see, many people I’ve trained get nervous.

They get nervous and worries if they will be likable.

They get nervous either days or minutes before they have to speak.

This also happened to me.

I remember always being so afraid to speak up.

Ultimately, I realised why.

One of the big reasons why I go so nervous was because…

I was worried about other people’s judgment.

From then on, I changed my perspective.

What exactly can you do?

Instead of: Thinking and worrying if you’ll be interesting.

Do this: Change your perspective and be interested in WHO your listener is.

When you do this, you’ll start to:

• Have a desire to find out about your listener
• And you’ll think “What can I say or share that is beneficial to the listener?”

This is something that Martin Luther King did as well.

He spoke about things that his listeners could relate to.

Here’s 2 examples:

1. “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.”
2. “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”

You’ll notice how he uses specific words or situations that the people he was speaking to can relate to.

We may not understand or relate but his listeners can.

In fact, he knew that the people he was speaking to were mostly working adults.

Why is why he gave explanations which working adults can relate to.

At one part he said:

“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

He explained how the Negro people are still not given equal rights by using a Metaphor that working adults can relate to.

The use of Metaphors is always a powerful way to explain something.

Metaphors are like making use of an object or situation to explain an idea.

It’s almost like helping people to visualise your explanation.

For example, if you’re giving a statistic during a presentation…

Instead of just presenting “By 2065, Japan’s population is projected to shrink from 127million to 88million, it’s about a  30% decline.”

You can further elaborate it through the use of a Metaphor and say:

“That’s almost like… 5 times the population of New York. Just imagine seeing no one on the train anymore.”

So in summary:

• Change your perspective and be interested in your LISTENER
• Use metaphors that people can relate to

Beyond just what he said, there are also other X-factors that will have a significant impact on your ability to persuade and influence.

Other X-factors will affect how confident you look.

It’ll affect whether people will believe or doubt what you say.

This is what I’ll talk to you about and reveal to you in part 5 of this training.

As for now, in the next part…

I’m going to share with you how you can captivate your listeners.

How do you keep people listening to you attentively without being distracted?

Or how do you speak and be a memorable person?

I’ll share with you how in the next training!

 

To Your Future,
Darren Tay