You've done a good job of looking at all the possible messages you could try to use to persuade someone, you've narrowed it down to your top five. You're comfortable with them. But here's the problem we haven't addressed yet. If the people you're speaking to don't remember your messages, two seconds later how they can act on it, how are you actually going to persuade them unless you're just taking a vote the second you finish, if you really want to persuade people to take an action to support a new initiative, approve a budget, buy from you become a new client, you've got to package your messages in a way that's actually memorable. This is the biggest problem so many speakers have now it's related to that problem I told you about earlier of doing the data dump. When you dump way too much data.
Nobody remembers anything. But even if you've narrowed your messages down to the top five doesn't guarantee People will remember your messages. Let me give you the easy way. The lazy man the lazy woman's way of doing it, tell a story. Just tell a story involving a real conversation you had about a real problem with a real person, where it was, how the conflict was resolved, how you felt about it. All of us tell stories all the time.
And that's what human beings do when they want to see something, visualize it, taste it, touch it, realize it really share with another human being, that's what makes it easier for people to absorb it. So when someone says, TJ, we got a whole bunch of beginners here, some of them are really fearful. I'm not sure you're the good fit because you just seem so comfortable and articulate. You're a natural born speaker. So well actually, not was very shy as a kid, but it took me a long time to get comfortable. And I am comfortable in part, because I've had a lot of failures and a lot of mistakes.
My worst experience ever speaking, was more than 20 years ago, I was on a political talk radio show in South Florida. And I'll never forget, I had advocated for a particular candidate who was currently in office. And I said something and the host got very angry with me. He pulled the microphone right out of my hand, say, Mr. Walker, I have more respect for a Klansmen than I do for you. I looked a little shocked, surprised, but I thought, well, I'm already a tough media consultant presentation coach persuasion coach. I'm not gonna let him intimidate me.
I'm pulling the microphone back. Yeah, yeah, mystery stick, whatever. I really think before I can say anything else, he reaches under the console. It's a talk radio show, no one can see it. He's in a big chair looking down. I'm on this tiny little chair like a little child looking up.
He reaches under the console the table where all the microphones are. He pulls a gun on me. Talk Radio, nobody can see it. Now, do you see my point? Mr. Walker? You know when I said at that moment?
Not much. It was my worst speaking moment ever. But here's the thing. I didn't let that one awful media experience persuade me to never do anything in the media again or never speak. I like speaking I like speaking in the media, helping other people be persuasive when they're speaking in the meeting and giving presentations. And I just tried to learn from it.
In fact, I went back To that studio that radio station A few weeks later and went back many times on other people's shows I even guest hosted other shows on that radio station. Now, I stayed away from that guy, that one host I think he uses lunatic. But I didn't let it bother me. I just tried to learn from it. Now, the good news is every interview I've ever done since every speech I've ever given since Piece of cake, nobody's pulled a gun on me. So I try to learn from my mistakes.
Okay, what did I just do there? A client surfaced a point where they want someone that is a trainer that their people can relate to. Many of whom may be awful speakers, beginners. uncomfortable. And I can't just say well, you know, I've been an uncomfortable speaker. I wanted to illustrate that message with a story.
The story had Character me another character, Mr. Sick the talk show host has setting the talk radio station had some dialogue conversation had a problem had gone on, had feeling emotion, it scared and had a resolution. Yeah, I did lousy there. But I learned from it and went back and kept doing it because I have a passion for. So the story takes less than 90 seconds to tell. But it's more memorable. Sometimes I've bumped into clients 1015 years later, they'll say, hey, DJ, and the guns pointed at you lately.
And by the way, I didn't get shot. There was no blood out. So that's the beauty of stories is it forms memory. So this is not a course on storytelling or even public speaking. I've got a lot of other courses on Udemy if you want to go deeper in that, but just remember telling somebody a message, straight in a straightforward way. doesn't stick it doesn't work.
You've got to package it with a story and the work and involve an actual conversation you had with a customer client, prospect colleague, the batter. People say to me all that will teach you can I just make it up? You could, but that's a lot harder. The easiest thing and I want to make life easy for you. The easiest thing is just to really have an actual conversation with a real person that makes the point you're trying to get across. Do that it's going to be easier for you.
Guess Who else it's easier for the person you're trying to persuade