THE SEVEN MINUTE STAR. Florian Mueck

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      But a passionate networker like B (in Image 2) feels uncomfortable right away. B is not interested in talking about tomorrow’s weather, or about sports, and the economy is too depressing right now. B doesn’t find any of those topics exciting or even interesting — not at a cocktail party.

      Instead, B is interested in what lies beneath the surface. And I, of course, am B. I like to dive right into the ice-cold water and say: “You know why I always talk to the people who are standing alone at cocktail parties? When I was 17, I went on a skiing trip — all by myself. I was young, and very shy, and I couldn’t talk to anyone. I remember what an awful feeling it was, so today I like to talk to the people at a party who are standing all by themselves. Maybe they’re lonely.”

      And guess what? In little encounters like this, I’ve never had someone run away from me — no matter what you might have predicted. No, they usually will say something like: “That ’s interesting — and don’t we all get lonely sometimes? Actually, I remember...” And I’ve heard some very interesting stories — much more interesting than the next day’s weather, or even the Superbowl.

      You get the point. By refusing to be superficial, by being authentic and transparent, B rapidly gains the confidence of A, and something interesting can happen.

      It’s the same when you’re speaking in public — you also have to dive into the water, even if at first it feels cold. Share anecdotes with the audience: stories about your problems with dating when you were younger, stories about your mistake of drinking and driving, stories about your idiosyncrasies, even stories about the loss of a loved one or about a broken marriage. The audience will hang on your every word. You’ll be getting to them on an emotional level.

      So, what are the limits to transparency? You set the limit. Set it high!

      Be Jack Lemmon — be transparent!

      STEP THREE

      30 Seconds

      Do you remember the cat who is so incredibly confident it can stand up to speak in front of 500 Rottweilers? Confidently the cat takes 500 leashes in its paw and pulls gently but firmly, creating a connective tension with the audience. When you speak in public, you have about 30 seconds, more or less, to create that tension between yourself and your listeners, to gain and hold their attention. Your very first sentence is the most crucial rhetorical tool you’ll ever have — it’s like the cat’s paw, because you must use it to grab your audience’s attention.

      Boring George

      You’ve heard of Curious George, but have you heard about Boring George? If we take a look at average speakers from all over the world — at congresses, banquets, seminars, fairs, weddings, or anywhere — we usually hear a standard, and boring, beginning:

      “Hello everybody, and good evening! My name is George Boring, and it is a great honor and pleasure for me to have the opportunity tonight to talk to you about mobility in the 21st century...”

      Is that a powerful beginning? If you were in the audience, would it grab your attention? Is this the powerful rhetoric that will blast all the way to the back row of a room filled with 500 guests who just had one too many glasses of red wine?

      Let’s take a closer look at this general, standard opening that we’ll hear 99% of the time.

      We Know You, George

      George is already well known to us: his name appeared on the invitation, and again on the program, and if that weren’t enough, somebody introduced him by name just a few moments ago. We know you, George! And we know what you’re going to talk about, too, because that’s on the invitation too, as well as on the agenda, and maybe on the sign outside the door as well. We know we’re right in the middle of the evening, and we certainly know that it’s a great honor and pleasure for you to be speaking to us — how could it be anything else? In short, you’ve been talking for almost a minute, but you haven’t yet said anything we don’t already know — so we’re already half-way to falling asleep!

      I’ve Never Sold A Car In My Life

      Once, when I was with KPMG in Barcelona, I had to present the results of a market study whose objective was to analyze the various success factors for retail automobile sales in Spain. We’d invited seven top representatives of auto manufacturers, the country’s biggest importer, and its biggest retailer, and a prominent professor of entrepreneurship, Pedro Nueno of IESE Business School. It was quite an exclusive group.

      Had I been inspired by George Boring’s standard beginning, I probably would have started my presentation like this:

      “Hello everybody! СКАЧАТЬ