卡耐基演講·1.用事例展開講演

羅威爾·陶瑪士是舉世聞名的新聞分析家、演講家和電影制片人，在講“阿拉伯的勞倫斯”時，他這樣開始：Lowell Thomas, who has made a world-wide reputation as a news analyst, lecturer, and motion picture producer, began a talk on Lawrence of Arabia with this statement:

“一天，我在耶路撒冷的基督街上走著，忽然遇到一位身著華麗的東方君主袍的男子，他身側掛著一把先知穆罕默德的傳人所佩掛的黃金彎刀……”I was going down Christian Street in Jerusalem one day when I met a man clad in the gorgeous robes of an oriental potentate. At his side hung the curved gold sword worn only by the descendants of the prophet Mohammed...

他便這樣開始他的講演了——以自己的經驗故事開始，這便是吸引注意力的因素。這種開場方式十分管用，幾乎可以擔保你不會失敗。它不斷往前推進，我們緊緊相隨，因為我們已經進入某種情境當中，成為其中的一部分，我們想知道將會發生什么事。除了利用故事之外，我不知道還有什么別的方法可以用于展開講演且更具有驅使的力量。And he was off-off with a story from his experience. That is what hooks attention. That kind of opening is almost foolproof. It can hardly fail. It moves, it marches. We follow because we identify ourselves as part of a situation and we want to know what is going to happen. I know of no more compelling method of opening a talk than by the use of a story.

我也有過這樣的開始：One of my own talks which I have given many times begins with these words:

“我大學剛畢業后，一天晚上我在南達科他州的忽隆街上走著，突然見一個人站在一個箱子上對著人群講話。我很好奇，所以也加入到人群中去聽?！阌袥]有注意到，’這個人說，‘你從未見過一個禿頭的印第安人？或從未見過禿頂的女人，是不是？現在我來告訴你為什么……’”Just after I had finished college, I was walking one night down a street in Huron, south Dakota, and I saw a man standing on a box talking to a crowd of people. I was curious, so I became part of the group listening to him. "Do you know," the speaker was saying, "that you never see a baldheaded Indian? Or you never see a baldheaded woman, do you? Now, I'm going to tell you why..."

沒有停滯，沒有把情況“溫熱”起來的只言片語。因此，你只要直接沿事件推進，便可輕易抓住聽眾的注意力。No stalling. No "warm-up" statements. By launching directly into an incident, you can make it easy to capture an audience's attention.

講演者以自己的經驗故事開始，就可以立于不敗之地。因為這不需要去冥思苦想，不用害怕理念遺失。他講述的是自己的經驗，是他部分生活的再造，是他自身筋脈的一部分。所以，他講演時那種自信閑適的神態就能幫助他與聽眾建立起友好的關系。A speaker who begins a talk with a story from his experience is on safe ground, for there is no groping for words, no loss of ideas. The experience he is relating is his, a recreation, as it were, of part of his life, the very fiber of his being. The result? A self-assured, relaxed manner which will help a speaker establish himself on a friendly basis with an audience.