On how to write ‘fast’
“[In high school] I was a subscriber to the Great Lead Theory, which teaches that a story must have an opening paragraph so powerful that it leaves few readers still standing. Grantland Rice’s ‘Four Horsemen’ lead was my ideal. [Sportswriter Bill] Lyon watched as I ripped one sheet of copy paper after another out of my typewriter and finally gave me the most useful advice I have ever received as a writer: ‘One, don’t wait for inspiration, just start the damn thing. Two, once you begin, keep on until the end. How do you know how the story should begin until you find out where it’s going?’ These rules saved me half a career’s worth of time and gained me a reputation as the fastest writer in town. I’m not faster. I spend less time not writing.”
Roger Ebert  (One place to find this except from Ebert is here).

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Our blogging colleague Bob Morris taught me the phrase “the knowing-doing gap.”  I didn’t need to be taught the concept.  I already knew it.  My life has more than its share of its own “knowing-doing” gaps.  There is so much I know to “do” that I don’t do.

In giving speeches, presentations, here is a big one:

We know to “get the audience’s attention” at the beginning of our speech.  But we don’t put much effort into doing it.

As a result, we “begin poorly” and never quite gain the full attention our audience.

Most speakers know the value of a good, attention-getting introduction.  But they do not work very hard at developing their own attention-getting introductions.  This is a mistake.

Maybe they do not “do” it, though they “know” it, because this is a hard skill to develop.

Dr. Tom Hollihan, from the University of Southern California, in a simple, to-the-point, brilliant paragraph, tells us why we need to master this skill (watch the video of his paragraph, from my earlier blog post, Arouse and Fulfill – Formula for Effective Presentations):

The arousal and fulfillment of your audience’s desires…  You want to pique their interest, and then you want to satisfy that interest that you’ve piqued – and if you fail in either regard, you haven’t had an effective message.  If you don’t arouse them, they never get engaged, they never connect, and never listen.  If you don’t fulfill them, they walk away, saying well, you know, that wasn’t a very satisfying talk.

So, back to the Ebert quote.  Don’t start your preparation looking for your attention getting “hook.”  Just prepare; write your speech.

And then, once it is written, stare at it – ponder it – think about it, and ask:  What is the best way to get my audience to pay attention to this speech?  You want to arouse their interest with a terrific “hook.”  Work hard at this.  Master those first few seconds of your presentations.  The audience will then be “sucked in,” pay attention, and might actually agree with you, and follow your recommendations/arguments, from the body of your speech.

Write your speech.  Then, write the perfect, attention-getting hook to begin this speech you have written.  This is your communication tip of the day.