你有沒有思考過,怎樣用點小小的表演技巧,讓聽眾緊跟你的話語?如果你挑選聽眾來協(xié)助你展示,或是把你的觀點戲劇化地表現(xiàn)出來,這樣聽眾對你的注意力就會顯著地提升。這是因為當聽眾中的其中一個被講演者帶入“表演”中時,聽眾們就會很敏銳地去注意所發(fā)生的事。正如很多講演者說的,講臺上的人和講臺下的人之間有一面墻,那么你就可以利用聽眾的參與,推倒這面墻。Did it ever occur to you that you can keep an audience hanging on every word by using a little showmanship? The moment you choose some member of the audience to help you demonstrate a point or dramatize an idea, you will be rewarded by a noticeable rise in attention. Being aware of themselves as an audience, the members of it are keenly conscious of what happens when one of its own is brought into "the act" by the speaker. If there is a wall between the man on the platform and the people out there, as many speakers say, the use of audience participation will break that wall down.
有個講演者為了說明汽車在使用剎車后,還必須前進多長的距離才能夠停住,他請前排一位聽眾站起來幫他展示汽車在不同速度之下,這個距離有什么變化。這個聽眾拿著鋼制卷尺的一端,沿著走道把它拉出45英尺……在這位聽眾的演示過程中,我注意到其他所有的聽眾是多么的全神貫注。那條卷尺除了能生動地展現(xiàn)講演者的論點外,還真成了聽者與講者間一座溝通的橋梁!若不是用上這招,聽眾們關心的恐怕還是晚飯吃什么,或者晚上電視節(jié)目是什么呢!I remember a speaker who was explaining the distance it takes to stop a car after the brakes have been applied. He asked one of his listeners in the front row to stand and help demonstrate how this distance varied with the speed of the car. The man in the audience took the end of a steel tape measure and carried it forty-five feet down the aisle, where he stopped on a signal from the speaker. As I watched this procedure I couldn't help but notice how the whole audience became engrossed in the talk. I said to myself that the tape measure, in addition to being a graphic illustration of the speaker's point, was certainly a line of communication between that speaker and this audience. Without that touch of showmanship the audience might still be concerned with what it was going to have for dinner or what programs would be on TV that evening.
我還有一些自己最喜歡使用的方法,比如提問。我喜歡請聽眾站起來跟著我重復一句話,或舉手回答問題。帕西·H.懷亭有本書叫《如何在講演和寫作中加入幽默》,也提供了一些怎樣讓聽眾參與的忠告。他建議讓聽眾表決一些事情,邀請他們幫助解決問題?!按_保自己的思想是正確的”,懷亭先生說,“正確的思想會讓講演不像背誦,它可以獲得聽眾的反應,把聽眾變成事業(yè)上的伙伴?!蔽蚁矚g他把聽眾描述為“事業(yè)上的伙伴”。這是本章所討論的關鍵。如果能讓聽眾參與,你便把合伙人的權利送給了他們。One of my favourite methods of getting audience participation is simply to ask questions and to get responses, I like to get the audience on its feet, repeating a sentence after me, or answering my questions by raising their hands. Percy H. Whiting, whose book How to Put humor in Your Speaking and Writing contains some valuable advice on the subject of audience participation, suggests having your listeners vote on something, or inviting them to help you solve a problem. "Get yourself in the right state of mind," says Mr. Whiting, "a state of mind that recognizes that a speech is unlike a recitation-that it is designed to get audience reaction-to make the audience a partner in the enterprise." I like that description of the audience as "a partner in the enterprise". It is the key to what this chapter is all about. If you use audience participation you confer the rights of partnership on your listeners.