The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication-By Philip Yaffe
The Mathematics
of Persuasive
Communication Oral
Presentations
by Philip Yaffe
At first
glance mathematics and persuasive
communication – writing, and particularly public speaking - public
speaking would seem to have little in common. After all,
mathematics is an objective science, whilst public
speaking involves voice quality, inflection, eye contact,
personality, body language, and other subjective components.
However,
under the surface they are very similar.
Above
anything else, the success of an oral presentation depends on the precision of
its structure. Mathematics is all about precision. It is therefore not so odd to
think that applying some of the concepts of mathematics to oral presentations
could make them substantially more effective.
As they
say in the film industry, three key factors go into making a successful movie:
the script, the script, and the script. Likewise, three key factors go into
making a successful speech: the structure, the structure, and the structure.
Not
convinced? Then let's start with something less radical.
I think
we can all agree that good speaking is related to good writing. If you can write
a good text, then you are well on your way to preparing a good oral
presentation. Therefore, if you improve your writing, you will also improve your
speaking.
To
simplify matters, from now on we will talk mainly about good writing, because in
most cases the same ideas apply directly to good speaking.
Know what you are doing
Many
commercial companies do not live up to their potential - and sometimes even go
bankrupt - because they fail to correctly define the business they are in.
Perfume
companies, for example, do not sell fragrant liquids, but rather love, romance,
seductiveness, self-esteem, etc. Bio-food companies do not sell organic produce,
but rather honesty, purity, nature, etc. Automobile manufacturers do not sell
transportation, but rather freedom, adventure, spontaneity, prestige, etc. The
fact is, each industry, even each individual product, may have to determine what
it is truly all about - and there are thousands of them!
Writers
are lucky. There are numerous variations to what we do, but there are really
only two fundamental types of writing. It is important to recognize this,
because not only are they quite different, in some respects they are exactly
opposite. So unless we clearly recognize which type of writing we are doing -
and how it differs from the other one - we will almost certainly commit serious
errors.
What are
the two types? And how do they differ?
|
Creative Writing Texts
such as short stories, novels, poems, radio plays, stage plays,
television scripts, film scripts, etc. The
fundamental purpose of creative writing is to amuse and entertain. |
Expository Writing Texts
such as memos, reports, proposals, training manuals, newsletters,
research papers, etc. The
fundamental purpose of expository writing is to instruct and inform. |
Essential attitude towards expository writing
Because
the objectives of creative and expository writing are so different, before
striking a key you must adopt the appropriate attitude towards the type of
writing you are doing.
Creative
writing attitude
Everyone
wants to read want what you are going to write.
After all, who doesn't want to be amused and entertained?
Expository
writing attitude
No
one wants to read what you are going to write.
Most people don't like to be instructed and informed. They probably would much
prefer to be doing something else.
The
importance of recognizing and adopting the "expository writing
attitude" cannot be over-stated, because it can dramatically change the
very nature of what you are writing. Here are a
couple of three
examples.
A.
Corporate image brochure
I was
once commissioned to write a corporate image brochure. Two things are certain
about these expensive, glossy booklets:
- Almost
all companies of any size feel compelled to produce them.
- Virtually
no one ever reads them.
Starting from
the attitude that no one would want to read what I was about to write, I created
a brochure that people not only read. They actually called the company to
request additional copies to give to friends, clients and professional
colleagues!
B.
Stagnating product
On
another occasion, I was commissioned to develop an advertising campaign to revitalize
a product with stagnating sales. Applying the expository writing attitude, I
discovered that three of the product's key benefits were not being properly
exploited. Why? The manufacturer felt that everything about their
product was important, so for years they had been systematically burying these
three key benefits under an avalanche of other information of less interest to
potential buyers. The new campaign sharply focused on the key benefits;
virtually all other information was moved to the background or eliminated. As a
result, sales shot up some 40% in the first year.
With
some nuances, this self-same expository writing attitude can be - and should
be - applied to speaking, as well.
Essential approach to expository writing
Because
creative writing and expository writing have essentially different objectives
and attitudes, they require essentially different approaches.
Creative
writing approach
Play
with language to generate pleasure.
In other words, use your mastery of the language to amuse and entertain.
Expository
writing approach
Organize
information to generate interest.
Clever use of language will never make dull information interesting; however,
you can organize the information to make it interesting. Forget about literary
pyrotechnics. Concentrate on content.
We are
now going to leave creative writing, because most of what we write, and say, is
expository.
What do we mean by "good writing"?
We are
now ready to return to the notion of how mathematics applies to good writing,
and by extension to good speaking.
When
someone reads an expository text or listens to an expository speech, they are
likely to judge it as good or not good. You probably do this yourself. But what
do you actually mean when you say a text or a speech is "good".
After
some struggling, most people will usually settle on two criteria: clear
and concise.
Mathematics
depends on unambiguous definitions; if you are not clear about the problem, you
are unlikely to find the solution. So we are going to examine these criteria in
some detail in order to establish objective definitions - and even
quasi-mathematical formulae - for testing whether a text or a presentation
truly is "good".
A. Clarity
How do
you know that a text is clear?
If this
sounds like a silly question, try to answer it. You will probably do something
like this:
Question:
What makes this text clear?
Answer: It is easy to understand.
Question: What makes it easy to understand?
Answer: It is simple.
Question: What do you mean by simple?
Answer: It is clear.
You in
fact end up going around in a circle. The text is clear because it is easy to
understand . . . because it is simple . . . because it is clear.
"Clear",
"easy to understand", and "simple" are synonyms. Whilst
synonyms may have nuances, they do not have content, so you are still left to
your own subjective appreciation. But what you think is clear may not be clear
to someone else.
This is
why we give "clear" an objective definition, almost like a
mathematical formula. To achieve clarity -i.e. virtually everyone will agree
that it is clear - you must do three things.
- Emphasize
what is of key importance.
- De-emphasize
what is of secondary importance.
- Eliminate
what is of no importance.
In
short: CL
= EDE
Like
all mathematical formulae, this one works only if you know how to apply it,
which requires judgment.
In this
case, you must first decide what is of key importance, i.e. what
are the key ideas you want your readers to take away from your text? This is not
always easy to do. It is far simpler to say that everything is of key
importance, so you put in everything you have. But there is a dictum that warns:
If everything is important, then nothing is. In other words, unless you
first do the work of defining what you really want your readers to know, they
won't do it for you. They will get lost in your text and either give up or come
out the other end not knowing what it is they have read.
What
about the second element of the formula, de-emphasize what is of secondary
importance?
That
sounds easy enough. You don't want key information and ideas to get lost in
details. If you clearly emphasize what is of key importance - via headlines,
Italics, underlining, or simply how you organize the information - then
whatever is left over is automatically de-emphasized.
Now the
only thing left to do is eliminate what is of no importance.
But how
do you distinguish between what is of secondary importance and what is of no
importance? Once again, this requires judgment, which is helped by the following
very important test.
Secondary
importance is anything that supports and/or elaborates one or more of the key
ideas. If you judge that a piece of information in fact does support or
elaborate one or more key ideas, then you keep it. If not, you eliminate it.
B. Conciseness
How do
you know that a text is concise?
If this
once again sounds like a silly question, let's try to answer it.
Question:
What makes this text concise?
Answer: It is short.
Question: What do you mean by short?
Answer: It doesn't have too many words.
Question: How do you know it doesn't have too many words?
Answer: Because it is concise.
So once
again we end up going around in a circle. The text is concise because it is
short . . . because it doesn't have too many words . . . because it is concise.
Once
again, we have almost a mathematical formula to solve the problem. To achieve
conciseness, your text should meet two criteria. It must be as:
- Long
as necessary
- Short
as possible
In symbols: CO
= LS
If you
have fulfilled the criteria of "clarity" correctly, you already
understand "as long as necessary". It means covering all the ideas of
key importance you have identified, and all the ideas of secondary importance
needed to support and/or elaborate these key ideas.
Note
that nothing is said here about the number of words, because it is irrelevant.
If it takes 500 words to be "as long as necessary", then 500 words
must be used. If it takes 1500 words, then this is all right too. The
important point is that everything that should be in the text is fully there.
Then
what is meant by "as short as possible"?
Once
again, this has nothing do to with the number of words. It is useless to say at
the beginning, "I must not write more than 300 words on this subject",
because 500 words may be the minimum necessary.
"As
short as possible" means staying as close as you can to the minimum. But
not because people prefer short texts; in the abstract the terms
"long" and "short" have no meaning. The important point is
that all words beyond the minimum tend to reduce clarity.
We
should not be rigid about this. If being "as long as necessary" can be
done in 500 words and you use 520, this is probably a question of individual
style. It does no harm. However, if you use 650 words, it is almost certain that
the text will not be completely clear r- and that the reader will become
confused, bored or lost.
In sum,
conciseness means saying what needs to be said in the minimum amount of words. Conciseness:
- Aids
clarity by ensuring best structuring of information.
- Holds
reader interest by providing maximum information in minimum time.
C. Density
Density
is a less familiar concept than clarity and conciseness, but is equally
important. In mathematical
form, density consists of:
- Precise
information
- Logically
linked
In other
words: D
= PL
Importance of precise
information
Suppose
you enter a room where there are two other people and say, "It's very hot
today." One of those people comes from Helsinki; in his mind he interprets
"hot" to mean about 23°C. The other one comes from Khartoum; to him
"hot" means 45°C.
You are
off to a rather bad start, because each one has a totally different idea of what
you want to say. But suppose you say, "It's very hot today; the temperature
is 28° C." Now there is no room for confusion. They both know quite
clearly that it is 28° C outside and that you consider this to be very hot.
Using as
much precise information as possible in a text gives the writer two significant
advantages:
- Mind
Control
Let's not be embarrassed by the term "mind control", because this is precisely what the good expository writer wants to achieve. He needs for the reader's mind to go only where he directs it and nowhere else.
Because they can be interpreted in unknown ways, ambiguous terms (so-called "weasel words") such as "hot", "cold", "big", "small", "good", "bad", etc., allow the reader's mind to escape from the writer's control. An occasional lapse is not critical; however, too many weasel words in a text will inevitably lead to reader confusion, boredom and disinterest. - Reader
Confidence
Using precise information generates confidence, because it tells the reader that the writer really knows what he is talking about.
Reader confidence is important in any kind of text, but it is crucial in argumentation. If you are trying to win a point, the last thing you want is the reader to challenge your data, but this is the first reaction imprecise writing will provoke. Precise writing ensures that the discussion will be about the implications of the information, i.e. what conclusions should be drawn, not whether the whole thing needs to go back for further investigation.
Importance of logical linking
Precise
data (facts) by themselves are insufficient. To be meaningful, data must be organized
to create information, i.e. help the reader understand.
There
are two important tests to apply when converting data into information:
- Relevance
Is a particular piece of data really needed? As we have seen, unnecessary data damages understanding and ultimately undermines confidence. Therefore, any data that do not either aid understanding or promote confidence should be eliminated. - Misconceptions
The logical link between data must be made explicit to prevent the reader from coming to false conclusions. For example: a specific situation may be confused for a general one; credit for an achievement may seem to belong to only one person when it really belongs to a group; a company policy may appear to apply only in very specific circumstances rather than in all circumstances, etc.
To ensure that a logical link is clear, place the two pieces of data as close to each other as possible, preferably right next to each other.
When data are widely separated, their logical relationship is masked and the reader is unlikely to make the connection.
What do you want? What do your readers want?
I
frequently ask non-professional writers what they are thinking when they sit
down at the keyboard to compose their text. The answer is usually something
like, "How do I want to present my material?" "What tone and
style should I use?" "In what order should I put my key ideas?"
And so on.
However,
if you start with the correct attitude, i.e. no one wants to read what you
write, your first task is none of these. Ahead of anything else, you must find
reasons why people should spend their time to read what you write.
In
general, you cannot force people to read what they don't want to, even if they
are being paid to do so.
For
example, you produce a report defining opportunities for increased sales and
profits. However, if it is not well written, even people who must read it as
part of their job are unlikely to give it their full attention. On the other
hand, if they immediately see their own self-interest in reading what you have
written, they will do so gladly and with full attention. In fact, you probably
couldn't stop them from reading it!
There
are various methods to generate such a strong desire to read, depending on the
type of readers and the type of information. Whatever the most appropriate
device, the crucial thing is to recognize the imperative need to use it. Until
this need is met, nothing else is of any importance.
Editor's note:
Reading is an isolated activity and listening to a speech is a social one.
Therefore, whilst the underlying principles of good writing and good speaking
are constant, they
way they are applied can be markedly different. In
the 'I' of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like
a Professional,
Mr. Yaffe's
recently published book, In
the 'I' of the Storm clearly explains these differences. It also offers several
appendices with cogent examples and pertinent, effective exercises.
Philip Yaffe is the
author of In
the 'I' of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like
a Professional.
He is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street
Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a
course in good writing and good public speaking in Brussels, Belgium. In
the 'I' of the Storm is available either in a print version or
electronic version from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (www.Storypublishers.be)
and Amazon (www.amazon.com).
For
further information, please contact:
Philip
Yaffe
61 avenue des Noisetiers
B -1170 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 660 04 05
Email
phil.yaffe@yahoo.com
philipyaffe@yahoo.co.uk