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Can persuasiveness get a 1956 Cadillac restored for free? Read on. . . .

Let’s begin with the truth: I’m not a lawyer. I am a professional writer. After studying this article, you will have the tools to become an ex-traordinarily effective communicator. I know this because I’ve studied the art of crafting convincing communication. Publishers world-wide have granted me over 4 million words of print space—mostly with the intent to persuade. I have used each word judiciously. I’mfortunatetocountanumberof prestigiouslawfirmsamongmyclients. Here’s what they taught me: Lawyers are excellent tacticians. Bet-ter than any profession I’ve seen, lawyers doggedly research cases, prec-edents, and technical facts until the cows come home. They can talk the

Chris Malburgis Managing Editor of Writer’s Resource Group, a Los Angeles-based firm providing outsourced professional writing services to corporations and other enterprises. His extensive background includes treasury operations at Citicorp, where he was division assistant treasurer, public accounting at Ernst & Young, where he ran part of the business strategies consulting practice, shareholder value creation consulting at Kibel Green, where he ran that part of the practice, and investment banking at Global Capital Markets, where he most recently was a client-handling partner. Contact Chris at (310) 200-8648 or by email at CRM@WritersResourceGroup.com.

The Art Of Persuasive Communication

by Chris Malburg

26 | The Practical Lawyer October 2007

leg off a chair using phrases like “included but not limited to” without ever seeming to run out of breath. But many lawyers neglect the techniques of persuasion. How much more compelling would an argument, a closing summation, a brief, or any other case element be if—along with a sprinkling of unassailable arguments—attorneys used even a few of the elements of persuasive communication? Their cases and clients would instantly gain an ad-vantage over much of the legal profession. Here are the elements of persuasive communication.

PRe-FLigHt tHe bRieF • Before you begin draftingadocumentoraspeech,firstconsidertheaudience. They want to know what’s in it for them. Figure out what the audience wants, then structure your presenta-tion to deliver exactly that. Next, determine what you know about the audi-ence. How expert are they in your topic? Certainly they have an opinion. What is it? Figure out how to use what you know of the audience’s values and beliefs to persuade. After all, it’s easier to persuade some-one using their own arguments than yours. Speed bumps often come in the form of the au-dience’s hot buttons. Understand where these are buried by knowing the audience’s predispositions before you begin crafting your piece. Such prefer-ences often extend to facts the audience thinks of as indisputable. You may know otherwise. Yet, the harder you push, the less likely your argument is to convince. There’s no need to die on that hill. Instead, craft your piece to make its point without facing such a head-on collision. Think about the best vehicle for the presen-tation. Maybe we have no choice over the actual medium. However, within the structure of a given presentation we often have many options. For ex-ample, if you are making an oral presentation in

court, you may choose to use visual aids. Perhaps a video. If you are drafting a hardcopy document, you can include side bars, charts, graphs, and Web links. The point is, mold the mediums used for your presentation to achieve maximum impact. Make these decisions before drafting the piece.

begin At tHe enD AnD WORK bACK-WARDs • Persuasive communication leaves little to chance. Start by clearly identifying the desired outcome. What exactly should the audience think, feel, and do—especially do—after experiencing your presentation? Then work backwards, outlin-ing all the steps needed to get the audience to that

desired call to action. Next, engage the au-dience and draw them into your presentation. If you know your audience, you know the focus of their in-terests. Engage them with a good lead that parallels their interest. For example, a high

school journalism class was asked to write the lead for a story appearing in the school newspaper with these facts: Next Thursday all teachers would be in the state capital meeting with the governor. They will discuss a better use for scarce educational re-sources. What’s the lead? “No school next Thurs-day.” It grabs the audience by their interest. It en-gages them and draws them into the piece. At this point, you know three things:

Your audience, because you’ve studied them. You’ve decided what’s in your presentation for themandfiguredouthowtogiveittothem;What the audience should think, feel, and do afterthepresentation;The lead of the story that will engage the au-dience and draw them into your presentation.

stRUCtURe tHe MessAge in tHRee ACts • Most audiences expect a presentation to

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Persuasive communication leaves little to chance. Start by clearly identifying the desired outcome. What exactly should the audience think, feel, and do—especially do—after experiencing your presentation?

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contain a beginning, middle, and an end. Give them what they expect. Anything else may distract from the good points your presentation makes while your audience struggles to catch up with you.

Act i Act I should account for no more than 20 per-cent of the overall presentation. It provides the lead-in to your theme. Use Act I to introduce your thesis and to tell the audience what’s in this jour-ney for them. Many writers employ a short vignette complete with made-up characters to illustrate the problem they’re going to solve. Other writers and speakers use a quote, statis-tic, an unusual fact or an attention-getting question to open the discussion. Act I must grab your audi-ence’s interest and launch into your focus point—the thesis. If you go back to the beginning of this article, this technique is transparent in its use:

Thetruthisalwaysrefreshing;Iletyouknowwhat’sinthisarticleforyou;Iestablishedmycredibilityandmyqualifica-tions;andI introduced my thesis.

Act ii In case you’re wondering, we’re smack in the middle of Act II right now. This is the body of your presentation. It should account for about 70 per-cent of the overall material. Act II forms the body of the piece. It should contain all the evidence and argument that supports the thesis you introduced in Act I. Now is the time to elaborate and clarify your position. Anticipate opposition and provide counter-arguments. A technique that many writers and speakers employ is to ask the awkward ques-tion before your opposition has either thought of it or has had a chance to ask it. This accomplishes two things:

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It demonstrates that you’re open-minded and have the intellectual honesty to challenge your ownthesis;The person who does the asking (that would be you) gets to control the ball. You remove the platform for the opposition to launch into its own presentation under the guise of a simple question.

Use Act II to clarify your position. If the point you’re making is complex, try comparing it with something else or using an analogy that your au-dience is more likely to be familiar with. Later in the presentation, you can cement your point in people’s minds simply by reminding them of this simple hook.

Act iii This is your conclusion. Act III provides a logi-cal time to wrap up any loose ends that Act II may have left dangling. Plan on Act III accounting for no more than 10 percent of the overall presenta-tion. Restate your thesis. Summarize your main points that lead the audience to the conclusions you hoped they would reach. End with something personal for the audience to remember you by. It can be a thought-provoking question that your next presentation answers. For my clients, I like to use a predication of future trends that naturally links with all that was communicated earlier. Now leave. Good writers and speakers know when it’s time to leave the stage.

ACHieVing AnD MAintAining CReD-ibiLitY • People won’t listen if they don’t know anything about you. Instead, they wonder what you’re hiding and why. From personal experience, I cantellyouthathidingbehindlongsentencesfilledwithenormouswordsisboring.Fromtheveryfirstline of this piece, I admitted that I’m no lawyer. This moment of humility set up my credentials and qualificationsfordoingthisarticle.

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