Giving a Talk PERSUASION
 Very often you will be involved in trying to persuade farmers to take
 a certain line of action. Persuasion is the most interesting-most
 exciting-kind of communication. A lot of research has gone into
 how to structure a presentation to achieve the desired effect. It all
 boils down to the following seven-stage strategy:
 1. Identify the problem.
 2. Arouse interest in the problem.
 3. Propose a solution.
 4. Demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution.
 5. Consider alternatives to the proposed solution.
 6. Demonstrate that any likely criticisms of the
 proposed solution are either invalid or are
 outweighed by the advantages.
 7. Restate the proposed solution.
 To illustrate the strategy, let us stay with the example of the talk
 we have been discussing:

 "Identify the problem"
 In this case the problem is how to reduce losses of maize during the
 processes of harvesting and storing. Your introduction might stress
 the losses on a national scale and point to the serious consequences
 if the country were to run into a grain deficit. You would emphasize
 the Government's concern and its backing of the project.

 "Arouse interest in the problem"
 But the interest of your audience will not be much aroused unless
 the problem can be shown to be one that affects them directly. So
 you will need to have plenty of examples of how they themselves are
 incurring significant losses through the procedures they are cur-
 rently using. You can ask them about the major difficulties they are
 experiencing with the harvesting and storing of their maize: what
 are the losses, and what are the causes.


Chapter 7