长年生活在商业世界里，不听上一两次让人昏昏欲睡的演讲发言是不可能的，但在金融界，这种情况尤其可怕，“他们有时直接念Excel报表。”戴安·德瑞斯塔说，她听起来有点吓到了。德瑞斯塔是一位资深传播媒体教练，写了一本名为《制胜演讲》（Knockout Presentations）的书。念一长串干巴巴的数字“实在太浪费了”，她补充道，“因为数字背后都是故事——有些故事还十分精彩。”如果你选择接受任务，那你的任务就是找出故事，然后按照我们新闻专业的说法，开门见山，用最夺人眼球的内容开头。

打算在工作小组或大会上发言？德瑞斯塔提出了六个让你一鸣惊人的技巧：

1. 谈关乎听众利益的事

也就是说回答这个问题，“他们为什么要关注？”假设你正在进行营销演讲。别一上来就滔滔不绝地讲你的产品服务多好多好这种没用的内容，坦率告诉听众你的产品服务能为他们做些什么。“开场就告诉听众他们最大的好处是什么，是能帮他们提高收益、主导市场，还是其他什么他们最关心的事。”德瑞斯塔说。“或者绘声绘色地描述一个据你所知他们关心的问题，解释你怎么能帮他们解决问题。”“如果看见人们点头”，说明这个开场正中要害。

2. 描述矛盾

会对故事做出回应是人类的本能，讲故事这种古老又有力量的艺术可以一路追溯至穴居时代，那时人类围坐在火堆旁讲故事，而引人入胜的故事似乎有固定公式。比如说，大多数爆红的浪漫喜剧本质上是同一个讲了上千遍（或者几百万遍）的故事：男孩得到女孩（或相反）、男孩失去女孩、男孩重新得到女孩。“如果里面没有点挣扎，没有点阻碍，你的故事就达不到预期效果。”德瑞斯塔还说其它的故事原型也有同样效果。“商业界充满了‘英雄的旅程’和‘大卫与歌利亚’的故事。”她说。“带领你的观众开启一段从高峰驶往低谷，再重达高峰的旅程。”

3. 调动全部感官

因为人们用不同的方式处理感官数据——例如，我们中有些人更注重视觉，其他人更依靠听觉或触觉——德瑞斯塔建议演讲者要尽可能多地吸引不同感官。“给你的观众带来体验，而不仅仅是事实。你希望他们能把你放在一个场景中，他们可以听到你听到的，感受到你的感受。”在她的一次演讲中，德瑞斯塔想说“查理握手很无力”时没这么说，而是说他“‘握手时柔软无力、像海蜇一样。就像和鱿鱼在握手。’我看到观众里有人做鬼脸，还听到了几声嘟囔。这是因为他们正和我一起亲身经历这个握手的场景。”好在可怜的“查理”是个化名。

4. 使用类比和暗喻

在布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀1985年的标志性专辑《出生于美国》（Born in the U.S.A.）的“I’m On Fire”这首歌中，有句歌词写到，“我在夜晚醒来，床单湿透，一辆货运火车穿过我的脑袋。”迪雷斯塔表示，斯普林斯汀完全可以写，“我半夜醒来时头痛欲裂”，能表达同样的意思。但哪个版本更能激发你的想象力？他被称为“老板”（ “The Boss”），可不是白叫的。

5. 打破一成不变

事实证明，想让人们开始玩手机，那就用同样的节奏、同样的音调喋喋不休地说下去吧。德瑞斯塔说：“这样观众就不会继续听了，因为他们能预测到后面的模式：用有逻辑的线性顺序讲第一项内容、第二项内容等等。”令人昏昏欲睡。改变你的音量、语调和语速，然后简单地讲一两句题外话，甚至是个小笑话，这样观众会留心寻找接下来可能会出现什么惊喜。你甚至可以用演讲教练称之为“盐析”的技巧，提出一个你所知道听众关心的问题，许诺在演讲最后回答。当然，不要忘了答，因为他们不会忘。

6. 加入个人因素

迪瑞斯塔曾经为一位知名首席执行官提供培训，他取得了很多广为人知的成功，所以普通听众会有点怕他。活动主持人先介绍了他令人惊叹的生平，之后“他讲了个参加《危险边缘》（Jeopardy）节目惨败的搞笑故事，让所有人都放松了下来。”德瑞斯塔回忆道：“如果你愿意分享一个成功道路上的小缺点或过失，袒露自己的某一面，你会看上去更和善、更真实，听众会好奇你还会说些什么。”如果你能让他们笑出声，效果尤佳。（财富中文网）

安妮·费希尔是职场专家和问答类专栏作家，是《财富》杂志21世纪工作生活指南专栏“Work It Out”的作者。

译者：Agatha

It’s probably impossible to hang out anywhere in the corporate world for long without being subjected to a snooze-inducing speech or two, but it’s a particular hazard in finance, where “sometimes people just read to you off an Excel spreadsheet,” says Diane diResta, sounding mildly horrified. diResta is a longtime communications and media coach who wrote a book called Knockout Presentations. Reciting a dry list of numbers is “such a waste,” she adds, “because numbers always tell a story—sometimes a truly fascinating one.” Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Find the story and then, as we say in journalism, don’t bury the lead. Start with what’s most likely to grab your listeners’ attention.

Planning to speak to a group at work or a conference? Here are six of diResta’s tips for hitting it out of the park:

1. Talk to your audience’s self-interest.

This means answering the question, “Why should they care?” Let’s say you’re giving a sales presentation. Instead of wading right into the weeds about the wonderfulness of your product or service, tell up front what it can do for the people listening. “Start with the biggest benefit to them, whether it’s boosting their profitability, dominating a market segment, or whatever concerns them most,” says diResta. “Or vividly describe a problem you know they have, and then explain how you can help solve it.” You’ll know you’ve hit a bull’s-eye “when you see people nodding.”

2. Describe a conflict.

Humans are hardwired to respond to storytelling, an ancient and powerful art that goes all the way back to when we lived in caves and told tales around a fire, and certain formulas always seem to grab us. Most hit rom-com movies, for instance, are really just the same story retold for the thousandth (millionth?) time: Boy Gets Girl (or vice versa), Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl Back. “Without some kind of struggle or obstacle, your story falls flat,” says diResta, who adds that other archetypes work, too. “Business is full of ‘hero’s journey’ and ‘David versus Goliath’ stories,” she says. “Take your listeners on a ride from high to low to high.”

3. Engage all the senses.

Because people process sensory data differently—some of us are more visual, for instance, while others rely more on hearing or touch—diResta recommends appealing to as many senses as you can. “Give your audience an experience, rather than just facts. You want them to picture you in a scene, where they can hear what you heard and feel what you felt.” In one talk she gave, instead of saying, “Charlie had a weak handshake,” diResta described the man’s “‘limp, jellyfish handshake. It was like shaking hands with a squid.’ I could see people in the audience grimace, and I heard a few groans. That was because they were experiencing that handshake viscerally with me.” Happily, poor “Charlie” is a pseudonym.

4. Use analogies and metaphors.

In the song “I’m On Fire,” on Bruce Springsteen’s iconic 1985 album Born in the U.S.A., there’s a line that goes, “At night I wake up with the sheets soakin’ wet and a freight train running through the middle of my head.” Sure, diResta observes, he could have said, “I wake up at night with a pounding headache” and made the same point. But which version kickstarts your imagination? He’s not called “The Boss” for nothing.

5. Break the pattern.

A time-tested way to make people start checking their phones is to drone on and on in the same rhythm and tone of voice. “The audience will tune you out, because the pattern is predictable: Fact A to Fact B and so on, in a logical, linear order,” says diResta. Zzzz. Vary the volume, tone, and speed of your voice, and throw in a brief aside or two—maybe even a quick joke—so your audience stays alert to find out what surprises might be coming next. You can even use a technique that speech coaches call “salting,” where you raise a question you know your listeners care about, and promise to answer it at the end of your talk. Then, of course, don’t forget, because they won’t.

6. Get personal.

diResta once coached a famous CEO whose many much-publicized triumphs made him intimidating to his audience of ordinary mortals. After an awe-inspiring introduction from the host of the event, “he put everyone at ease with a very funny story about his crushing defeat as a contestant on Jeopardy!” diResta recalls. “If you’re willing to reveal something of yourself by sharing a foible or a misstep along the path to your success, you become much more relatable and authentic, and your listeners will be curious about what else you have to say.” Especially if you can also make them laugh.

Anne Fisher is a career expert and advice columnist who writes “Work It Out,” Fortune’s guide to working and living in the 21st century.