Principle 20: Dramatize Your Ideas

To get attention, you need to make the benefits of your ideas more obvious, interesting, and vivid to people.You are presenting the truth, but using drama and showmanship to capture their attention and imagination, and make your ideas more impressive.

To be effective in convincing someone of our ideas or our argument, it's not enough to merely state a truth. If we truly want someone's attention, we have to present that truth in a vivid, interesting, dramatic way.

We get down on one knee when we propose as an act of dramatization - we're showing that words alone aren't enough to express that feeling.

We make games out of chores so our kids will play along and find it fun to pick up their toys when they get to make a pretend train around the playroom.

Carnegie tells a story of a salesman who walked into a grocery store, told the owner that he was literally throwing away money on every sale he was making, and threw a handful of coins on the floor. The sound of the coins dropping got the attention of the owner and made his losses more tangible, and the salesman was able to get an order from him.

Practice Principle 20

Find creative ways to use showmanship in presenting your ideas. When you're designing your next meeting presentation or sales pitch, think of some ways to engage other senses or appeal to deeper concerns. Could you include a funny video in your presentation? Or begin with a dramatic statistic to underscore the importance of your message?