The April 2009 issue of Toastmasters Magazine has an interesting article on how to apply debate principles to real-life conversations:

• acknowledging points made by the other side allows the other side to feel heard, and makes you seem like a more reasonable person.
• anticipate and prepare for objections
• use even-handed language, not prejudicial or loaded language. “It’s not a mistake to have strong views. The mistake is to have nothing else.” – Anthony Weston.
• logical building blocks of a full argument: assertion, reasoning, evidence.

From my own experience, when presenting something at a decision-making meeting (as opposed to a recommendation-making meeting), it may be best to have an assertion in mind, but start the meeting reviewing the evidence, that is, the problem at hand. It is then possible to proceed together through the reasoning step, incorporating other people’s ideas. Then, when the meeting concludes with an assertion or proposed plan of action, you’ve either come up with something better than you had in mind (yay!) or led the discussion to what you’d originally had in mind, but the other side thinks it’s his idea which means they’re committed to helping you pull it off. (yay!)

Posted in Negotiation Speaking and Rhetoric
No Comments Yet Posted by Jason Yang