Page 100 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

HOW TO CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE 91
-

The 8-second drill tells us that we could all be a lot crisper. Crispness
makes important information easier and quicker to give, easier to get,
and a lot easier to retain. Crispness saves time, enhances productiv-
ity, helps leaders lead, and can be the catalyst that transforms mere
information into knowledge.
-

REVERSING THE WAVE

The 8-second drill is a function of “reversing the wave”—that is,
getting to the point right away. Some lawyers, accountants, sales-
people, and others are accustomed to taking their time to explain
themselves by typically building to an elegant conclusion (slowly
advancing toward their eventual message in the shape of a rising
wave). If they are oblivious to the 18-minute wall and don’t know
how to get over it, they might drift unaware into treacherous terri-
tory and never know it.
When you “reverse the wave,” you slash that risk by dashing to
your message almost immediately. So if you are cut off or inter-
rupted, or you unexpectedly run out of time, you can take comfort
in the knowledge that your theme is already on the table. And if you
are not cut off, you can relax a little and spend the rest of the time
surfing down the back side of the (descending) wave and explaining

how you came to your conclusion.
The 8-second drill makes it possible to know exactly how you
should begin. More than that, it automatically defines three of the

five functions of the POWER formula.

The top line (grabber)
The bottom line (message)
The last line (takeaway)