I recently spoke at a student safety conference on “Crisis Communication: How to Get the Message Out to Students.” Here is one of the key points I made in my presentation.
In this example, you can prove your point using few words by comparing two images with contrasting perspectives. You then ask your audience (or person you wish to influence) one simple question. It goes like this:
Here is the crime rate for a one week period in a large city. Each bubble represents a type of crime:
Here is the crime rate for the same period in a smaller community:
Question: Now, where would you like your 18 year old daughter to attend college?
See how that goes? You don’t have to argue or get wordy. The old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words” is certainly true!
Application:
- Hopefully, to help your daughter attend college in a low crime town!
- To encourage a friend to make a healthier choice
- To stimulate critical thinking skills in students
- To help your team come to consensus without being heavy handed
- To break through a stalemate with your spouse
YOUR THOUGHTS:
I know it’s sometimes tough to get people to see our point of view, so how do you make a persuasive point? Do you just hit ‘em with the facts or try to persuade with emotion? Or does bribery work, now and then? (grin)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My understanding of the term “crisis communication” would be instinctive responses between parties in a crisis situation. We don’t usually have the opportunity to think through what we might say, or how, otherwise we would respond in a crisis, because they are generally spontaneous occurances. That doesn’t mean that we can’t prepare ourselves mentally for them. It’s just that our “gut,” emotional response is what will usually come out, and be very subjective to our feelings on the matter. I was pretty harsh to a woman once after she turned improperly and I scraped the side of her car. I walked up to her and blurted right into her face, “That was stupid!” Later in the process, we became friends and she and her husband sent a card from their home in England. Kindness won out, but it didn’t begin that way.
Michael, you are correct. That’s why first responders spend so much time training and practicing so that when the emergency kicks in, you hopefully will fall back on that training. It doesn’t always work however. I believe there was a good chapter on this in Malcolm Gladwell’s book entitled “Blink” or maybe it was the “Tipping Point” where he covered the instinctive responses we have when faced with a threat and very little time to make a conscious decision how to respond. I’ve heard it said that people often forget how to dial “911″ when someone is breaking into their home and fear takes over. Stay tuned for my next post tomorrow. I think you’ll find it of interest! Thanks so much for your comment!