Find the Perfect Mix of Data and Narrative
找准事例和叙事的平衡

We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey. A successful talk is a little miracle—people see the world differently afterward.
我们都知道人们很喜欢听故事,而那些最引人入胜的叙述结构中都有着大量的隐喻。当我想到要做一个扣人心弦的演讲,在我脑海中浮现的是去带着观众踏上一段旅途。一个成功的演讲是一个小小的奇迹,人们由此看到不同的世界。

If you frame the talk as a journey, the biggest decisions are figuring out where to start and where to end. To find the right place to start, consider what people in the audience already know about your subject—and how much they care about it. If you assume they have more knowledge or interest than they do, or if you start using jargon or get too technical, you’ll lose them. The most engaging speakers do a superb job of very quickly introducing the topic, explaining why they care so deeply about it, and convincing the audience members that they should, too.
如果你把故事当作一段旅途,最重要的便是找出从哪里开始、到哪里结束。想想观众们对你的故事可能已经有了哪些了解、他们有多关心它,以此找到合适的起点。若你高估了观众的知识储备或者对话题的兴趣,亦或你开始使用术语搞得太专业,你就失去观众了。最棒的演讲者会非常快速地介绍主题,解释他们自己为什么会对这个话题感兴趣,并说服观众相信他们也应该关注这个主题。

The biggest problem I see in first drafts of presentations is that they try to cover too much ground. You can’t summarize an entire career in a single talk. If you try to cram in everything you know, you won’t have time to include key details, and your talk will disappear into abstract language that may make sense if your listeners are familiar with the subject matter but will be completely opaque if they’re new to it. You need specific examples to flesh out your ideas. So limit the scope of your talk to that which can be explained, and brought to life with examples, in the available time. Much of the early feedback we give aims to correct the impulse to sweep too broadly. Instead, go deeper. Give more detail. Don’t tell us about your entire field of study—tell us about your unique contribution.
我在演讲者的初稿中发现的最大问题是会涵盖太多内容。你无法在一个演讲中去概括整个行业。如果你试图将你知道的所有东西都塞进演讲,那就没时间去举出关键的细节了,而且你的演讲会因各种抽象的语言而晦涩难懂,从而会导致本身就懂的人能听得懂,而之前不懂的人就不知所云了。你需要举出具体的例子来使你的想法有血有肉充实起来。所以,把你的演讲局限在可以被解释清楚的范围内,并且在有限的时间里尽量举出例子使演讲生动起来。我们在筹备前期给讲者的反馈大多是建议他们不要太冲动,不要一心想把所有东西都纳入到一个短短的演讲。相反地,要深入。不要告诉我们你研究的整个领域,告诉我们你的独特贡献。

If a talk fails, it’s almost always because the speaker didn’t frame it correctly, misjudged the audience’s level of interest, or neglected to tell a story. Even if the topic is important, random pontification without narrative is always deeply unsatisfying. There’s no progression, and you don’t feel that you’re learning.
如果一个演讲失败了,几乎都是因为讲者没有设计好整个故事,错误估计了观众的兴趣点,或者忽略了故事本身。即使话题再重要,没有足够的叙述作为铺垫,反而偶然冒出一些武断的意见总会让人感到不爽。没有一个递进的过程,就不会感到自己有所收获。

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