We are entitled to our own opinions, but none of us is entitled to our own facts.<\/p>\n

In fact, most of us hold our opinions with little\u00a0respect for facts.\u00a0 For instance, when you ask a passionate partisan why she voted for her candidate, you are likely to hear\u00a0slogans about small government or social injustice.<\/p>\n

Lots of big ideas, but not a fact<\/a> in sight.<\/p>\n

This is why speakers<\/a> who have dug deep enough to uncover specifics in support of their ideas are so much more convincing than those who stick to the broad and general.\u00a0 And why speakers who are willing and able to address facts that favor the other side of the argument are even more persuasive.<\/p>\n

For instance, I was helping a client put together remarks to support the purchase of a new building for her synagogue. As the director of religious education, she was expected to speak about what the new building could mean to her program.<\/p>\n

She began with the broad claim that the new facility would unify the congregation, bringing old and young, lay and clergy, scholarship and community into the same home.<\/p>\n

It was okay, but it needed some punch.\u00a0 I asked her what the current situation was like, and she described the frustration she experienced running the school from a remote office, schlepping supplies and materials back and forth, dealing with teachers who wanted a place to store half-finished art projects, and parents with no place to gather while their kids were in class.<\/p>\n

\u201cBingo,\u201d I said. \u201cLet\u2019s start with that.\u201d\u00a0 And suddenly her wonderful little talk went from good to great, because she described the specific problems that the new building would solve.<\/p>\n

Dig for specifics to support your ideas.\u00a0 Get them into your speech, early and often.<\/p>\n

\n<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are entitled to our own opinions, but none of us is entitled to our own facts. In fact, most of us hold our opinions with little\u00a0respect for facts.\u00a0 For instance, when you ask a passionate partisan why she voted for her candidate, you are likely to hear\u00a0slogans about small government or social injustice. Lots… Read More »Let us now praise specifics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[710,548,36,774,603,18,297,509,291,19,88,360,277,327,21,337,117,333,612,840,906,622],"yoast_head":"\n