After seeing David Mamet\u2019s play\u00a0Race<\/strong> <\/em>on Broadway, Sharon and I had half-an-hour until our train left New York\u2019s Penn Station for our home in Montclair, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

We went to a bar.\u00a0 I ordered a Heineken and she a glass of wine.\u00a0 We were sitting next to a drunk who began to sing, so we picked up our drinks and paper napkins and moved to a banquette.<\/p>\n

When I put the napkin down, I looked at it.\u00a0 And as soon as I saw it, I got curious.<\/p>\n

(Don\u2019t click here)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am sure psychology has a name for why I got curious, but I don\u2019t know it.<\/p>\n

I have heard that Google banner ads that say something like, \u201cDon\u2019t Click Here\u201d drive a lot of traffic.<\/p>\n

I have a friend named Gary Forman<\/a><\/strong>, a great speechwriter. Go to his site and see his clever use of the technique.\u00a0 When I visited the site for the first time, I looked at the navigation bar along the top.\u00a0 Guess where I clicked?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard that children instructed to not touch a particular toy will almost always touch it when left alone.<\/p>\n

Is this the power of the forbidden?\u00a0 And if so, could we begin our speeches and presentations by saying, \u201cYou must not listen to a word I say.\u00a0 Turn around and face the back wall.\u00a0 Talk amongst yourselves.\u00a0 Because what I have to say is far too powerful to be heard by the likes of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then could we jump into our content and remind them now and then that they should not be listening.<\/p>\n

Getting attention<\/strong> <\/a>is important for all of us.\u00a0 If we couldn\u2019t get attention, we would die\u2014wither on the vine, go hungry, and perish\u2014psychologically and physically.<\/p>\n

So this is worth our consideration as speakers.\u00a0 It\u2019s a technique to be explored\u2014this technique of forbidding\u2014 and it seems to be effective because it taps into the \u00a0craving to do what is forbidden.<\/p>\n

(Don\u2019t open the napkin) <\/strong><\/p>\n

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

After seeing David Mamet\u2019s play\u00a0Race on Broadway, Sharon and I had half-an-hour until our train left New York\u2019s Penn Station for our home in Montclair, New Jersey. We went to a bar.\u00a0 I ordered a Heineken and she a glass of wine.\u00a0 We were sitting next to a drunk who began to sing, so we… Read More »Don’t read this one<\/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":[107,603,291,88,331,21,337,117],"yoast_head":"\n