It is basic human need to want to be heard. But many a times you don’t know how to talk so people pay attention. You end up getting frustrated and blame the way you are or your position.
 
But making people listen to you has got nothing to do with how interesting you are. Let’s do a simple exercise.
 
When was the last time you were totally lost in listening to someone? What made you listen to them with such an attention? Was it the way they dressed? Was it the content? Or was it their position?
 
Even though content is an important factor to add value to the listener, it is not what makes people glued to you. There is something beyond that.
 
Once when I met a friend, we were out of topics for conversing. We were playing the you tell more game. I said “ You have lot of interesting things to say. There is nothing interesting in my life.” Then he said, “ I am telling you mundane things only. I am just narrating it interestingly.” That statement left me thinking. The way to make people listen to you is not the content.
 

How should you talk?

 
1.Talk about the core idea
 
Let’s say you want to talk about your house. If you mention that your house has 10 doors and 20 windows and 7 rooms, people will sleep off half way. Instead, if you mention that you have a spacious house with a good ventilation, people will understand the core idea you are trying to convey.
 
2.Analogies
 
Do you explain mutual funds to a 5 year old kid in technical terms? You will explain it by taking examples of chocolates. Similarly in your daily life conversations if you explain your ideas with analogies which people can connect to, they will find it interesting.
 
3.Use unconventional ways
 
Once when my friend asked for directions to my house, “ i said get down at bus stop and keep walking till you find a big garbage can and then take right there. Keep walking till you find an old brown coloured gate house.”
 
Instead if I told her, “Take left, then take right and come to house number 123”, she would have for sure forgotten.
 
My friend even today finds it disgusting that I used garbage can as a landmark.
 
4.Tell it as a story
 
“ I met an interesting woman”. None of your friends will listen. If you start describing what is interesting with the details, then they will listen to you.
 
5.Use numbers in context
 
“Bangalore is 709 sq km in area” . Okay. So what now?
 
“ Bangalore is as big as Singapore country.” There you know the significance of the size.
 
What talking style have you noticed in people you love listening to? Share it with us in the comments section.
 
Happy talking in a way people will listen!