Increase Your Credibility to ERASE all Doubt

Every day we engage others in conversation, presentations and meetings. You engage in communication where you need to make key points about your perspective, thought or idea.  Your intent is to have credibility and impact with the direction or outcome of the interaction.  You need to ERASE all doubt in communicating your key points that will increase your influence and outcomes. Below are five different forms of evidence to support your key ideas. The acronym ERASE will help you remember them.

1. Experiences – Real life situations, your own or third parties are recognized as a powerful form of evidence. Experiences can be delivered with conviction and credibility because they are real. Include enough background information to make them come alive to you listener. They should be current and brief. Make sure the audience can relate and the outcome is successful. Be careful not to overuse.
2. Reasons – Reasons answers the "why" questions your audience may have. You can use outlined facts, thoughts or ideas which will explain or answer the "why" questions that come from your ideas.
3. Authority – This is usually a well-regarded authority or an informed source that can be a documented quote, finding, conclusion or rationale that are almost never doubted.  The authority must be regarded as credible by the audience.
4. Statistics and Facts – These are the most commonly used sources for proof. Although statistics show factual information, they can be difficult for an audience to remember or understand. Help your audience visualize what you are saying by adding a more personalized example of what the statistic means to the listener.
5. Examples – Examples are similar to experience except that you are explaining an event that did not occur, but is still relevant to your point. Your audience will make inferences to other moments in their lives that will lend more credibility to the point you are making. Analogies are often used as examples.

Before your next conversation, presentation or meeting; take a few minutes to identify your key points you want to make, then select one of the five ways you can ERASE all doubt to increase your impact and credibility.
 
By: David Hansen