罗威尔·陶玛士是举世闻名的新闻分析家、演讲家和电影制片人，在讲“阿拉伯的劳伦斯”时，他这样开始：Lowell Thomas, who has made a world-wide reputation as a news analyst, lecturer, and motion picture producer, began a talk on Lawrence of Arabia with this statement:
“一天，我在耶路撒冷的基督街上走着，忽然遇到一位身着华丽的东方君主袍的男子，他身侧挂着一把先知穆罕默德的传人所佩挂的黄金弯刀……”I was going down Christian Street in Jerusalem one day when I met a man clad in the gorgeous robes of an oriental potentate. At his side hung the curved gold sword worn only by the descendants of the prophet Mohammed...
他便这样开始他的讲演了——以自己的经验故事开始，这便是吸引注意力的因素。这种开场方式十分管用，几乎可以担保你不会失败。它不断往前推进，我们紧紧相随，因为我们已经进入某种情境当中，成为其中的一部分，我们想知道将会发生什么事。除了利用故事之外，我不知道还有什么别的方法可以用于展开讲演且更具有驱使的力量。And he was off-off with a story from his experience. That is what hooks attention. That kind of opening is almost foolproof. It can hardly fail. It moves, it marches. We follow because we identify ourselves as part of a situation and we want to know what is going to happen. I know of no more compelling method of opening a talk than by the use of a story.
我也有过这样的开始：One of my own talks which I have given many times begins with these words:
“我大学刚毕业后，一天晚上我在南达科他州的忽隆街上走着，突然见一个人站在一个箱子上对着人群讲话。我很好奇，所以也加入到人群中去听。‘你有没有注意到，’这个人说，‘你从未见过一个秃头的印第安人？或从未见过秃顶的女人，是不是？现在我来告诉你为什么……’”Just after I had finished college, I was walking one night down a street in Huron, south Dakota, and I saw a man standing on a box talking to a crowd of people. I was curious, so I became part of the group listening to him. "Do you know," the speaker was saying, "that you never see a baldheaded Indian? Or you never see a baldheaded woman, do you? Now, I'm going to tell you why..."
没有停滞，没有把情况“温热”起来的只言片语。因此，你只要直接沿事件推进，便可轻易抓住听众的注意力。No stalling. No "warm-up" statements. By launching directly into an incident, you can make it easy to capture an audience's attention.
讲演者以自己的经验故事开始，就可以立于不败之地。因为这不需要去冥思苦想，不用害怕理念遗失。他讲述的是自己的经验，是他部分生活的再造，是他自身筋脉的一部分。所以，他讲演时那种自信闲适的神态就能帮助他与听众建立起友好的关系。A speaker who begins a talk with a story from his experience is on safe ground, for there is no groping for words, no loss of ideas. The experience he is relating is his, a recreation, as it were, of part of his life, the very fiber of his being. The result? A self-assured, relaxed manner which will help a speaker establish himself on a friendly basis with an audience.
