Once again, it's time to present the annual fire department budget to the city council. The chief put together a budget package and was ready to present it to the council. But is he really ready?

The psychology behind the presentation is as important — maybe even more important — as the presentation itself. It involves the character, personality, credibility and appearance of the speaker. The presenter must look and sound trustworthy and exude confidence so that the information presented will be received with assurance.

Persuasion involves a certain amount of arousing feelings and directing them in a way that will aid the presenter in the adoption of the proposal. A key way of doing this is analyzing the audience. A speaker must know the target audience before preparing a presentation. He or she also should ask: What can I tell my audience that they do not already know? Will the audience agree with me? If not, what references, examples and illustrations can I use that the audience will relate to, that will help persuade them to agree with my point of view?

Genders, ages, interests and experiences should be considered seriously when preparing a proposal. This information will allow the speaker to use examples and illustrations for the audience to easily associate the points that are being made with their own life experiences.

Persuasion requires logical arguments with credible evidence to back up those arguments. That evidence must be current, easily understood and relate to the audience's experience.

There are four steps to presenting evidence to an audience, and a psychology behind each step.

1. Make a statement in your own words that you intend to prove, such as “Smoke detectors save lives.” This psychologically states, “I am going to tell you something.”

2. State the source of the evidence: “According to Fire Safety for All to Know, a pamphlet written by State Fire Marshal Sam Jones in 2003.” This psychologically states, “I can prove it.”

3. Quote the evidence directly from your source: “The pamphlet says, ‘Most fires occur at night when people are sleeping. A working smoke detector will wake you in time for you to escape the fire.’” This psychologically states, “Here is the proof.”

4. Connect the evidence with your original statement: “Therefore, smoke detectors do save lives.” This psychologically states, “See, I told you.”

Other psychological appeals that should be considered prior to preparing a proposal deal with the way the persuasive argument is organized. This organization should relate to the nature of the proposal and should be adapted to the audience's life experience and interests. Some ways of organizing a proposal are:

• Point and example

  Follow each main point with a clear and easily understood example.

• Cause and effect

  Show a problem and then show the results of that problem, followed by the proposal.

• Effect and cause

  This has the same structure as cause and effect but reversed to show the effect of a problem and then address the cause, followed by the proposal.

• Specific to general

  Address the details of the problem, working toward the broader aspects and ending with the proposal.

• General to specific

  This has the same structure as specific to general, but with reverse organization, addressing the broader aspects of the problem before the details and lastly the proposal.

Each of these organizational methods needs good, credible evidence to back it up.

The speaker is targeting a person's beliefs, values and attitudes, and one or more of these attitudes might need to be altered for the proposal to be accepted. This process of change is very fragile and should be considered carefully. A persuasive speaker must realize that most people oppose change because of an innate fear of what that change may do to the normal routine of their lives. The person proposing that change must make listeners as comfortable as possible with the change by addressing the natural fear regarding change.

A vital part of the success or failure of a proposal is the question-and-answer period that may follow the presentation. The speaker must appear very sure and present credible answers to these questions. When the main idea of a proposal is formed, the presenter must anticipate as many of these questions as possible concerning the proposal.

The next logical step would be to prepare answers to these questions. This will enable the speaker to do two things. First, he or she can build answers to these questions into the presentation. Second, the speaker will have good solid answers if these questions are asked. It might be helpful to appoint three or four trusted individuals to help formulate questions and help prepare and research credible answers. This same strategy can be used to anticipate objections that the speaker's audience may have to the proposal and smoothly build answers to those objections into the presentation.

Finally, a good thing to remember when preparing a proposal is that the speaker's primary job is to motivate the listener. A simple definition of motivation is to get people to do something and make them think that they would like to do it. A persuasive speaker must identify the stakeholders in the proposal and unobtrusively include what is in the proposal for them.

If you are readying your annual budget for review, consider the psychological aspects of persuasion before and during the preparation of your proposal.

If you are interested in further education in writing and speaking in the fire service, I highly recommend taking the Fire Service Communication course given at the National Fire Academy.

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Chief Mike Chiaramonte is a 35-year member of the Lynbrook (N.Y.) Fire Department and a past chief of the department. He's currently the chief fire inspector, where he's responsible for code enforcement and prevention education. Chiaramonte was a past chairman and board member of the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section Board and New York State Director to the IAFC Eastern Division. He's also a National Fire Academy Instructor and an adviser to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Chiaramonte is a state EMT-CC and an instructor at the Nassau County EMS Academy. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston and a master's degree from Hofstra University, both in communications education.

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