1. SELLING YOUR WORK: IMPROVING YOUR BRIEFING SKILLS
Troy Miller, CCEA
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AGENDA
Elements of Persuasion
Ethos
Pathos
Logos
Exercise
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11/14/2018

3. ELEMENTS OF PERSUASIVE SPEAKING
The Greek philosopher Aristotle divided the means of persuasion into three categories
Ethos
Pathos
Logos
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11/14/2018

4. Tecolote Research Proprietary
ETHOS
Ethos (Credibility)
Means convincing by the character of the author
Aristotle’s day
Credibility came primarily from position and status
Our Day
Given our culture's privileges/rights of free speech and personal equality, we have enormous possibilities for the appeal from ethos
Any speaker who is well versed in his or her subject and well spoken about it can gain credibility
This kind of persuasion comes from what a person says and how a person says it, not from any prejudice of the author
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ETHOS (continued)
We tend to believe people whom we respect and trust
Central problems of argumentation
Project an impression to the audience that you are someone worth listening to (an authority on the subject)
Someone who is likable and worthy of respect
When a speaker is seen as trustworthy, knowledgeable, and interested in the audience, the audience will likely accept what the speaker says as true
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ETHOS IN BRIEFING
Three things inspire confidence in the speaker’s character
Good Sense – Be sure to have your writing/speaking appear written by a person of good sense
Omit filler words
Use appropriate language
Good Moral Character
Don’t use self-aggrandizing jargon. It’s not about you; it’s about the insight you have, the perspective you bring to the table, it’s about the feedback you’re providing. That’s the value; not you. If you can avoid it, don’t refer to yourself at all.
If you have to own a statement, you can show your good moral character by prefacing your first person reference with a qualifying phrase
After speaking with So-and-So, I think we need to…
As a program team we decided to… we recommend… we think…
Goodwill
a kind, helpful, or friendly feeling or attitude
a kindly feeling of approval and support :  benevolent interest or concern
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PATHOS
Pathos (Emotional)
Means persuading by appealing to the audience’s emotions.
An appropriate emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument
Language choice affects the audience's emotional response
Appealing to pathos does not mean that you just emote or “go off” through your speaking
Appealing to pathos in your audience means you establish in them a state of reception for your ideas
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PATHOS IN BRIEFING
Appeals to pathos can be effective in each stage of your presentation
Express gratitude during the introduction and the closing
Thanks for coming…
Emphasize the importance of the topic
I (we) think you will find this insightful…
I hope this is well worth your time…
Highlight important findings
Here’s an interesting observation…
This is important…
Highlight your enthusiasm for the subject and/or the project
I’ve really enjoyed this…
This is my favorite part…
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LOGOS
Logos (Logical)
Means persuading by the use of reasoning.
This may be the most important technique when briefing technical work
apparently it was Aristotle's favorite
Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning
All men are mortal
Socrates is a man
Therefore
Socrates is mortal
Inductive Reasoning
The sun rose yesterday
The sun rose today
The sun rises every day
what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims
Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough
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LOGOS (continued)
Fallacies are weakness in an argument
They don’t mean that the argument is incorrect, but they do mean that the argument is invalid (or lacks foundation)
Types of fallacies
Relevance
The Matrix. There Neo is asked whether he believes in fate; he says that he doesn’t. He is then asked why, and replies, “I don’t like the thought that I’m not in control.”
This is not an appeal to evidence, but to the unpleasantness of believing in fate: Fate would imply that the world is a way that I don’t want it to be, therefore there is no such thing.
Ambiguity
SEPM is the effort to manage the technical and programmatic aspects of a program and doesn’t have specific deliverables
LOE is required effort to support program execution that does not have specific deliverables
Therefore
SEPM is LOE
Presumption
False Dilemma – when only two options are given when there are other possible options (Chad Dukes vs The World on Michael Sam)
Complex Question – when the question relies on a questionable assumption and all answers appear to endorse that assumption.
e.g. “have you stopped beating your wife”
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LOGOS IN BRIEFING
Fallacies in briefing
It is okay to have weak arguments (fallacies). The important thing is that you identify them
Frequently we identify weaknesses in our assumptions (e.g. next slide)
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11/14/2018

12. RDT&E SE/PM Cost Estimate
Assumptions
Contract expenditures follow the Navy RDT&E expenditure profile (benchmarks)
Effort follows a traditional execution pattern with a ramp-up phase, a peak phase, and a ramp-down phase
Negotiated contracts fairly represent contract execution
SE/PM Budget is composed of all management accounts less STV and SSE
Methodology
Fit a Weibull Distribution to the calculated SEPM expenditure profile
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EXERCISE
college-commencement-address
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11/14/2018