This article is more about communication. To convince others, make the idea their own.<p>On communication:
The best way I have found to communicate to mixed groups effectively is by giving the straight shooter response immediately followed by imagery based elaboration, which ultimately gets more airplay/screenplay. Some successful speakers flip the order, but that is more dependent on the audience. Notice this the next keynote or quarterly conference call you listen to.<p>Maybe it is because I have both arts talent and logical thinking, but balancing the two has never been a problem for me. Make each one as concise as can be while still accurate/full picture.
The biggest discovery I made in my studies to become a hypnotist was in being able to discern other people's metaphors and use them in communicating (rather than my own).<p>Personal metaphors are jam packed with information and emotion.<p>For example, when someone talks about being part of a "club", it seems like an innocent word doesn't it, but to them the club metaphor may mean the inclusion or ostracization of a social group.<p>Of course, some metaphors are universally understood (especially archetypes) and can be the transport system for new instructions to the subconscious mind. I used the Warrior metaphor for my eyes-open self hypnosis: <a href="http://summonthewarrior.com" rel="nofollow">http://summonthewarrior.com</a> and people seem to respond really well to it, myself included!
I heard this idea or visual vs auditive persons before, in the early nineties. Also a third group, kinesthetics, that I was placed in. Has anybody a reference for this in books or articles, persuasion oriented?