Chad_6_I

Some more between-the-lines analysis follows this thought: "When you interrupt someone's personal epic to ask for his or her cooperation, it behooves you to consider the context."

Now this is not mind-reading. It's as simple as considering someone's situation and treating it with respect. I have told students that a story is not something you fire at an audience like a gun. Instead it's a magnet that you power in order to draw people to the place where the story exists.

So you must prime an audience of World War II veterans differently than you would, say, a class of TCOM majors. You can tell the same story to either group, but not in the same way.

Good reporter's trick: Never begin by asking what you really want to ask. First ask how's it going, where are you from and hey, that's a nice picture on your wall.