Ukrainian president Zelensky is ‘touring the world’ via video calls to parliaments to drum up support for his country in the conflict with Russia. Each speech is tailored specifically to a country. Here are some of the patterns:
Establish a connection, giving a compliment about the country: “I have been there”, “What a beautiful city”
Make you feel what it would be if all the agresion happens to you: “What would you do if the port city of Genua would be destroyed?”
Link the struggle of the Ukrainian people to a historic struggle of you (“You stood up after Pearl Harbour, we are in a similar situation now”)
Making you part of the event: “This is not about Ukraine, but a struggle of the entire world against evil”, i.e., you are not just an audience
Rubbing it in that he is doing something, and taking the hits (for you, see previous point), while you ‘sit back and relax’
Appealing to personal moral standards, this is not about business, country or world politics, this is about innocent people dying
Addressing individuals directly, i.e., the Prime Minister of the Netherlands was singled out by name in today’s address to the Dutch Parliament.
Asking for very specific things that a country can do
Rather than begging for help, he projects strength and determination and is inviting people to join the winning side
All of this is delivered in a short speech, with short sentences that are to the point.