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Susan C. Strong, Ph.D., is the founder of The Metaphor Project, a resource for teaching and promoting more effective ways for communicating sustainable society with mainstream Americans, including the Mainstreaming Your Messages Now kit and workshop. For more on mainstreaming in conversation, see: http://www.ourpla.net/cgi/pikie?MainsteamingOurConversationsOnWar.

1. Be clear about who your audience is.

2. Think about how your audience sees reality now.

3. Consider how your audience is feeling and reacting now.

4. Decide to speak American by using simple language and familiar images and avoiding:

   • long words

   • complex arguments and explanations

   • historical analysis

   • lots of reasons, facts, and statistics.

   • attacking America or Americans or the flag by name or implication.

5. Recognize that mainstream Americans want answers to the following practical questions:

   • What's the problem?

   • What will work to solve it?

   • What should we do now?

   • What should we do next?

   • Who is "we"?

6. Start developing your own message as answers to these questions, following the simple language rules given in point 5 above.

7. Review the elements of the American story and American metaphors found at http://www.metaphorproject.org. Pick out images and metaphors that fit your message in an empowering way.

8. Reframe the message elements you created in No. 7 in terms of these images, sayings, and metaphors.

9. Check your mainstreamed message against the criteria for success at http://www.metaphorproject.org and revise as needed.

Tips for Using Your Creations During a Conversation

1. Start by asking your audience how they see the issue now, or introduce a question about a current topic that can lead to your subject: what do they think of a current book, movie, news item, and so on?

2. Explain your position with the reframed message elements you have created in advance.

3. If your conversation partner does not respond well, try a leading question that appears to be a tangent from the initial topic, but leads to new ground. For example: if the topic is pre-emptively attacking another country, ask, "How can we build greater international support for the United States?"