We need a powerful message that resonates. I think performance is the strongest message and it directly attacks people's major and misplaced concern about D's garbage collector.
Indeed, D gives better performance than other similar garbage collected languages like Java, C#, etc.
But I don't think that performance is really what will decide their programmers to give D a try, because they are used to their current ecosystem, and are comfortable in delivering their applications in time with it.
IMHO, what really matters to a developer experimenting a new language are : - Is the new language easy to learn ? How long will it take me to become productive with it ? - Is it really worth the effort ? How will it help me in getting the job done ?
D is easier to learn, it's *both* more programmer-friendly (arrays, maps, slices, foreach loops, references types, closures), less verbose and more complete (templates, etc) than similar mainstream languages.
Basically you just have to learn some sort of curated C++/Java mix.
And in return you enjoy the *expressivity and productivity* of a scripting-language like Javascript *without sacrifying performance or safety*.
