Have You Captured Your Audience’s Emotions?
“You can’t move people to action unless you first move them with emotion. The heart comes before the head.”
– John C. Maxwell, Leadership ExpertAs a speaker, you want to tap into your audience’s emotions. Why? Because when your audience is emotionally involved with your presentation, they retain the information you deliver deeper and longer and are much more likely to act on it.
It’s as simple as that.
Your ultimate reward as a speaker is to have your audience implement what you say to improve their personal and professional lives. One of the best ways to do this is to tap into your audience’s emotions.
Below we explore three ways to do this:
Identify with Your Audience
Think about a person with which you are close. What drew you to this person? Why do you have lunch with this person? Why do you have them at your house for dinner? Why do you go on vacations with this person?
Commonalities draw people together—the commonality of personalities, values, and favorite activities.
You can use this idea of commonalities to make a firm identification between you and your audience.
I give my background as an introduction in my presentations. Then, I talk about my family, my professional life, and other parts of my life pertinent to my topic. You may ask why I do this.
The chance the people in your audience will realize they have some or many things in common with you is very high. Maybe like you, some in your audience have teenage children, love playing chess, or enjoy cooking. People listen to those they have something in common.
The key here is you are showing your audience you are human. When you appear human, you are approachable. As a result, your audience members will be likelier to listen to you, internalize what you say, and believe the information you deliver.
In other words, they become emotionally involved with your presentation.
When emotionally involved, they retain the information you deliver deeper and longer and are much more likely to act on it.
So, do the preceding things to make the audience identify with you.
Another way to emotionally involve your audience with your presentation is to tell a story of overcoming personal adversity.
Overcoming Personal Adversity
Conveying a story of overcoming personal adversity that ties to your main message is a winner in any presentation. Why is this?
It is because, as humans, we don’t like to see others suffer. So you can use this human trait of sympathy to appeal to your audience’s emotions.
However, do not tell the story of personal adversity to manipulate your audience. Instead, you should tell the story to open the minds of your audience members to your message.
If your message is about persistence, then a story of how someone transcends personal adversity would be appropriate.
If your message is about how personal adversity comes into all our lives, then a story of how someone transcends personal adversity would be appropriate.
If your presentation is about how to use a Microsoft Office product, then a story of how someone transcends personal adversity would not be appropriate.
So, to capture your audience’s emotions, identify with your audience and tell them stories about personal adversity and recovery. However, you should never use stories about personal adversity if it does not fit your message.
Another way to capture your audience’s emotions is to talk about something important.
Talk About Something Important to Your Audience
This may sound simple, but people are interested in hearing about things that are interesting to them. Duh! This is not rocket science.
You should have a good idea before your presentation if your audience is interested in your topic. If you don’t, you should not be presenting.
However, to have a deeper understanding of what your audience is interested in, there are several things you can do to get to know your audience better. Most of these things occur before you utter a word of your presentation. Three of those things you can do to get to know your audience better are:
Determine your audience’s demographics by talking to the event planner and researching the organization to whom you are speaking. Ask the event planner about particular things the audience likes to see and not to see in a presentation
Read what your audience is reading. It will give you a good idea of what is important to them. People only spend time on what is important to them
Arrive at least one hour before your presentation and greet your audience at the door. This will provide an instant connection to your audience members. Remember, people are interested in those people interested in them. So show interest in your audience, and they will repay you handsomely.
You will lose in a presentation if you deliver words of no consequence to your audience.
You should always “stack the deck” in your favor. Speak about what is attractive to your audience.
So, to capture your audience’s emotions, identify with them, tell stories about personal adversity and recovery, and talk about something important to them.
Appeal to your audience’s emotions to embed your message deep in your audience members’ minds.
Call to Action
To capture your audience’s emotions
Make sure your audience identifies with you
Tell them stories of personal adversity and recovery
Determine what is of interest to your audience and only talk about this in your presentation
“Throughout human history, our greatest leaders and thinkers have used the power of words to transform our emotions, to enlist us in their causes, and to shape the course of destiny. Words cannot only create emotions, they create actions. And from our actions flow the results of our lives.”
– Tony Robbins, American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropistFrank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.
Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.speakleadandsucceed.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals by improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Reach Frank at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com and (703) 509-4424.
Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!
“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”
Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com