Every time we speak, we take the person or people we’re talking to on an emotional journey without being conscious of it. Our words and the emotions behind them strike chords in others.
When an expert or content creatore shares an entertaining story, listeners experience amusement.
If a your presentation is cause-driven, where a speaker wants to persuade their audience, they may use heart-wrenching stories, facts, and imagery as a way of motivating them.
Dry and boring words can cause an emotional response too. Listeners may get antsy and wish you would STOP talking. ⇐ Don’t let this happen to you!
Whenever and however you present to your audience, you get to take your listeners on an emotional road trip. Don’t waste it! The better you are at using a range of emotions, the easier it will be to hold their attention and share your message.
THE PEARL
When I coach entrepreneurs and speakers, I tell them to be clear about why they’re speaking. Begin crafting with the end in mind. What do you want your audience to do or learn once they have listened to your presentation? I think of this as a pearl of wisdom. What is the pearl you want them to take away from your presentation?
WRITE IT OUT? RIGHT OR WRONG?
I completely write out my scripts, speeches, etc. I want to be very exact with my words so I can be deliberate with the impact I want to have. This especially works for me if I’m limited time-wise. If i have more freedom like in my ASK Jackie Gordon the Public Speaking Answer Lady! Livestream, or when I’m leading a workshop or webinar, I craft an outline.
Some people work their presentations out orally. Some use index cards with bullet points. No matter how you develop your “copytalk”, planning the reactions you want to evoke will make it more effective.
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Once you know the impact you want your content to have, craft it. Start with a strong opening, beginning, middle, and end with a call to action.
Then, plot out the emotions you want your words to evoke.
Go sentence by sentence. Write the desired emotion or reaction you’re hoping for in [BRACKETS].
Your presentation should look like an emotional road map. The range of emotions and reactions is up to you.
WHAT’S THE RIDE?
In the first image with graph, I mapped out a ten-minute speech using a wide range of emotions.
The lighter, happier emotions are on top and the darker more intense emotions are on the bottom.
The neutral area is the baseline of any audience even though curiosity may be a more accurate starting place for most listeners.
I find you need a combination of light and dark emotions to take an audience on a compelling journey.
If your subject is serious or your subject matter is traumatic, I recommend using lighter emotions to give your listeners an emotional break.
The same is true with very dry, cerebral subjects. You need to inject humor and light to “moisten” your speech! LOL!
I’ve seen people talk about serious subjects without any hint of their own vulnerability or appropriate dark emotions. They don’t usually land with their audience.
If you’re unwilling to show or experience less desirable emotions your words may ring false with the audience. You have to be willing to feel the emotions you want your audience to feel.
THEY WILL FEEL WHAT YOU FEEL
In a very powerful speech I gave, “All You Need Is Love: How Listening To The Beatles Can Change Your Life”, this was the opening line:
“One morning in the spring of 2010, I walked into the coaching training class I was taking. There were two signs on easels. [pause] One said “All Children Love Their Parents” and the other said “All Parents Love Their Children”. I sat there taking on the full weight of those words and burst into tears…”
I wanted the audience to feel my sadness.
Further along in the speech, I said:
“My father was violent and terrifying [SCARED]. He beat my mother. He beat his children.
I remember doing something wrong when I was about five years old. He found out, spanked me, and told me to sit in a chair in our apartment and not to move. And then, he left. He left me alone in the apartment. [SCARED & SAD]
Who leaves a young child home alone? I was so scared of him that I did not move from that chair for hours.”
I wanted the audience to feel the fear and hopelessness that the five-year-old version of me felt.
Another part of the speech went:
“My story about my father not loving me was woven into the fabric of my life. It infused everything I did. Every messed-up relationship with a man I had. Every time things went wrong. Every time I doubted myself. [PAUSE] Well, you know, my father didn’t love me. I never said it aloud, but it was there [HOPELESS].
I’m not telling you this story because I want you to feel sad or sorry for me. What I want you to get from my story is that it is just a story. [CONFUSED]”
I wanted the audience to feel my insecurity. I wanted them to feel empathy for how I felt. I wanted the last line to be confusing to them because it’s the turning point of the speech.
The pearl or point of that speech is you don’t have to live in the shadows of a story you’ve been telling yourself your whole life. You can rewrite your story.
In this speech, I had to reflect the emotions in my words. I couldn’t tell my story in a happy, upbeat manner.
The journey that your videos, stories, presentations, etc., take your audience on should be emotionally compelling. Use varying degrees of lighter and heavier emotions as needed.
ROLLER COASTERS ARE NOT BORING
Note that I didn’t include BORED as a reaction in my diagram. If you’ve never heard a tedious, monotonous speech or presentation where you found yourself nodding out or checking your watch or your phone, consider yourself very LUCKY!!
Boring your audience to death seems to be the unintentional aim of some speakers I’ve heard. I strongly suggest you avoid it.
This concept of emotional mapping will help speakers construct a speech that is not a sleep aid.
If you keep your speech in the neutral area or on one emotional level, you may also run the risk of losing your audience’s attention. A speech that is well-plotted emotionally is like a rollercoaster ride.
THE PROOF IS IN THE REACTION
Here are four ways to test out your presentation beforehand:
- Record it and watch it back to see if you are hitting the emotional marks you desire. NOTE: Some people find it hard to be objective about their own words. I would use this method in conjunction with one of the others.
- Ask friends or social media followers to listen to it and tell you how it made them feel.
- Deliver it in front of an audience-of-the-willing, live or on Zoom. If you’re on Zoom or a similar platform, record it while in gallery mode. You want to see the faces of your listeners. You need to read the “room” to see if the reactions you’re getting are the ones you want.
- Give all or part of your presentation at a Toastmaster club, live or online. The added bonus of speaking at a Toastmasters club is you’ll get an evaluator. He/she will give you feedback. Toastmaster-driven speeches usually have specific objectives. You can do a non-manual presentation that is outside of any parameters if you prefer. You can ask the members to listen as they were in your paid audience. You can share your personal goals with your evaluator so they know what you want them to look out for on your behalf.
READ THE ROOM
It’s essential to read your audience. When you’re giving your speech/presentation you should be looking at your listeners. Pay attention to whether the audience is paying attention to you. Are they riveted or are they looking at their phones? Are they laughing or giving you a dead-eye stare? Are you getting the reactions you want at the points you prescribed?
Videotape your actual presentations to see if you’re getting the emotional reactions you want from the audience.
NO REACTION OR THE WRONG REACTION?
If you’re not getting the reactions you want, tweak the presentation and try again.
Will every person you’re speaking to react the way that you intend? No. Some people will not react the way you want and some may not react at all. If you don’t get the right reaction from a few people, it’s fine. If you don’t get the reaction you want at all, your content needs more work.
Use emotional mapping to plot out your videos, speeches, presentations, workshops, bootcamps, etc. The longer you’re speaking the more light and shade you need to hold your audience’s attention.
Emotional mapping will help you measure the effectiveness of your presentation. Clear intentions on your part will make it easier to evoke a clear response on the part of your audience.
Jackie Gordon
I've been creating outside-the-box ways to get paid for speaking and performing since 1998 and even won awards! I've been coaching speakers to speak more effectively for years. Now I want to help them get paid for it.
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