Episode #43 The Power Of Passion When Speaking

Formulistic presentations tick the boxes, but don’t ignite much enthusiasm in the audience. Yes, the key points were covered, the time was consumed, people heard the presentation about the topic previously promulgated but so what? When we attend a mediocre or even bad presentation, we are reminded that a great opportunity has gone begging. When we stand in front of an audience, we are representing our personal brand and our firm’s brand. People will evaluate our whole company on how we perform. So why not perform well and really build fans for our business and ourselves?

The things that go missing are often passion and commitment about the topic. Additionally, it may be an already low energy, flat delivery is being further hindered by a poor structure. We enter a room full of pre-occupied people, with microscopically short attention spans, basically entirely distracted before we even start. We need to grab their attention away from whatever it was they were doing before we get up to the podium.

Our opening needs to be well planned and excellent. It must be a battering ram to break through the walls of disinterest, preoccupation and skepticism. It must have a powerful hook to keep everyone’s attention. This is how we in the audience are trained. The opening stanzas of newspaper and magazine articles, books, talk shows, the nightly news programming, television dramas, movies, etc., are all carefully designed to grab and keep our attention. This is what we speakers are competing with – a professional class of well paid, attention monopolizing experts.

So our opening has to instantly grab attention and then we need to lead the flock through the wilderness of our topic, so that they can keep up and understand where we are going. If we have some key points, then let’s number them because we can follow number sequences more easily – just don’t go crazy and make it too many numbers! The 33 key points of any topic delivered in a thirty minute speech are a nightmare the audience doesn’t need.

Wrapping it up is a critical component, because this is the final impression for the speaker with the audience. Often, the final words of the talk just fade out as the voice drops away, instead of rising to a crescendo of a powerful hypnotic, embracing call to action to metaphorically storm the barricades.

From that fade out, the ineffective speaker just bumbles their way into Q&A. They don’t have any strategy to control the flow of Q&A and so they allow the final question to determine the final impression of the talk with the audience. Don’t do that! We need two closes – one for the end of our speech and one for the end of Q&A.

Passion for the topic or for the audience is a requirement. This is not an optional extra, a useful add on we can include or not at will. If we don’t feel something for our topic or our audience then we come across as flat. The audience leaves the venue. The speaker, topic and organisation are immediately forgotten. What was the point? The vague impression left over was that the time wasn’t well maximised, that no great value was imparted and that if that speaker is up again in the future, it is not anything special to look forward to or greatly anticipate.

You may not have great technique, structure, openings or control of Q&A, but at a minimum, you should communicate your passion. You really want to share this vital information with others. You really want to help those in the audience who have given up their precious time to hear you out. Enthusiasm is contagious and we will forgive a lot of presentation faults, if we feel your energy for the topic. Just talk to the key points, rather than read it all out from your perfectly prepared notes.

Yes, your written speech is grammatically perfect, vocabulary rich, but it is often boring because of the flat way in which it is delivered. The reading cadence doesn’t suit the live speaking situation. Have you ever noticed that a flat, boring speech can be followed by a very engaging Q&A session by the speaker?

This is because they are now freed from their self-imposed limitations of the speech draft. They start telling us stories of people to illustrate their points. They pepper us with useful information and data that gives us insights. We see some passion in what they are telling us. We all need to be like this in the main body of the speaking time, not just the Q&A.

Be passionate, enthusiastic, well organised, well structured when you speak. If you do, then your audience will recall both you and your firm with positive regard and credibility as professionals. Now, isn’t that what we all want in business?

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.