Have you ever heard the following advice?
As a speaker you should take your audience on an emotional rollercoaster
Do you know why people dispense that advice? Because it’s true! You absolutely should take your audience on that ride. But how do you do it? One way is by using what I like to call energy shifts. In the following audio lesson, you’ll see exactly how to use them.
Warning: This audio is 16 minutes long, so listen to it when you have time. I promise that your return on investment will be worth the time.
Takeaway Tools for the Energy Shifts
Extending your pause, which helps to keep your audience curious (make them wait to see what happens next)
Twisting the story (which provides a drop or a rise)
Letting your reactions show us how you feel (so we can feel it too)
Taking something from your story, putting it into your audiences lives, and making them reflect on it
Changing your stress, rate, pitch, and volume
Using that Ron Arden inner dialog when you move from your story to your message by saying to yourself “But seriously this is what I came to tell you…”
Great lesson here, Craig. You not only told me to take them on a ride, you told me how to do it! Your use of extended pauses is second to none. Thank you for the tips!
Thanks Tom. You are very welcome.
That was a great lesson,Craig. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself – you are, indeed, a Champion.
You’re welcome Bob. Thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for a good lesson. You have given me some tools I can use right away. I am scheduled to give a demonstration speech at TM next week. I’ve got one story in the introduction. I think I can work the pause, let my reaction show, and putting something into my audience’s lives lessons into the story before going into the powerpoint/demonstration part of the speech.
The way you breakdown your story to demonstrate the energy shifts is a very good way to teach us this lesson. If I may offer one suggestion. If you posted the uninterrupted story at the end of the lesson, or as a separate clip, we could have then followed the shifts as they flowed through the story. I think I can find a video clip of you giving this story, but It would be handy to have it right here and would help reinforce your points.
Your method of presenting speaking tools to us amateurs out here is a great benefit. Thanks again for your efforts.
P.S. Have you ever talked about using visual aids such as powerpoint? I see from how you deliver your speeches you don’t really need or use visual aids. I am curious to hear what you would say about them.
Thanks Mark. That’s an awesome suggestion and I will follow it on any similar posts I do wherein I break up a story into parts. Great idea.
As for visual aids such as PowerPoint, I use them sparingly. For example, if I give a 2-day workshop, I might use 8 slides. When I do a 4-hour workshop, I often use just 1 slide if any.
My thoughts on PowerPoint are outlined in both of my books but here’s part of it. If you verbalize the same lines that are on the screen, you are lip-syching your presentation. Also, I suggest making sure the slides are actually visuals (charts, graphs, photos, etc.) rather than just words. Finally, it’s important not to make your audience work against themselves by having to decide among looking at their handouts, at you, at the screen, etc. When they fight with themselves, you lose.
I have seen some excellent presentations that used photos and charts, etc. when necessary to clarify the message. Oh, and I also look at slides as an airport runway. It’s a place to take off and land (i.e. start with the point and end with it) but it’s not a place to fly. I hope that helps.
WOW, Craig. I had doubts about wanting to take my audience on a roller coaster, but your stories and points quickly changed my mind.
I love the idea of moving the audience from enjoying the story to applying the story — so powerful. By the way, your humor/timing is priceless!
P.S. So does a Foundational Phrase(TM) always grow out of a story, or can you sometimes find a story to illustrate your Foundational Phrase? I ask because it seems that some stories lend themselves to all kinds of key lessons/Foundational Phrases.
Gina. Thanks. Also, great question. Oftentimes I think of phrases and then look for stories to illustrate them and many other times something happens that I turn into a story and then look quickly for a possible Foundational Phrase. Like you said, a good story should be able to make several Foundational Phrases. The key is to use one phrase per story per speech. In other words, I might use “Your dream is not for sale” for my one story in one speech. However, to a different audience, I might use “Don’t let the good get in the way of the best” for that same story’s Foundational Phrase.
For example, I can’t drive the “Dream is not for sale” story home to a corporate audience. Do you know why? It’s because most of them are dreaming about working someplace else!
I know this because, early in my career I drove that dream is not for sale point home to a corporate audience. Later I received a call from the meeting planner who said, “One of our Vice-Presidents liked your message so much that he…left the company.” Needless to say, I have never been invited back there.
So it just goes to show you, I could have used the same story and driven home a different phrase and come out much better in the end. Great point!
Wow Craig! Great lesson. I love how you punctuated the energy shifts with your commentary.
Thanks for giving us these lessons. You are a true champion.
Thanks John. That means a lot!
Craig, thanks for taking time to respond. The clarification around stories/Foundational Phrases helps. I see what you mean about having one point per story, per speech.
As for emphasizing “Your dream is not for sale” to a corporate audience, I feel your pain! Much of my work has always involved dual audiences — the end users, and the people who hire me to talk to the end users. It can be a real tightrope sometimes, and like you, I have at least one horror story!
Thank you for sharing your insight and making me a better speaker.
Hi Craig,
You are a master at getting an audience to hang on to every word you say – a rollercoaster ride they’ll always remember. Thank you for sharing your very helpful and rewarding ideas with us.
God bless you.
Thanks Robert. I appreciate the encouragement.
Craig, thank you so much for sharing this with us. I really appreciate that you delivered the message that you came to tell us.
I am going to be working on some audio and video content over the next few weeks and I am so going to look for the opportunities to apply energy shifts. And what I love most, was the way you described giving your closing statement. Actual magic!
Thank you again; I’mm going for the Sheen factor! 🙂
Thank you so much Amy for your kind words. Good luck with the audio and video content!
I’ve listened to this story many times. I just listened to it again. Every time, it is awesome.
On a related note, I’m very curious to know who was your speaking hero. 🙂
Thank you Alexandre!
Fantastic lesson Craig.
Thanks Akash!