Friday, November 23, 2012

Say what you feel

When I sit down and think about what I really do (not Presentation Technique or Marketing Communication, but what it's REALLY all about),  I come to different conclusions all the time.
Sometimes it's about controlling a situation, affecting the thought process of an audience or just surviving your nerves.  Sometimes it's about persuading, sometimes about inspiring and almost always about convincing.

But the bottom line is really this: what I really love doing is getting people to THINK about what they FEEL. To turn emotions into logic and intentions into words. Because if you can do it that way, then you can surely reverse the process and make people feel something through your speech or actions.

Behind the best, hit-the-nail-right-on-the-head communication lies always great wisdom. The art of creating an effective slogan or a neat one-liner is to understand. To understand what it's really all about. The bottom line, the real point of the whole thing and the WHY of a product or service?

Of course, anyone interested in communication will confirm this in one way or another. I've been fairly obsessed about this process all my life. It's the question that's always hanging in the air. Why exactly does that feel the way it does? Why exactly was that funny, or inspiring? Why did that ad make me curious about the product?

I watch great speakers and contemplate every movement, every twitch of their faces and sweep of their hands. To look at the audience and see what happens when a new slide comes up. I think about what actually happened when someone loses attention, or never gains it in the first place. Try it yourself. It's quite revealing!