When Steve Jobs got into high gear as a speaker, many people reported that he seemed to have a reality-distortion field around him. No matter how unrealistic his claims at any given moment, people said they couldn’t help being mesmerized: his enthusiasm could suspend their disbelief.
In the 1850s, there was another spellbinder not unlike Jobs–a guy named Henry Ward Beecher, a rock star of a preacher whose church in Brooklyn seated 2,800. In the 1850s, he was arguably the most famous man in America.
Contemporaries attributed his extraordinary appeal to five traits. Each of these techniques is timeless. You probably use them in real life already, and you can put the first two to use now to make your presentations surprise and delight an audience.
Be Lively
“He knocked down the stifling solemnity endemic to churches in that era, with a cheerful irreverence that sent shock waves through America. He was like no minister anyone had ever seen. He was bold and funny, a natural actor who made his ideas come alive.”
You may not be able to send shock waves through America, but you can bring your good cheer to the front of the room, get relaxed and let you be you, express yourself in your own best way, and make your ideas come alive precisely because you yourself are lively, engaging, and authentic. The pleasure of the listener adds subjective value to the intrinsic value of your message.
Be Candid
“He spoke plainly and with an air of candid personal confession that made him seem at once endearingly sensitive, admirably virile, and completely trustworthy.”
So, he used simple language, not Biblical terms or terms of theology. He talked about events in his own life that the audience could relate to. He revealed his minor imperfections, confessing to errors of judgment and personal eccentricities that made him appear vulnerable and made his listeners feel they had an intimate relationship with him.
[ctt tweet=”Your own story is a large part of your appeal. @simswyeth” coverup=”c5bb2″]
Let me remind you that it is not selfish or inappropriate to talk about yourself at the start of a talk. Your own story is a large part of your appeal, and if what you say is short, relevant, and helps the audience feel that they know you, tell it.
Next…Be a Story Teller and Get Relaxed