How alive are your listeners?
Smart presentation choice four: pitch your energy 5% above where the group is
The brilliant Michael Breen taught me that you should leave people more alive than when you started.
As the speaker it’s your job to be the most awake person in the room.
Pitching your energy at 50% above where they group is is too much, unless you have ambitions to be a cheesy motivational speaker, in which case you need a recording of ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ and a big dark stage to run up on to.
The natural direction of closed systems is entropy. That means its your job to guard against the natural sleepy pull of sitting in a group.
5% means you’re not so far way from where the group is at that they can’t connect with you, but not so low as to allow entropy to set in.
This is not an expert science. You don’t get out your energy meter, get a reading of each participant, find the mean, and set your output at 4.69% to 5.12%. It’s more of a way of using your thinking to engage your physiology in a way that’s useful.
This is not a one-off thing either – the group has a powerful pull on you, too. You have to keep 5% above where they are at all times. If you do this well they will rise to meet you as you raise your energy again.
This way you leave the group more awake than when you met them.
Something most speakers can’t lay claim to.
What’s your experience of speakers with great or not-so-great energy levels?
***
(This is part of a series of posts about how to develop presentation superpowers by making eight smart choices. This is choice number four.)
Like what you’ve read? Want to keep up-to-date with my articles without having to remember to visit this website? Sign up for email updates to have every post arrive straight in your inbox, or subscribe to the RSS feed. If you’re not sure what subscribing entails, click here for my plain English explanation.
Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook if we’re friends or LinkedIn if we’ve met professionally.
Recent posts:
~ Speaking It Real – A Challenge For Professional Speakers
Andrew –
I would like to go deeper into this topic with you – because in reading it I resonate with what you are saying about leaving your audience more awake than when you met them but not overdoing it to the extent that you actually scare them off.
But I am left asking myself – how? How do I define ‘energy’ and how do I ‘give that’ to my audience. I can bring up pictures about what it isn’t (wild gestures, shouting, focusing on entertaining them that gets in the way of the point) but am trying to think of what it IS.
Some first thoughts from me – but wanting to get your input:
- asking them questions and really caring about the answers they give, responding to them
- telling a story that I enjoy telling, feel comfortable with and connects to my point/topic
- using differently speaking tones, speeds, styles
That’s my 1 minute brainstorm…
What is it for you?
Brenda
I promise I’m not ignoring your comment – I’ve been thinking exactly how to answer it well.
I want to say – ‘It’s just a sense…’ but that’s NO good.
Will watch myself do it and spot what I’m doing!
Hi Andrew and Brenda
To me, energy is a feeling that I have. Another way of explaining energy for me would be the expression of my commitment towards what I’m saying.
I manage my energy as a speaker. I think of my energy as like an engine of a porsche. I keep it under control – but I know if I need to I can really let it rip.
Olivia