Imagine that you are a musician in a symphony orchestra and that you are sitting in a large, beautiful concert hall. It’s full, not a seat is empty. All lights are directed towards the orchestra so that you cannot see anything when looking at the audience. You are aware of the excitement of the people in the hall, and that they booked their tickets months in advance. Some of them traveled many hours just to be here at this moment, just to listen to your performance. Some of those people may live in other parts of the world and will listen to you this only time. Their experience lies right now totally in your hands. The question is how to create a unique experience and give your audience a wonderful memory.
When performing music it is important to lead the listener through the music’s different expressions for a unique experience. Sometimes the tempo is fast and sometimes it is slow. Sometimes the expression is aggressive and other times it is sad. Sometimes it is frightening and sometimes joyful. The musicians vary in tempo, dynamics, and many other effects to create the most unique experience for their audience. If the musicians did not do these variations, the music would soon be boring and the listener would lose interest. The same rule can be applied to presenting a message by speaking to our audience. If we speak in the same tone of voice and in the same tempo it will be hard to get our message through and make it interesting. It does not matter if we talk about something unique and new if our way of bringing the story to the audience makes them fall asleep.
Lead your audience into something interesting
Operas and musicals often build up interest with their audience early by playing an overture. An overture is a musical piece that is played at the beginning of the performance to summarize the performance and the melodies which will be performed later in the performance. We can create the same effect with our audience in our presentation as the overture does in the musical performance by summarizing and framing ourselves at the beginning of the presentation. By going through the purpose and aim of your presentation right at the beginning we stress the direction in which we will lead our audience. The audience will get a chance to follow you and find it easier to focus on the purpose of your presentation.
Stories about people
One way to make your audience excited at for example a product presentation is to talk about the people behind the product rather than the actual product. Regardless of the knowledge level of your audience, you can always capture them in stories about people. Here is one example: “When Honda created a concept car for young drivers the average age in the development team was 27 years.” By starting with such a story you quickly change focus from the car to the fact that the people developing the car was the same age as the target group. You now made a good start where the listeners can listen to great stories about a team that handled tasks that needed great responsibility. You gave the audience something to remember and refer back to in this story rather than just details about the construction of the car.
Dynamics – change volume and tempo
The greater the musician, the bigger difference you are able to make between soft and loud, fast and slow and still be precise and clear. The same goes for speaking to an audience. If we lower the tempo and start whispering to the audience when stressing something special, the audience will be forced to concentrate and really listen to what we are saying. You can also surprise your audience with an increase of volume and tempo in other parts to create dynamics in your speech. Try to find a balance in your dynamics, a good starting point from which you can increase and decrease. If you, for example, start off in full energy and tempo it can be very hard to increase volume and tempo later on.
The pauses are also music
The pause is probably the most effective tool to create dynamics in your performance. The same rule can be applied to both playing an instrument and holding a speech. It is usually the pauses that make the music interesting. The reason is simple. It is during the pause that your message sinks in with your audience. If you talk continuously without a pause the audience will have no chance to take your message in and it will soon be forgotten. If you are presenting interesting facts, you can use the pause to let these facts sink in with the audience. Apply this pause in the same way when using humor or cliff-hangers for your audience. The risk to wait for the audience’s reaction and communicate with your audience to make them understand your thoughts. In this way, you will make your audience follow your message and you have a good chance of leading your audience in the right way.
Keep your listener interested
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are known for writing music that is easy to listen to. The listener will quickly learn the theme of the song thanks to an easy line of chords and lyrics that are easy to relate to. When the third, or sometimes fourth, chorus builds up, the listener will think that he or she knows what is going to happen since they have heard the same chorus a few times already. Then suddenly something small changes, such as one more beat in one bar and the change of lyrics at this particular place. This makes the listener focus better because something different occurred. The composer captured your interest once again. Try to change a small detail in your speech. Did you stand up this far, then perhaps it is time for you to sit down in the audience or on the stage edge to come closer to the audience. Have you written down important keywords on a notepad and you are good at writing with both hands you can now suddenly change to writing with the other hand. Or why not take out an apple and start eating on stage to fill up your energy while the audience is taking in your message. Do something unexpected that changes your pattern, which actually does not have that much to do with the subject of the presentation, but that once more creates curiosity and interest in your audience.
Record yourself
What is the resemblance between you and the principal violinist in a symphony orchestra? Both of you need to practice, practice, practice to create a unique experience and a wonderful memory for your audience. Take every opportunity; hold speeches at weddings and at work, but practice also at home in front of the mirror. And most importantly; record yourself. Recording yourself can sometimes feel scary, but you will hear exactly what the audience will hear. The small interruptions, your “eehh”s and “hmm”s, indistinct phrases that you need to articulate better and small odd sounds that you think no one hears. Many orchestras record all their rehearsals to hear what it sounds like where the audience will sit. In this way, they will always find things to improve in their performances.
What will the audience remember?
You are now a musician in the symphony orchestra and the audience’s applauses are echoing in the concert hall. You feel pleased about the performance. But what will the audience remember about the concert? The audience’s memory is always the last performance and the last chord, the last thing they heard from the concert. You can play a wonderful concert but if you fail in the end or choose music that is not suited for an ending of the concert, you leave your audience with a less wonderful experience. Did you play something wrong at the beginning of the concert, you will have time to show that this was just a temporary mistake and the audience will easily forget it so that you can shine at the end. You need to give your audience something to remember, a unique experience and a wonderful memory to carry with them home, so prepare a good ending to your presentation.