Effective speaking: Know your passion

- [Instructor] Know your passion. A lot of people believe when you're doing public speaking it's all about what you're saying. True or false? What's the most important thing in terms of delivering a message when you're on stage in front of people? - [Student] How you say it. - [Instructor] How you say it. So voice inflection, projection, what else? Energy, enthusiasm, what else? Body language, conviction, okay. So your energy, all of these things you just described, far more important than your words, far more important than your words. Think about some of the best speeches, best public speakers you've ever heard. When you were walking out of the room, were you thinking about something they said, or were you thinking about how they made you feel? Inspired, connected, illuminated. Right? Passionate. It was the energy that got you and every now and again, someone's going to say something that'll rock your world. Change your worldview. That's amazing. It's magical if it happens, but they're not going to remember it. Have you ever been listening to someone give a public speech of any kind or a presentation and then walked out with like a hundred bullet points of all the things you're going to remember that they said, that they actually did say? At best, if you remember a couple of those things that was an effective public speech. This is not anecdotal. This is actually empirical. There's been research done on this. Look at how much spoken words matter relative to voice and tone, energy, and your body language. So voice and tone and body language are referred to as subtextual language or subtextual communication. Not your words, but how you're delivering those words. And combined, according to this particular body of work, 93% of your communication effectiveness is going to come from those two dimensions. So, not only do you need to know your material, but you need to know your passion. And when you're passionate about what it is you're talking about, it's going to shine through. In terms of your tone, in terms of your body language, it will make all the difference in the world. I had the opportunity many years ago to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. I went to this concert. Bruce is the boss for a reason. He's one of the greatest, certainly one of the greatest live performers in modern music, maybe ever. And I was, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And at one point, Kevin didn't know I was presenting this, so he didn't know I was going to ask this question, at one point at near the end of the concert, they started performing Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, I was, at the time it was Pac Bell Park, what does it now, AT&T? They go back, I don't-- There I think the capacity's 42,000, 44,000, 47? It's a lot of people. And I was seated near the front and the music came on. It's iconic music. And the lights went on and I turned around. I just happened to turn around and I looked and every single person there was up dancing and singing along to every word. I was like, that's what it means to be a rock star. That's what, he's taking the energy inside of him and he's manifesting it, and conveying it, and transmitting it, and he's connecting with every single person, every single one of those people and bringing them along on the journey. You've got to find your inner rock star. And I don't mean for every second, every minute of your presentation, but you've got to find something in your material that you feel that strongly about, and you've got to let that energy shine through. And when you do, you will literally feel as if the audience is rising up out of their seats. And when you feel that energy, how do you think it makes you feel? More energized. And then they lift you up and you lift them up and back and forth it goes. And that's when you're going to deliver your best discussions, your best talks. That's when you will be at your most effective. I want to finish with the guy who arguably gave the best public speaking performance I've ever seen live. How many of you are familiar with this guy, Bryan Stevenson? He talked about social justice. He's a social justice reformer. That was the longest standing ovation in the history of TED. I just happened to be there. It was wild. So it was minutes. Strongly encourage you all to see his entire TED Talk. It's going to be roughly 17 to 18 minutes. And he was not reading off of anything. There was no teleprompter. There was nothing. It came from within him. He's dedicated his life to this work, and it's quite extraordinary. So, really embodies what an effective public speaker means to me. That's going to do it. That's the conclusion of On Leadership. Three dimensions, awareness, synthesis, and inspiration. (upbeat music)