To continue the story. I was nearly pickpocketed on the subway in Athens recently, and I’m convinced presenters can learn something from the art of “boosting.” Pickpockets intend to harm, and speakers intend to help, but both use similar techniques.
When My Three Pickpockets (PPs) attacked me, they did it by having one guy fall down in front of me as he got on the subway, his outstretched arm holding a white pack of cigarettes.
I can still see the hand outstretched as it hit the ground and lost its grip on the pack. An arresting visual image that took me by surprise, ignited my alarm bells, and pre-occupied my brain because I was lugging my suitcase onto the train in order to get to the airport in the early morning.
In no time at all, the other two surrounded me and did the “brush,” which is the technique PPs use for finding out where your wallet is.
Fortunately for me, since my wife had been traveling with friends who had fallen victim to PPs, we had discussed how to protect ourselves. I was alert enough to trigger the thought, “I think I am being pick pocketed,” at which point I knocked one of the PPs out of the way and backed up against the wall of the subway car holding tight to my luggage.
First thing a speaker can learn from this? They looked prosperous. Regular guys. Well-dressed. Non-descript. Indistinguishable from the crowd. They were disguised—wolves in sheeps’ clothing. They did, said, or wore nothing to make me suspect that they were less than credible.
Second, they caused something unexpected to occur, and thereby caught my attention. I imagine that most of my mental resources were consumed watching the man fall down. I was not able to NOT pay attention. It was, to borrow from neuroscience, an amygdala hijack.
Third? They created a problem. A man had fallen down. Was he hurt? Should I help him? If I did, could I get my bags on the train before the door closed? Where was my wife? Time slowed down. Not only did they get my attention, they kept my attention by creating a complex, pressing problem that I had to solve.
Social science says our brains work this way. We cannot take our eyes off images of disaster. Rubber necking is a case in point. Why do we slow down, stare through the window, and breathe through our open mouths as we slowly pass an accident on the highway? Some evolutionary psychologists say that the ability to focus on problems is a survival advantage.
In any case, the PPs took advantage of my all-too-human trait and captured (literally) my attention. In the detective novel tradition, they gave me a red-herring to distract me from the real plot.
The fourth thing they did was get in close. They brushed me. They bellied up to me, all three of them.
Finally, number five, after I’d fought them off, they just stood there like regular old strap-hangers. No expression, no eye contact. They had a sense of ease, relaxation. They were totally in control. The last thing they wanted was a confrontation. Smooth, cool, calm and collected.
(Except, that on the way out the door at the next stop, the lead PP stomped on my foot as hard as he could.)
Here are the parallels to presenting. While the pickpocket uses these techniques to take from others, the wise presenter uses the same techniques to contribute to others.
Look non-threatening. Look like you belong. Dress the part.
When you begin, say or do something unexpected. You’ll hijack their amygdalas.
Define a problem for the audience. Paint them into a realistic corner where they are forced to consider the need for a solution.
Get close to your audience. Not only by moving toward them physically, but by revealing something about yourself (appropriate self-disclosure) and speaking about the issues that are on their minds.
Do this all with a sense of ease, in a relaxed, controlled manner.
Again, I am not advocating that you sneak up on your audience and steal their money. Your intention as a speaker should be the opposite—to help your audience.
But it is interesting how easy it is for people with bad intentions to use these techniques to harm us, and how hard it is for those of us with good intentions to use them in order to contribute to the knowledge and well-being of an audience.