We’re looking at ways you can pump up the “AWESOME” of your presentations. Surprisingly, we’re not scrutinizing the communication techniques of Steve Jobs–we’re looking at a guy from the 1850s named Henry Ward Beecher.
It isn’t crazy. Beecher was 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.
Plus, it proves that the basics you need to be a great communicator never go out of style.
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Be a Story Teller
“He was always natural, always himself, always giving forth his own interior condition, honestly and frankly. His sermons were filled with funny, poignant stories about his personal fortunes and foibles, inviting everyone to identify with him.”
Being able to relate your own personal experiences to larger public and corporate issues is a powerful method for generating an intimate connection with an audience. Instead of projecting power and authority using the cold steel of reasoned argument, he projected warmth and intimacy using personal anecdotes, self-effacing humor, and storytelling.
Once he gave a speech in a hot and drowsy town in West Virginia, which was known in lecture circles as “Death Valley.” When he rose from his chair, wiping his brow with a large handkerchief, he strode to the front of the platform and said, “It’s a God-damned hot day.” Then he paused, and raising a finger of solemn reproof, went on, “That’s what I heard a man say here this afternoon.” He went on to deliver a stirring condemnation of blasphemy.
Get Relaxed
“He was almost shockingly casual in the pulpit. If a name or date slipped his mind, he asked one of the people near him.”
Most public speakers in Beecher’s day received a formal education in rhetoric. They tended to use large, rehearsed gestures and speak in an oratorical manner. They had valid reasons for their style: they had no microphones, the crowds were large, and they often spoke outdoors, where the wind and ambient noise could impede their effectiveness. The speaker needed to wave his arms around so those in the back could see who was speaking, and to shout to ensure they could hear.
Henry Ward Beecher played against the prevailing speaking style. Dropping all pretense, he was a breath of fresh air–casual, informal, authentic. And yet his lack of pretense was just as much a rhetorical style as the more formal, hammy style of his contemporaries. He chose a style that was the polar opposite of his contemporaries.
Now, microphones and video cameras minimize the need for speakers to project and gesticulate. The up-close and personal style of talk shows and news broadcasts is pervasive. Every day you hear speakers on TV who are scripted, polished, and experienced, and when an average guy shows up on the screen, the contrast is severe.
The contemporary challenge as business speakers is to get enough experience so that you can relax in front of camera and crowd alike, and still bring a highly-disciplined approach to your messaging. Without those two things, you are less able to capture and hold the most fleeting commodity in the world–human attention.
Next…Show, Don’t Tell