Last night I attended a live speaking event and I was reminded how well emotional intensity can be used to achieve your goals as a speaker. The presenter was very experienced, and her content was primarily educational with an upsell at the end. The truth is, she sold me. I have to admit, whenever I hear a great presentation, I struggle not to pull out my credit card and buy whatever it is they’re offering afterward. Usually, I succeed. But this time, I just went for it.
As I look back on the evening, there were two techniques/strategies she used during her presentation that sent me over the tipping point on an emotional level:
1) Her own personal story of her struggles with the issues she helps people with now. The presenter had to pause about a half dozen times because she kept getting choked up while telling her story, and it seemed very authentic.
2) Even more powerful, she had live testimonials from about a half dozen extremely successful clients. She had a flyer of testimonials in every listener’s seat at the beginning of the presentation. But toward the end, there were at least a half dozen clients in the audience who’d had outstanding results from working with her. Usually, a speaker will only include only one live testimonial if any. But six? Seven? There were even others in the audience who didn’t have a chance to share their successes because the presentation had gone over time.
Last but not least? This has more to do with relationship building than emotional intensity, but the speaker made herself truly available and welcomed questions from the audience for an indefinite period of time after ending her formal presentation. She gave the audience leave to get up from their seats, mingle, and enjoy some snacks and drinks and/or continue speaking with her if they wished. Good move!
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