Great speakers grab your emotions when they tell a story.

Ever see a news anchor report on a highly emotional story with objectivity and “coldness” that completely negates the impact the story should have on viewers?

This is what happens when great speakers open their mouth

Their objective is skewed to providing the facts as quickly as possible; they are less concerned about conveying the spirit of the words being used to capture the story.

It happens constantly.

Tragedies are paraded by us in mere moments leaving virtually no emotional imprint on us at all.

I understand the media challenge to get the story out and over; to accurately cover the facts and move on.

But there are some special reporters who can both capture the heart of the story AND convey the emotion element it deserves.

These are special people who are worth listening to. They feel their words. They command attention. They exude honesty and integrity.

They standout from the “media herd” that have at best a thin emotional layer; their stories don’t impact people and they are not remembered.

Communicating to any audience has the same challenge. Whether you are giving a presentation, keynote speech or leading a seminar, the audience is looking for clues as to whether or not you actually believe what you are saying.

And the test they apply is how you use your words.

Do you just talk, or do you FEEL when you express your words?

Passion – the emotion behind the spoken word – separates mediocre speaker from great speakers.

It’s created when you throw yourself into what you are saying; you let go of “the what” and dive into “the how”.

The ability to feel your words comes from first, knowing your topic intimately and second, believing it with your heart and soul.

This is more than intellectual understanding, for the speaker may very well consider themselves to be proficient at the process of strategic planning, for example, but may bore the audience to death and provide an effective cure for the insomniacs in the planning session.

Feeling your words also requires a healthy dose of fun which normally is an outcome when passion, not the intellect, rules how you communicate.

Great speakers are judged not by what they say, but by how they move people.

As a member of the audience we remember little of a speaker’s content the first time we hear it. But we always remember how we felt when we heard it.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

Great speakers do more than use their words; they FEEL them, express their emotion clearly, openly and honestly.

And the listener is left in a rare moment of infatuation.

They are all in.

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