What do you see, what story does this evoke? What story did you make up? How does it make you feel?
A man working, holding his head in pain. I know you want to know the story behind those facts…..
Who’s the man? What’s on the computer screen? Why is he holding his head, is it pain or ? And most importantly is the ending to this story happy or sad?
Don’t know what you decided but for me, holding his head that way means tiredness, pain and can only mean one thing… frustration and possible failure late at night.
We’re all the same, you, me, we see the world through a mist of facts but we make sense of it with our emotions. We make up stories about what we see and hear all the time, always relating to an emotional connection, something in our past.
Our memories and past emotions connect all of us. This is what it is to be human, to be authentic. When the audience gets that you are authentic that you are willing to “Show Up”, they then identify with you and your project, or product.
Writers and Playwrights use our emotions…
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Film makers use emotions…
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in rain… Time to die” The replicant Batty from the film Blade Runner.
Show Up
In today’s business world, I believe that we are increasingly being called upon to show up. Because we now communicate so much by e-mail, voice mail, fax, and via the Internet, I believe the need for interpersonal communication is continually growing. The more we use technology to communicate with each other, the greater our need for face-to-face communication, and the more we crave the authenticity of personal contact. Nothing replaces the nuances of tone and pitch of a human voice or the facial and physical expressions of the communicator. But because we are using these skills less and less, we are losing our ability to “Show Up”. As a presenter should I use emotions, definitely, what is the greatest risk, well you will be revealed as human, some one I can trust to be real.
Pitch to win!