Ever wonder why when we are in a gathering, we look forward to and wait in anticipation of  hearing some truely amazing words. For many it often would seem like another boring exercise listening to all that lecture. Perhaps the topic or theme wasn’t interesting enough, speaker’s voice was dull and not a hint of modulated tone, no trace of humour or witty anecdotes, not strong enough to hold a captive audience. These are very often remarks made by audiences all over the world. So what is it that sparks the listeners and creates a static elecricity in the crowd who wait and wish to listen to more….

There’s something about these eloquent speakers who enthrall audiences and have the power to create amazing listening experiences for life.

Power to Relate: When a speaker understands who are the target audience and makes a real effort to relate to them, it touches people in a very individual way. It kind of makes sense to them and makes them realise that they are closer to home and they are not on alien territory. That the speaker is connecting to a very basic core of their thoughts and realigning his thoughts with theirs. This is a true win for any speaker. ” I am one of you as I have had similar experiences and I have not been a huge success overnight, but I have found ways and means to direct myself out of it an these are my thoughts that I wish to share with you.” It is often these kind of real life instances that audiences love to hear and relate because they have often been there.

 Magic of Voice: If  there was no magic to voice , how come people are drawn to it. A great voice is an amazing tool as it spells out the level of self-confidence and it has the power to touch body, mind, heart and soul. An appropriate voice control includes volume, pitch, tempo and can align voice with the message. While raising and lowering pitch may provide nuance, controlling the pace is all about learning to pause. An increase or decrease in volume can surely bring to attention while speaking with different levels of intensity can send non-verbal messages expressing the importance of the statement made.

Emotional Breakthrough: Audiences are often seeking answers to many questions in their mind and they do not wish to be very vocal about it. How does one anticipate those queries and breakdown that emotional barrier thats just a couple of steps away? A voice that speaks of enthusiam, excitement and positive tone is often a great start. A  truely inspiring personal story is another way of touching a couple of levels deeper into the psyche. To be able to communicate emotion is all about conveying the importance of an idea, the devastation of a badly chosen course of action or even an excitement of an event. These  enable a breakdown of that emotional barrier and the audience is actually free and open to interact.

Body language: As part of non-verbal communication, body language is often an essential tool that helps one to connect with others and add more meaning to expressions. We use various forms of eye-contact, gestures, body stance and facial expressions when we interact with people around us. It is found to generate an emotional response. These are non-verbal cues and often enable people to figure out whether one is being truthful, trustworthy, sincere, one’s level of skills and whether one possesses leadership qualities.

The power of Silence: As Derrida points out, silence is the origin, the source of all speaking, whereby, “Silence plays the irreducible role of that which bears and haunts language, outside and against which alone language can emerge” (1978: 54). Silence as in ‘pausing’ can also help the audience understand what one is saying. The question is ‘When to pause?’ Are you ‘pausing for emphasis’, or for a ‘change of thought’. Yet overall it can create a larger effect as  one can have a greater impact. The audience will listen more attentively because the wait before spilling the beans, gives greater importance to the words.