DO DEEPER VOICES REALLY COMMAND YOUR ATTENTION?
My last blog made the point that deeper sounding voices aren’t necessarily better voices and don’t necessarily correlate to a great leader, or a popular presenter. But if we are going to be so bold as to ask an audience to put down their phone, leave their desk, spend time away from their family to listen to us, then we do owe it to them to do the work we need to be physically and mentally prepared to present.
It was a TED Talk experiment I conducted that actually netted some amazing personal insight for me as a presentation coach. Looking to prove something I thought to be true – that women with deeper, fuller voices would somehow be better more successful presenters – I skimmed through about 25 most popular TED Talks online, only to find I was wrong. There were actually more higher pitched top women speakers, than there were deeper-voiced woman. I felt somehow vindicated personally, since the only time I have deep, husky Demi Moore sound is when I’m deathly ill!
But something else happened during this experiment. I started to realize there were subconscious reasons why I would stay engaged with some TED Talks and not others and it had less to do with the topic and more to do with visual and non-visual aspects of the presentation.
I share my takeaways in hopes they help you too.
1) I’m slightly ashamed to say because I THINK I’m better than this, but the first thing that struck me was their appearance. Not were they attractive or not, but could I see something of myself in them? If I could, it made it harder for me to go to the next TED Talk regardless of whether the topic was something I was really into because by that point, I was pulled into their storyline, where I was carried along by their…
2) Passion, command and their ability to have fun with their topic. The Talks that kept me watching were those with a great story line that kept propelling forward. Each line, each sentence forwarded the story and their ultimate point.
3) Subconsciously, I noted their diction, pacing and steady passion that played into their powerful visual aids. The visuals complemented their words and made presentations great, not just good – and note, they weren’t all just PPT visuals; and many of the vis aids didn’t need long explanations….they stood alone, again, complementing the conversation. This purposeful use of visuals was like an exclamation point to their verbal thoughts. I like that. Some I still remember, weeks after watching.
4) And the final reason I kept watching a talk was the topic. That’s right, all of the above was more important to engage me than the actual topic itself.
Does this make me a shallow person? I hope not. Perhaps it reflects human nature – we feel with our eyes first and then when we like what we see, we are willing to go deeper.
The takeaway? Don’t give your audience a chance to mentally check out. If you follow the above principals, you will have success.
Need a little help doing that? The M Network team can be your eyes and ears. Let us know how we can make your next presentation the best!