One of the keys to powerful communication is to connect emotionally with your audience.
I've been communing with an expert on the subject who says graphic movie titles set a great example of how it should be done. This comes from marketing guru George Torok, a Canadian who shared star billing at the conference of the Professional Speaking Association at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester. George (pictured below) has a pretty emotionally-grabby tag-line himself.  He defines himself as the person who helps business owners get an unfair advantage over the competition. George is a fan of the title "Snakes On A Plane." I should stress that it's the movie name that he's keen on - not so much the film itself. In case you missed it (I did), "Snakes On A Plane" was the 2006 action thriller in which hundreds of snakes are released on a passenger plane in an attempt to kill a trial witness.  He also likes the fact that it sums up exactly what the movie is about. George is also a fan of the title "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" for the same reason.  But say what you like about the title, George is right. It sticks with you - and people can make an instant decision as to whether they want to see it or not. So George's advice is that when you are communicating, you must ensure you inject enough emotional punch into your headline that will both grab people and tell them what they need to know about what follows. He's perfectly relaxed about the fact that graphic titles will put some people off, because these are the people who wouldn't be interested in these kinds of movies in the first place (that's me, and quite possibly you). George suggests you apply the same principle whatever you are working on - whether it's material for your website, a self-introduction, a news release, a product, an article or your next presentation. Of course when it comes to injecting emotion, you don't have to select negative words and concepts. In fact positive emotional terms will in many cases work better for you - whether its "inspirational", "paradise", "kittens", "butterflies" or whatever. Ultimately you require a balance between emotion and factual content...but the more common error is to lean too much in the direction of dry fact. When it comes to grabbing attention, you have somewhere between five and fifteen seconds to get your audience to take notice of you. A title with emotional bite will help - and so too will balanced emotional content beyond the title. |
PLANES ON A SNAKE
One of my professional speaking colleagues in the audience was equally captivated by George Torok's speech. Jackie Barrie, who speaks on "Writing Without Waffle" and is known for her succinctness, came up with her own visual take on it. It's rather surreal, but it probably has equal emotional punch - especially if you're a snake.  |
SUPERCHARGE YOUR BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILLS
If you're concerned that you're not putting enough emotional dynamite into your communications, there's a master class coming up which will transform your approach.
When people ask you what you do, do you sometimes fail to make an immediate memorable impact? Do you ever feel sweaty and uneasy as the focus switches to you when meeting new people? Do you struggle when asked hard-hitting questions by clients, prospects or your own colleagues? "SUPERCHARGING YOUR BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS" will leave you feeling more confident, more fascinating and more captivating. You'll be in a better position to sell yourself, your organisation and your offerings. I typically run these kinds of master classes inside companies. But on Friday 29 November there's a rare open course. It's in Central London at business premises at Queen Anne's Gate - just down the road from Buckingham Palace. (Her Majesty hasn't booked on yet - but there's still time for her to get the early bird discount.)
The investment cost is £260. However there's an early bird offer of £187 for bookings made before 18 October. This includes lunch and refreshments fit for queens and kings - just in case any turn up. To secure your place email michael@ |
COMMUNICATIONS-BOOSTING OPPORTUNITIES
Here are other ways to boost your communications skills...
# "BECOME AN INSPIRATIONAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATOR" - the interactive keynote to enliven your conference audience and take your people to new heights in their confidence, motivation and performance level: www.michaeldoddcommunications. # "TRANSFORM THE COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS OF YOUR TEAM" - Tailor-made programmes run inside your company to get your people in cracking verbal form - face-to-face, through the news media and across the web: www.michaeldoddcommunications. # "BECOME AN INSPIRATIONAL CEO IN TWELVE HOURS" - The communications-makeover or polishing programme for those at the top or heading that way... to take you to towards a stratospheric level of communications, confidence and image success. www.michaeldoddcommunications. # "SUPERCHARGE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS OVER SKYPE" - Give yourself a communications boost in a one-hour one-to-one Skype session on Friday 18 October and Thursday 29 October. The session can cover giving great answers to tough questions and/or perfecting your business introduction. Remaining slots available on both days are at 8.30am, 11am and 5pm. Investment cost is £87 a session. Secure your slot by emailing enquiries@
Hopefully the titles of these offerings have enough emotional punch to connect with you.
But if you can see a way of adjusting the titles to add more emotion then do let me know. If you can make emotionally-charged suggestion
Keep smiling
Michael
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