Why Being Yourself and Passionate Trumps Distracting Habits
Can you remember a presentation that has long stayed with you? What was the secret power that it held? It likely was the passion of the speaker. The presenter was perhaps someone you would consider a good candidate to be a friend – just one of us ‘normal’ folk.
I found a clip of a speech given by Senator Diane Savino speaking on gay marriage legislation that is/will be voted on by members of the New York State Senate. The clip extends seven minutes. I watched the entire clip. This is unusual for me because usually I get bored and turn off clips within a minute.
What makes Senator Savino different? She speaks with passion and believes in her cause. And her passion outstripped her fidgeting and gesturing. The clip received over 327,000 views and over 1300 positive comments.
This comment was one of the few that was negative:
Comment on YouTube from:Monkeysniffer08
wow…. she has some horrible speaking habits…..- pen clicking- fidgeting- rubbing her ear- holding her pen and flinging around with it.
Monkeysniffer noticed and so did I. But I didn’t care.Her message outshone les faux pas.
Which proves you do not have to be a perfect speaker — just a speaker who speaks with passion and believes in your own words.
Next post I will write about Senator Savino’s speech and her use of rhetorical persuasion.
Tags: believe in yourself, Passion, persuation, presentation, public speaking
I couldn’t agree more! Great minds think alike.
Sometimes, when someone is engaging and passionate enough, the little imperfections don’t bother you. Sometimes they go completely unnoticed.
Great site, BTW. I’m very impressed with the design.
Thanks Jon.
I remember well the quote that you used on your post (http://blog.presentationadvisors.com/) from the movie Good Will Hunting–one of my all time favourite movies. That was a quintessential remark you used spoken by Robin Williams, “You’re not perfect, sport, and let me save you the suspense: this girl you’ve met, she’s not perfect either.”
It is too hard being perfect and rather undesirable too! I think people are more interesting warts and all!
Also, thanks on the web site compliment. It was created in collaboration with David Maguire at OutPost…a brilliant young man.
Amen.
The best presentation I ever saw had no tools, no rhetorical tricks, no movement, one prop, and was not even spoken very clearly.
But he held 100 passers-by in the burning sun for an hour because he believed what he said and embodied his belief.
Mean what you say. The rest is details.
Cheers
Adam
Adam – You have made me curious about the circumstance around the speaker who captivated an audience for an hour in the burning sun. Strong visual!
I was pondering who I would listen to in an uncomfortable environment…
Churchill because of his insight, meter of speech, and powerful words; James Earl Jones because of the timbre of his voice; and Evelyn Glennie (Cordelia Ditton just posted a link to her presentation at Ted – I had forgotten about Evelyn’s passion and ability to communicate her wisdom – http://bit.ly/53xpdZ ).
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