Reason makes us think, but emotion makes us act.  So how can we build emotional arguments into our presentations?

When we consult Maslow’s Theory, we learn that people have a hierarchy of needs.  At the bottom of the pyramid are physiological needs—the need for air, water, food and excretion.  Most business arguments cannot invoke these as rewards for compliance, or as punishments to be feared if the listener fails to do what the speaker suggests.

Next up on the list are the emotional needs for safety. These include the needs for security of body, employment, and property.  Politicians often claim that certain ideas, programs or “isms” threaten our security.  Healthcare companies appeal to our deep need for well-being.  And business arguments can invoke the loss (and the possible increase) of employment security as emotional reasons to endorse a particular initiative.

The need for love in the business world is the need for social connections and a sense of belonging.  Since we spend more hours with our colleagues at work than we do with our families, this need provides a strong lever for a business speaker seeking to sway an audience.

The workplace is even more significant for us as a forum in which we can earn distinction and status.  Our need for esteem is profound, both self-esteem and the need to be respected and acknowledged by our peers.  It is often said that pay is not the greatest motivator.  The greatest motivator is recognition and acknowledgement.

If we are lucky enough to satisfy all the needs mentioned above, then we will work for self-actualization. This will include our desire to make a difference, to develop our deepest human abilities for feeling, imagination, caring, and spontaneity.  It seems that Apple Computer and Google have marketed themselves as employers where self-actualization is possible—where creativity and “changing the world” are part of the business culture.

All persuasive arguments have an emotional component.   But it requires a deft touch.  If you overplay your point, you lose credibility.  Subtlety and indirectness are essential.

For instance, you cannot say,  “You are a small and vulnerable outsider dealing with a vast, deceptive insurance industry.  Work with us.  We’re friendly.”

Much better to hire a little talking gecko with an Australian accent and get him to personify your company.  He’ll reduce your audience’s anxiety, and build customer loyalty, even while he’s making a simple rational argument that he can save you money.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

I am a font.  I’m Copperplate31ab.

You’re a font—Southbee Two. 

I am elegant and stately—I live on wedding invitations.

You are playful and informal.  You live beside railroad tracks, and on those rock walls along two-lane roads.  High-school Romeos proclaim their love with you.

I win points for being subtle and intellectual. 

You get points for being real and authentic.

I get points for balance and restraint.

You get points for telling it like it is.

I get penalized for being professorial and aloof. 

You get penalized for being overly simplistic and intemperate.

I can succeed in places that you can’t, and you can win the war of words where I can’t even gain entrance.

I am a font—Copperplate31ab.  I grew up in Hawaii and California.  My father was from Africa, my mother from Kansas. 

You are a font—Southbee Two.  You grew up at Andover and Yale, and maybe a little in the White House.

How come I’m Copperplate? I should be Southbee.

And how did you get to be Southbee? You should be Copperplate.

We should stop trying to be the fonts we want to be, and start being the fonts we are.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

How should you start preparing a presentation to senior executives?

Don’t start by digging through your slide library and pulling the old standbys out.

Rather, answer these questions.

1. What is the topic or subject you are reporting on? Be clear with yourself so you can be clear with your audience.
2. Why is your topic important enough to be on the busy agenda of senior level managers?
3. What questions will your audience be asking?  Can you answer them early in your presentation?

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.