Your brain is processing 11 million bits of information per second. Only 40 of those bits are conscious. The rest of that vast amount of information is going on below the level of consciousness. It would seem that we are not the rational, logical beings we think we are.
A large proportion of that unconscious information-processing is related to parts of ourselves we don’t often think about – digestion, breathing, the nervous system, the immune system, etc. But a certain amount of below-consciousness activity is responsible for giving us what we call our “gut reaction” to things and people. Incoming stimuli through our senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste (not smell, for some reason) – are screened through the emotional centres of our brain before we think about them consciously. This means we develop a feel for things before we develop an idea about them. Good salespeople know that clients buy based on their emotions and then rationalize their decision intellectually. It’s why you sell the sizzle, not the steak.
What this means to a presenter is that he or she must find a way to appeal to listeners emotionally before they will consciously consider concepts. The gut reaction parts of the brain don’t care about concepts. They speak the language of behaviour. They are watching posture, gestures and facial expressions. Is the speaker standing tall and assured? Is their body language open and welcoming? Is the speaker smiling? The emotional centres are listening to the sound of the speaker’s voice. Is it vibrant or a monotone?
If all those assessments of behaviour do not add up to an emotionally appealing impression, the listener’s gut reaction is, “I don’t want to listen to this person.” How many times have you seen someone stand up to speak, and you had an almost instantaneous feeling of whether this was going to be interesting or awful? The emotional centres of your brain were hard at work developing a first impression. Have you ever noticed how strong that first impression is? Our first impression of someone creates a lasting perception of who they are and what they are like. That perception has a very strong influence on how receptive we are to what someone is saying.
Studies have shown that a speaker’s body language and tone of voice plays a far greater role in creating audience receptivity than the ideas that are being presented. What’s more, if the words are positive, but the body language and tone of voice contradict them, the listener will believe the behaviour over the words. Imagine that I stand before you, shoulders slumped, chest caved in, the corners of my mouth turned down and my brow furrowed in a worried look. When I begin to speak, my voice has a nervous quaver. And then I say, “I’m delighted to be here.” Will you believe the behaviour or the words?
The good news is that as speakers, we can do a great deal to create that all-important favourable first impression in the emotional centres of the listeners’ brain. For starters, we can stand up straight. We can intentionally speak with energy so that our voice has interesting highs and lows. (Nothing creates a negative gut reaction faster than a monotonous voice.) Then we can smile at our audience to show that we are friendly, not a threat. We can look individuals squarely in the eyes. Eye contact tells listeners that you see them and care about them. It appeals to the emotional centres of their brain.
The wise speaker knows that an audience’s perception determines their willingness to listen. That perception, to a very large degree, is created by the physical and vocal behaviour of the speaker. There is a huge benefit to intentionally using body language and tone of voice to create a favourable emotional impression in your listener’s brain. However, we might have to use a little more than just 40 conscious bits to do it.
