The Secret Pathway to Your Audiences' Heart

by Robbie Robinson © 2005

You’re standing atop the platform…final words flow effortlessly from your lips.

The audience leaps to their feet, wowed by your message…your delivery…your genuineness. Applause washes over you like tangy ocean waves. You feel fantastic! 80% of the audience got your message. Better yet? Months from now, they’ll still be applying what you shared tonight, allowing them to live a happier, more productive life, filled with success and significance. You made a difference. The buzz in the industry is you’re HOT. ‘But how did this happen?’, your puzzled mind quips. This is pretty much the same material you used when only 20% got it. Two weeks later, they forgot your message … and your name! The difference? You discovered the secret pathway to your audiences’ heart.

Conventional wisdom says, ‘tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them.’ If, up front, you tell them what you’re going to tell them, where’s the incentive to listen or care??? Conventional wisdom is not working.

Confucius said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Yet he’s remembered for what he said, not for what he looked like. In a thousand words you can say: the Lord’s Prayer, the Declaration of Independence, two Shakespearean sonnets, and much more. There is nothing more powerful than the human voice, used properly. However, when you challenge conventional wisdom, your ideas may often be questioned.

1915: “It’s an idle dream to think the automobile will ever replace the train as a way to move passengers.”

1902: “Flight by machinery heavier than air is utterly impossible.”

Challenge conventional wisdom anyway and take your sessions to the next level.

Most people love your presentation. Then why is it so soon forgotten? The answer lies in the make-up of the human brain. Many of us believe that the ears of our audiences are always open…that we have a direct line to their hearts. As the old song says,

"it ain’t necessarily so." The mind has two challenges: clutter and leakage.

Clutter:
We are bombarded with information from spouses, co-workers, speakers,  

newspapers, TV, radio, billboards, flyers, internet, email....

over 3000 images a day. How can your message survive?

Leakage:
80% of what goes in, leaks out almost immediately.

And 80% of all promotion
of new ideas is totally gone in two days.

How does your information stay alive and

make a difference ?

Let’s look at the brain:

The brain has a filter, called BROCA. Broca is your best friend, or your worst enemy. Broca hates predictability. If it looks like you’re trying to sell a new idea, you’re tuned out. Broca however loves humour and emotionally-based stories. And music? It gets a free pass. (ever read the words to 'Mac the Knife'?) Because humour is not predictable, you tickle Broca, slip past the gate keeper and into the imagination. Remember: to make it valuable, the laughs need to relate to your story and the audiences’ benefit.

As a speaker, you have information that you believe will improve the life of your audience. Guess what? THEY DON’T CARE. But if you told a story – one that causes a smile (or tear), evokes a pleasant memory, gets their adrenaline pumping, creates a lump in their throat – a story that places them in a situation where they can experience the emotional benefit of your idea - they’d grasp it like a drowning man to a life ring. We don’t do anything unless we first imagine ourselves doing it.

Reality: we have 100 million receptors for our seven senses. We have 10,000 billion brain synapses for our imagination. Therefore, we are 100,000 times better equipped to live in the 3rd dimension outside of time and space. (insert Star Trek theme here) Take your audience on a trip into their imagination, and they’ll follow you anywhere.

Now, you’ve reached their hearts and planted an emotional desire. But…how do you keep it alive? In two days, 80% will be forgotten. The answer? Leave them with a daily exercise, a work book, a goal-card, a fun, theme song, a meditation, a reminder button, a calendar with notes, your personally-autographed book or CD. You need to create a system or object that will keep your idea alive for at least 21 days. That way, your teachings will then become a habit for success.

You’re standing on the platform…final words flow effortlessly from your lips.
The audience leaps to their feet, wowed by your message…your delivery…your
genuineness. Months from now, they’ll still be applying what you shared tonight, allowing them to live a happier, more productive life, filled with success and significance. You made a difference. And now you know why.

(ps… my wife Jenny & I perform a fun, Calypso-style song who’s words are full of inspiration and motivation. Each audience member receives their very own copy on CD. The song’s message echoes the benefits of our ‘1% Solution’. It’s such a infectiously-friendly tune, even the banquet staff are whistling it as we leave the building. Imagine the impact it had on the audience!)

For a sample of the song, visit our ‘Music’ page.