You have bought into the idea that you have to MOVE your audience. That makes sense. When you make an emotional connection with your audience you persuade.
Wait. That isn’t quite right.
When you make an emotional connection with your audience, your audience becomes receptive and attentive. That is when you can make a powerful, cogent argument that sticks and moves an audience to action.
Let me give you an example.
Our client wants their people to succeed and achieve in fantastic ways. Our client makes the assertion that they create an environment within which employees can do their best work. They use powerful videos and testimonials that highlight the achievements of team members.
But what really makes the story stick is the use of historical examples that illustrate the importance of environment and surroundings as a prerequisite for incredible results. Venice in 1400. Silicon valley in 1970. Bengaluru in 1995. If you were in those places at those times and you were very talented and worked very hard, you had the potential for incredible achievement.
Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar argument in his book Outliers: The Story of Success.
Intellectually, it is compelling. And emotionally it is where people want to go. We belong to something that is good and promising. Here I can make a difference. Here I can be successful.
When you really want to reach a crowd, connect with them emotionally. But if you want to move them to action, connect with them intellectually as well.
You have had to move and persuade. Go ahead, make us cry.
