Skip to main content

It’s All About the Passion: Grab Your Audience’s Attention and Keep It

By August 16, 2017Blog

Certain discussion topics can pull the passion out of us easily (such as talking about our family, our hobbies, or maybe our favorite sports teams). But, let’s be real, how do you exude excitement for something like compliance training?

On the face of it, much of what needs to be conveyed in the corporate world isn’t inherently thrilling—important, sure, but probably nothing that will cause goose bumps. A look at business trends, routine policy updates and safety procedures are not topics likely to have people sitting on the edges of their seats.

Regardless of any such topical challenges, it is still your job to find a way to grab your audience’s attention and keep it. I am not telling you to assume the role of a used car salesperson with hyped-up delivery and crazy gesticulating. What I am suggesting is that you identify why your message is important for your audience to hear.

Your Passionate Purpose

In other words, explain what you need your audience to know . . . and why they need to know it. Give them a stake in what you have to say.

That is your passionate purpose, and it is your mission to make your audience understand that key takeaway and remember it.

Remember, too, that you are asking a lot of your audience. You are requesting that they drop everything else they may be or could be doing to watch you perform. If you appear bored by your own performance—if you lack passion—they will not be inclined to tune in for long.

If you found this information valuable, check out my book, On-Camera Coach: Tools and Techniques for Business Professionals in a Video-Driven World, now available from Wiley Publishing. On-Camera Coach aims to take the mystery out of communicating through the camera and provides specific tips and techniques that can make your message sing—and you, the messenger, feel confident in a job well done.