This post is part of the Unconventional speaking advice series. To find out more go to the first post.
To make impact with your speech you must heighten the audience’s emotions. You can influence emotion using rhetorical techniques such as ascending triads and story telling. But there are also logistical factors that you can exploit. In his article How to Get a Standing Ovation, Guy Kawasaki suggests that you should use the smallest room possible.
“A packed room is a more emotional room. It is better to have 200 people in a 200 person room than 500 people in a 1,000 person room.” – Guy Kawasaki
Standing room only will suggest that the size of the audience has exceeded your wildest expectation, giving you credibility as a speaker and making the event more memorable. The additional discomfort caused by a large crowd, such as the heat and inability to sit down, will be offset by the audience’s heightened sense of anticipation.
Kawasaki even suggests reducing the capacity of a large room by introducing classroom furnature rather than rows of chairs.
A packed room is not appropriate in all situations. As a technical trainer I try to make the teaching environment comfortable for my students, a packed room would be intolerable for a three day course. But for political or motivational speeches, standing room only could massively increase the impact.
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Unconventional speaking advice #2: Standing Room Only
This post is part of the Unconventional speaking advice series. To find out more go to the first post.
To make impact with your speech you must heighten the audience’s emotions. You can influence emotion using rhetorical techniques such as ascending triads and story telling. But there are also logistical factors that you can exploit. In his article How to Get a Standing Ovation, Guy Kawasaki suggests that you should use the smallest room possible.
Standing room only will suggest that the size of the audience has exceeded your wildest expectation, giving you credibility as a speaker and making the event more memorable. The additional discomfort caused by a large crowd, such as the heat and inability to sit down, will be offset by the audience’s heightened sense of anticipation.
Kawasaki even suggests reducing the capacity of a large room by introducing classroom furnature rather than rows of chairs.
A packed room is not appropriate in all situations. As a technical trainer I try to make the teaching environment comfortable for my students, a packed room would be intolerable for a three day course. But for political or motivational speeches, standing room only could massively increase the impact.
Related Posts