The Hierarchy of Emotions in Audiences – an analysis of Sudhanshu Mani’s inspiring TED Talk
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The Hierarchy of Emotions in Audiences – an analysis of Sudhanshu Mani’s inspiring TED Talk
By Rakesh Godhwani, SoME Founder & CEO
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C suite members, Founders, Leaders and Senior Managers are expected to motivate and inspire their teams to give their best for the organisation. A study indicated that motivated employees are more engaged, innovative and productive, which results in fewer accidents, quality defects, and higher profitability[i]. To motivate and inspire these employees, leaders must communicate through speeches in front of large audiences in town halls or even team meetings and focused groups. After listening to an inspiring leader, employees feel a high level of self-worth and efficacy[ii]. They feel good about themselves and can connect with the vision of the leader to achieve a common goal. Though making such inspiring speeches is an art, there are some simple yet practical scientific frameworks, tools and concepts available to master it.
In this post, I would like to share one such simple yet practical tool that one can use to measure the effectiveness of their speeches/messages for their audiences. I call it "The Hierarchy of Emotions in Audiences", which outlines the various levels of emotions felt by audiences while listening to a speaker.?There are two categories of emotions, those which bring an action and those that don’t bring an action in audiences. Few emotions that result in no action in audiences are apathy, boredom, confusion, frustration, fatigue and distractions. One study even cited that 39% of audiences tend to fall asleep during a boring presentation, and 91% are daydreaming during a presentation[iii] .
Now let’s look at those emotions that bring an action in audiences. See the image of this post on how these levels stack up and visualise an indicator with five lights like we see in volume control in gadgets. The lowest emotional level is a feeling called “acknowledgement”. The next higher level of emotion is to feel “respected”, followed by “rewarded”, then “proud” and finally “inspired”. A speaker who is able to make their audiences feel all these five levels of emotions through their words and style of speaking will inspire and motivate them better. Now this is really tough and comes with a lot of practice in speechwriting, delivering it to audiences, gauging their feedback and learning by observing other inspirational speakers.
Shri Sudhanshu Mani's speech at TEDx Hyderabad Dec 2019 is a perfect case study to explain this concept. I am a big fan of his work and have listened to this speech many times. So let’s dive into his speech.??
1.?????At approx. 5.4 mins, his sentence “…All 11000 faces of ICF, not one small, not one big, all placed there…” brings levels of respect and pride in audiences.
2.?????Between approx. 7.5 and 8.25 mins, he talks about bringing love and purpose to careers and quotes a few lines of aUrdudu poem. He raises his hands in a victory sign during that time which brings more emotions in audience which was evident in the applause. Possibly, three or four levels of emotions are felt by audiences at this time.
3.?????The next few minutes are absolute gold till about 12th minute. He takes his speech a notch up with every paragraph. He talks about how he falls at the feet of his boss and says, “…someone will kill your vanity someday, it is better that you yourself kill it today…” which receives a huge applause because the audience would have felt all five levels of emotions. Moments like these bring magic in keynote speeches.
Poet and writer Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” If you make them feel bored or confused, they will only remember you as a person who bores them or confuses them. But if you acknowledge, respect them, and make them feel rewarded, proud and inspired then they will remember you as an inspiration.
Use this simple tool to measure the effectiveness of your own speeches, presentations and communication. If very few levels are lit during the speech, it means that your audience are not feeling much. But if the tool lights up quite often and all bars are well-lit, which you can gauge from their claps, applauses or non-verbals, then you are onto something magical.
To know how to create such speeches and the tools of oratory, join my next cohort of Keynote Program for CXOs and Leaders.
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SoME's Keynote programme, launched in collaboration with Amrut Mody School of Management, is an exclusive oratory programme created for industry leaders to become influential public speakers who can persuade big crowds of listeners. After a successful first batch, the programme is back with its second edition from June 8 at the historical Ahmedabad University campus. Classes will be conducted by the University faculty and SoME Founder & CEO?Rakesh Godhwani?with Guides Col MK?Mandanna?and?Ashok Mirchandani. To see if you or someone you know are eligible for the programme, please download our brochure:?https://lnkd.in/gQD9_Hxz
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