What Does Public Speaking With Passion Mean?
If you could speak about any subject in the world, what would you choose?
Your family?
Your most prized possession?
An incredible experience you had?
Whatever topic you’d pick, the reason you’d choose it is because you’re passionate about it. It’s something you love to talk about and I’m sure everyone listening would see that.
Passion isn’t something that can be feigned. Either you are passionate about the subject or you’re not. So are you doomed the next time you’re assigned to give a presentation on something you aren’t enthusiastic about? Not necessarily. There are ways to inject passion into your public speaking even when you are less than thrilled with the topic.
Passion = Authenticity + Credibility
John F. Kennedy once said, “The only reason to give a speech is to change the world.” When you believe wholeheartedly in what you are saying, you can’t help but be passionate. You want your audience to know that the topic you’re talking about is important not only to you, but to them, too.
A natural and wonderful by-product of your passion is authenticity, which feeds your credibility with the audience. It doesn’t hurt, either, that a passionate public speaker is more lively and charismatic, and that keeps your audience engaged.
Yes, public speaking with passion has all kinds of benefits that you can only achieve when you genuinely care about the topic. When you’re talking about something you feel strongly about, it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to be passionate.
Inject Passion Into Your Public Speaking
Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of people mistake being loud and boisterous for being passionate. Raising your voice doesn’t display passion for what you’re saying, it just makes you…loud.
The volume of a person’s voice has no real bearing on how they feel about a subject. Even in a whisper, how you truly feel about something is evident. What matters most is that you feel strongly about what you’re saying.
Remembering this key piece of information will help you find passion in times when you’re called on to give a presentation about something you don’t feel especially enthusiastic about. Think of the most boring activity you do every day (making the bed, putting out the trash, cleaning out your spam folder). It would be a challenge to talk at any length about these things and sound the slightest bit passionate.
Or would it?
Here’s what I always recommend: If you aren’t passionate about the topic, at least tell a story about the topic that you can be passionate about. Find a loophole. Passion is all about making an emotional connection with your audience. It doesn’t matter how you get there, just as long as that’s the endpoint. So when you struggle to inject passion into your public speaking, remember that it’s not always the topic you need to be enthusiastic about. It’s the delivery. It’s the audience. It’s the outcome.
At the very least, be interested and engaged by your topic. If you aren’t, how can you expect your audience to feel any differently?
What are your thoughts on public speaking with passion? Do you agree it’s an important presentation skill? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and advice for others. Leave a comment below or connect with us through our social media channels. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
Passion sells. When I watch presenters without passion it is very hard for me to connect with them and their material. I was at a conference last week with multiple presenters and it was amazing that only one of them stood out from the crowd.
The only way to connect effectively with your audience is passion, passion endears your audience to the very heart of your speech. Passion is a key ingredient to succeed in anything, and public speaking is not excluded. The challenge as a public speaker is to inject passion while delivering on a subject you are uninterested about. The tip shared here sounds promising, I will definitely try them out.
I agree with what you said about how an audience will find a speech more credible and authentic if the speaker is passionate about the topic they’re discussing. My company is accepting interns soon, so we were thinking of getting a youth conference speaker to present about our company. I’ll keep this in mind and consider hiring a motivational speaker for the job.