Random Acts of Emphasis- Shoot your winning shot!

Have you ever listened to somebody where everything mattered? This is very important, and THAT is so important, and because it’s so important!!!!!! Conversely, have you ever listened to somebody where it seemed like nothing mattered? Monotonia (is that even a word)- flatly suggesting that we could do this, or we could do that, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know what’s even weirder?

And I’ve seen this too. Oh, by the way, I’ve done it. So here’s what I’m gonna suggest you don’t. And I’m calling it random acts of emphasis. What do I mean? Putting the emphasis on the wrong word. So today I want to FOCUS on your problems. It sounds a little off-putting, right? If I maybe thought about focusing on your problems… When this sort of rando emphasis occurs, you wind up startling the listener (Pop culture reference-watch Ariana Grande’s impression of Celine Dion, when you need a random “jolt.”)

And this is why you want to practice, practice, practice. There’s an old, old adage from an old sports icon. Well, I mean, he’s not old. He’s a lot younger than me, but he played for the 76ers years and years and years ago. Allen Iverson. A true legend, one of the coolest, funnest, most exciting players of all time.

But AI (not artificial intelligence) got grilled one time when he was showing disdain for missing practice. “Practice! We’re talking about PRACTICE!” Easy YouTube search, and you’ll see what I mean. But here’s the thing, in this world, in our circumstance, in order for me to try to be able to help you to get where you need to be, you HAVE to practice. The practice applies to any business conversation, presentation, lead gen phone call-any and all of these situations (if they matter) need to be practiced.

Often when you don’t practice, and you’re delivering a speech, a presentation, or an important business conversation- you risk rattling off details, facts, stats, and it sounds like you’re reading them. You’re literally reading them. This “reading aloud is fundamental approach” can occur- because you were nervous, got rattled by an unexpected change (client asked you a question) or you were surprised that somebody added information to your group meeting, or you’ve got so much there that you lost track of the story…you’re reading it all, and you realize, well, I don’t want to sound monotone.

And you just start emphasizing things. Random things. That’s what it is. In the media sales, digital sales realm. The primary culprit is often research or quantitative data randomly thrown in a presentation- to make you sound smarter. What the reaction of the client, audience, boardroom when you’re ill-prepared… they are like, okay, I don’t know what that means. The fact of the matter is if you were in my field, you heard people do that often.

As if you were then supposed to act excited or act as if this matters. It’s the worst kind of influencing because you don’t even know what you’re influencing. So the practice is telling the whole story. Here’s a couple of tips- to regain control and add authentic emotion to your next presentation.

1. Prepare by truly knowing the STORY-not just bullet points.
a. Your job is to fully understand WHAT you are presenting, and why it should matter to THEM
b. Preparation, pre-qualifying convos really matter.
2. Emphasize thoughts, ALL of your emphasis falls into solving a pain point, a problem that matters to them.
3. Avoid sounding condescending
a. This occurs when you “decide” what matters to your client (sounds phony or fake.)

My primary experience knowing how to navigate presentations comes from my 25+ years in Broadcast, Digital sales and sales management. And I will also add that for 5+ years, I have had substantial voice/ narration experience. (It’s amazing to me what common ground these very different fields share.) The common ground is in the storytelling.

And when you’re delivering a presentation, you want to sound like you are the curator. This is the solution that we created together. You’re the problem solver. There’s a crucial difference in sound, tone, and physicality when you align with the audience (the client.) You’re now a team. On the other hand, when you are “flying solo” (lack of prep, too little practice, sharing a solution (story) that only matters to you, your voice will give you away. So number one, do not read out loud. Nobody needs to be read out loud unless you’re some little kid that has a difficult time sleeping.

But for anyone who’s above three years old, talk to them. Tell them the story. Secondly, You’re emphasizing a thought. Make certain that what you’re delivering will matter to them My experience in the voiceover field reminds me to emphasize the client’s name, emphasize the salient points, find or mine for gold.

#protip- Emphasize what others have said to you before. For example-the person (people) that you’re meeting. When you’re going through the materials, we talked about almost like that dog whistle effect. “Blah, blah, blah… FIDO!” Works like a charm.

So now…you’re using your voice to, in essence, punch the right things. So, takeaways. Emphasize thoughts. Know the whole story. Do not punch everything. Every data point does not have equal value. But be able to deliver the emotion and the emphasis of the message…by literally keying and leaning into the right phrases.

And when you’re unsure, go to the ones that matter to the audience, the receiver. Follow their reactions. They’ll know, and more importantly, they’re going to react. We’re talking about practice, man. We’re talking about practice.