More Tools To Connect With Your Audience
Learn 6 more easy tricks to keep your listeners’ attention.
Lisa B. Marshall
Listen
More Tools To Connect With Your Audience
Did you read part one of this episode? OK, pop quiz…which technique did I just use in this opening? A question, right! (Well, that was easy.) In the last episode, I talked about 4 techniques for capturing your audience’s attention and interest. For bonus points, can you name the three other strategies?
(Answers: Setting, Onomatopoeia, Generalization)
By using one of those strategies, you build excitement in the beginning of your story. You should have your audience thinking ”I wonder what’s next?” That’s why you also need to develop the middle of your story so that it is engaging and interesting too.
Like the beginning, the middle requires certain strategies to keep the audience actively engaged. Here are my 6 easy tips:
Tip #1 – Use Step-by-Step Action
The middle of the story is where the action takes place. In the middle, the step-by-step actions of characters move the story forward. Typically, engaging middles include significant difficulties or discoveries and a wide range of emotions.
For example, which is better? “I wrote my podcast this morning” or “At 6:15 am, I opened my eyes and thought, ‘I feel good, maybe I can get an episode done before the kids leave!’”
In this quick (albeit somewhat boring) example, 6:15 am is the opening setting which then progresses into several actions. By framing the action in the form of steps—this happened, then this happened– it makes this boring story inherently more interesting.
Tip #2 – Use Characters
Typically, the middle of a story introduces the main characters. Sometimes, they are introduced through inner dialogue (like in my quick example), and sometimes, we learn about a character by their observations of others, or via another character’s observation of them. Frequently, especially in small moment stories, a name or physical appearance is shared, and sometimes a character introduction is so strong, it can double as the opening attention getter.
For example, here’s the first line of the classic novel, Lord Jim:
“He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull.”
Tip # 3 – Show, Not Tell!
As in real life, character descriptions like the one above create strong first and lasting impressions. That particular sentence is also a great example, of Show, Not Tell. Show, Not Tell is a technique that was developed by Rebekah Kaplan to help students create rich mind pictures and avoid using meaning-starved words, such as “nice,” “weird,” or “awesome.”
However, Show, Not Tell also applies to expressing emotions. For example, if I had time to expand my quick example, I might revise it to: “At 6:15 am, I opened my eyes, smiled, cranked up the stereo, and started to dance. With the energy of the music and my blood pumping, I thought, ‘I bet I can get an episode done before the kids leave!’” The first time, I simply said, “I feel good” – this time I showed you exactly what feeling good is for me. By showing (instead of telling) you about my emotions, it makes the story inherently more interesting.
Tip #4 – Use Dialogue
Ok, well, I cheated. In both my examples, I snuck in the use of another tool: dialogue. Dialogue is what you say (or think) and of course, conversations that you have with others. What makes dialogue interesting is the characters’ specific word choices. Again, like in real life, word choice provides insight into personalities.
Tip # 5 – Use Figurative Language
Another tool that helps to spice up the middle of a story is the use of figurative language, a more colorful way of speaking. It includes onomatopoeia, metaphor, simile, analogy, idiomatic speech, oxymoron, alliteration, personification, paradox, imagery, hyperbole and understatement. For example: “Ding, ding, ding, the clock struck three” or “I was a day late and a dollar short”, or “It would have been better to be an hour too soon than a minute too late!”
Tip #6 – Use Lists
Here are three examples of lists. What images and feelings do they evoke?
List 1: I packed my laptop, my iPad, and my favorite black pantsuit.
List 2: I packed a fresh set of underwear, a toothbrush, and that’s it!
List 3: I packed my clothes, toiletries, and a picture of me as a baby.
The first list gives the impression that I’m all business—a serious professional who works 24/7 and can’t manage without her gadgets. The second list gives the opposite impression, of a carefree and adventurous spirit. The third list makes you wonder about the baby picture.
That’s all we have time for today, but we’ll pick up from here the next time with some tips and techniques for more engaging story endings. This is The Public Speaker, Lisa B. Marshall. Passionate about communication, your success is my business.
Announcements
Connect with me for discounts, exclusive tips, and other freebies:
-
Join my lisabmarshall newsletter (exclusive content & offers)
-
Join my professional network LinkedIn (expand your visibility into LinkedIn DB)
-
Join my social networks: Twitter or Facebook (interact with me personally)
I sincerely love to connect with listeners. Please send me your questions, your successes, and your reason for listening! It’s free and it only takes a second. Who says you can’t you can’t get something for nothing! (Connecting with so many like-minded people is an awesome benefit of doing this show. If you haven’t connected yet, what are you waiting for? You never know how I might be able to help.)
Want to learn more?
Audiobook: You can listen to excerpts of my audiobook at Audible, and iTunes
Ebook: You can view excerpts of the ebook at Smashwords
Extra Free Stuff: Check out Interview Extras, for freebies and extras
For information about keynote speeches or workshops, visit lisabmarshall.com.
Presentation image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Lisa B. Marshall Lisa holds masters with duel degrees in interpersonal/intercultural communication and organizational communication. She’s the author of Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation, as well as Ace Your Interview, Powerful Presenter, and Expert Presenter. Her work has been featured in CBS Money Watch, Ragan.com, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and many others. Her institutional clients include Johns Hopkins Medicine, Harvard University, NY Academy of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Genentech, and Roche.