What’s the best pitch I’ve seen in recent years?
Easy. Don Draper’s Kodak Carousel pitch from Season 1 of Mad Men. For those who are not fans of the show, take a work break right now and watch the scene.
Don’s presentation very clearly uses emotion to persuade—in fact, it’s probably 100% emotion.
What kind of speaker are you?
Emotional or Analytical?
Looking at another presenting Series of 2, nearly every part of a presentation can be classified as either emotional or analytical, as can an overall style and approach. Don Draper or Martin Luther King are certainly more on the emotional end of the spectrum while your high school math teacher was probably mostly analytical. But a presentation need not and should not choose one or the other.
A successful persuasive presentation should be a mix of the emotional and analytical.
So, what is the right proportion? It will be different for every presenter and for every audience and subject matter. I would guess that the vast majority of business presentations are mostly if not all analytical. But just because you think your material dry or your audience overly serious, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t inject emotion. People are rarely moved to act absent emotion. Colin Powell’s UN presentation prior to the Iraq war included a lot of analysis, diagrams and data. But probably the biggest “selling point” was the prop vial of anthrax he held up. There may be no greater emotion than fear…
So, what types of content fall into each category?
ANALYTICAL
Data • Hard Facts • Tables • Diagrams & Charts • Processes • Analyzed Solutions
EMOTIONAL
Stories • Theatricality • Props • Fear • Humor • Personal Experiences
I placed a few famous presenters on an Analytical/Emotional continuum. Where do you think you land on this as a presenter?
There’s a danger in veering too far to the left or right on this scale in that your credibility and effectiveness can be harmed. Jim Cramer receives a lot of criticism for thinking too much with his gut and not enough with his head with his financial advice to viewers. (Of course, Alan Greenspan never had his own TV show.) Similarly, Glenn Beck receives criticism for too many tears, not enough facts. And finally, Barack Obama was a very emotional candidate, but many feel as though he has lost a lot of that inspirational fire since moving to the White House. Has his presenting style changed?
And now, for one last example out of Redmond, WA. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer…
