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Passion Beats Style Every Time

Out of the literally tens of thousands of talks I've heard as a presentations coach over the past eighteen years, three stand out as totally unforgettable.

Jim Kozy had been a bombardier on a B-24 flying bombing runs over Germany in WWII. In a Toastmasters speech he recalled the flying skills of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots who attacked his slow moving bomber. "They came straight at us at 400 miles an hour with their guns blazing. I remember one pilot in particular. He came so close I could see the blue of his eyes. I was so scared and awed, as he pulled up just feet from where I was, I simply waved at him."

A woman whose name I've long since forgotten told of being in a bank during a botched robbery attempt. The cops came in the door and opened fire. She fell to the floor with her eyes closed. She heard a thud and load groan as the robber fell to the floor mortally wounded just a few feet from her. For a moment, it was deathly quiet. She could hear his heart beating ever fainter and fainter. As she slowly opened her eyes, she saw a pool of blood spreading out over the cold marble floor.

A little old man in a worn blue blazer took to the podium in a hotel ballroom in Scottsdale, Arizona. His name was Bob Galvin, the former CEO of Motorola. For the next 15 minutes, the audience of 300 people made not a sound. His strongly felt message was directed at middle and senior management, "The engineer in the field must have the power of the CEO to make decisions that benefit the customer." Bob Galvin repeated his message over and over. You could've heard a pin drop.

None of these three very different speakers had been trained in the skills of eye contact, movement, gestures, or pause. Their voices were unremarkable. Yet, I can clearly remember the content and the powerful impact of their presentations many years later. Each of these talks was rooted in passion. When we have a "fire in the belly" about what we're talking about, the message gets across one way or another. When we lead with passion, audiences are very forgiving of style. So, the next time you get up to speak, worry less about the techniques of delivery that you may have learned in PowerSpeaking, or anywhere else. Worry more the urgency you feel in your gut about the topic. They'll get the message!