The Science of a Great Speaker

What if you could make your audience hang on your every word as they sat on the edge of their seats? What if you could cause your audience to care deeply for your topic and trust you enough to follow you? Imagine the impact you could have if you could not only convey your message through spoken words but also convey any desired emotion. What if you could make your audience feel what you say? 

In this article, we will be exploring the topic of emotions and memories and how they go hand in hand. In a following post, I will be sharing five public speaking keys which stir emotions within your audience. As a speaker, you have the power to determine if your words will be felt or forgotten. 

The Science of Emotion

Different chemicals in our brain create different emotions. According to the American Psychological Association, emotions and memories are closely connected to each other. When an emotion is tied to an event, there is a greater chance that it will be remembered.

According to international speaker, author and coach, David JP. Philips, there are three main chemicals that every public speaker should strive to create in their audience and two that should be avoided. These five positive chemicals are dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, cordresal, and adrenaline.  

Dopamine is responsible for the feeling of anticipation and excitement. It is the chemical that rushes through your body when the hair stands up on your neck as you sit on the edge of your seat. Advertisements and entertainment companies love dopamine because it keeps consumers coming back for more. Bio Medical Engineer Sri Smama explains the addicting effect of dopamine in a Brain Game which uses slot machines. When dopamine is produced in an audience, focus increases, they are motivated to take action, and better memory retrieval is experienced. 

Oxytocin is, in my opinion, the most beautiful chemical of all. It is often referred to as the love  chemical or even the love drug. Oxytocin is responsible for creating empathy. If you have ever seen an ad on TV for children with cancer or starving families in third world countries and felt your heart break, then you have felt the effects of oxytocin. Neuroeconomist Paul Zack has dedicated his life to the study of oxytocin; it has the power to make people more loving, caring, and kind. In his Ted Talk, he explains that oxytocin switches the brain from thinking of its own personal needs to the needs of others. When an audience experiences a rush of oxytocin, they will become more generous to your cause, trust you more, and feel an increased bond to the speaker.

The third positive chemical that all public speakers wish to create is actually a chemical group known as the happy chemicals, A.k.a endorphins. New York Times published a paper on the health benefits of endorphins and the proven fact that these chemicals lead to stress release and pain tolerance. High levels of endorphins showcase their effect through laughter. By switching off the body's fight or flight reactions, endorphins tell the brian that it is in a safe environment. The very act of laughing can often cause others to laugh, even if they did not find the joke funny. Simply smiling or laughing improves one’s mood, regardless of if it is natural or a forced act. When endorphins are created in your audience, this leads to less stress, which increases your listener’s relaxation, creativity, and focus.      

When it comes to public speaking, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins are like superpowers, especially in the presentation of a memorable message. Villience chemicals, cortisol and adrenaline, create an atmosphere which prevents your audience from hearing and retaining information. Though unwelcome in the realm of public speaking, these chemicals are very important in a life and death situation. As explained by Dr. Anna Baranowsky, adrenaline gives our bodies an instant burst of energy and strength within extreme situations. In an attempt to avoid repeating the act, cortisol assists adrenaline by keeping the memory of danger vivid in our minds.

As valuable and important as these chemicals are, they are the very last thing we want in the bloodstreams of our audience. If your listeners brains are telling them to get out of the situation due to stress, then they will be unable to engage and focus on your topic. With discomfort comes an inability to feel empathy for others because they will be too focused on their own feelings.   

Science of Memory

With that quick summary of the five main chemicals and their effects, I wish to take just a moment to explain how these emotions form memories. Chemicals linked to emotions enhance our ability to remember events more vividly. The formation of memories stemming from emotional events is sourced from two places in our brains: 

When we encounter an event it is stored in our short term memory in the cortex of our brain then transferred to our Hippocampus. If the event was monumental, the memory will be transferred back to the cortex where it will be stored in long term memory. Emotions help our Hypochampis register memories as important and worth storing by two mechanisms. Firstly, it flags emotional memories as more significant than an average day to day moment. Secondly, the hippocampus ties similarly emotional moments together, making them easier to retrieve. If you had an event that made you feel a certain emotion and then had a similar event the next day, it would trigger the memory of the previous event, increasing the probability that this memory would be moved to long term memory. 

Conclusion 

As I close up this post, I wish to ask a request of you, my reader. Think of this post as a treasure map. It shows you where to start and marks the X of where you wish to go. In between where you currently stand and the X is a line which beckons you to follow it. It is up to you to put in the action of actually finding your way to the treasure which you seek. Having a map and knowing that there is a treasure only puts you one step ahead of the person who has no idea that such riches exist. 

My goal for this post was to spark excitement. You, as a speaker, can create so much with your words. Although you now know that the treasure exists, this knowledge is of no significance if you do not find the tools necessary to reach the goal. Be it by boat at sea or a flying carpet by air, you must find the means to reach your goals. 

In my following post, I will assist you in finding the tools which will transport you to your destination. There, I will share with you the five keys to emotionally connecting with your audience. Do not end your voyage with this mere map. Take this knowledge and step out on your quest to becoming a speaker who is felt, as opposed to forgotten.