The Power of Words
“Throughout human history, our greatest leaders and thinkers have used the power of words to transform our emotions, to enlist us in their causes, and to shape the course of destiny. Words can not only create emotions, they create actions. And from our actions flow the results of our lives.”
—Tony Robbins, author/speaker
The words you choose to use (and not use) are critical and can make or break your talk. The Atlas of Emotions, developed by world-renowned emotions scholar Paul Ekman, can help you think through the concept of emotion and choose the right keywords to help you communicate sentiment. It’s pretty fascinating! For instance, if you are attempting to energize, do your words evoke a positive emotional state? Or, if you are attempting to persuade the audience, are you using keywords that accentuate the strengths and/or benefits of your approach? The words you choose are critical. And, how they are delivered can be just as important.
For instance, are you bolding or underlining the keywords with your voice? This is also called emphasis, which is the manner in which you stress or accent keywords. The use of emphasis is crucial to your words “landing” on the audience. Depending on your objective, the words you choose will add color, texture, and a vivid picture. So when you are in your design phase for your online presentation, begin by asking this: what words match your objective?
Here are some examples of words that can powerfully communicate specific emotions:
Sadness – anguish, sorrow, grief, despair, misery, hopelessness, helplessness, resignation, distraught, discouraged, disappointed
Fear – terror, horror, panic, desperation, dread, anxiety, nervousness, trepidation
Disgust – loathing, abhorrence, revulsion, repugnant, distaste, aversion, dislike
Anger – fury, vengeful, bitter, argumentative, exasperation, frustration, annoyance
Enjoyment – wonder, excitement, pride, peace, relief, amusement, compassion, joy, rejoicing
Gratitude – appreciate, thankful, gratitude, thank you, grateful, indebted
In addition to choosing specific words and emphasizing them with your voice, pausing after keywords could be another way to highlight their importance. Perhaps you want to share something poignant and then take a moment to let the sentiment “sink in” with the audience; if that’s the case, add a brief pause and step back for a moment, looking around the screen at the audience members before moving on.
In the end, we agree with Tony Robbins — words can not only create emotions, they create actions. So when you decide what you want your audience to do as a result of your presentation, work to ensure that you incorporate words that could directly contribute to that desired result as you design and practice.
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We explore this topic and others in our new book Captovation: Online Presentations by Design.