Why You Need A Graph AND A Polar Bear!

“I liked the graph. I’m sick of seeing pictures of polar bears floating on bits of ice.”

This was some feedback given to a speaker at a recent meeting I went to. He had been talking about global warming and he had backed up his argument with a graph showing some interesting figures about climate change.

The person giving the feedback clearly liked graphs and statistics. He said he was tired of people using emotional arguments about the impact of global warming.

Everyone, he said, seemed to use pictures of polar bears looking forlorn on shrinking ice floes to hammer home the point about how much the world is warming up. He thought it made a nice change to get away from that and look at the facts.

This was perfectly good, honest feedback. But my own view was quite different. I found the talk a bit dry!

It was certainly well thought-out and well-structured. The argument was clear and logical. The speaker had clearly done his research and had put together a good case.

But it completely failed to engage me.

By the end of it, I could say I felt more informed and I had a better understanding of the subject. But it didn’t make me feel like I had to go out and do something about it. It didn’t stir me to action.

Now, if he’d shown me some sad-looking polar bears, that would have been different!

If you’re trying to persuade people, to get them to agree with your point of view, there’s a place for logic and reason and also for emotion. This is particularly true if you want people to take action.

People are different. Some like plenty of facts, figures and statistics. They want to weigh things up and to feel that they have come to a rational decision based on the evidence.

Others prefer to go with a gut feeling, a sense of what is right. They don’t want, or need, lots of figures before they make a decision.

However, in the end, even the “logical” people need an emotional pull in order to get them to take action. And the “emotional” people will still often want some facts to help them rationalise their decisions.

So, if you’re speaking, you need to have both in your talk – the logical and the emotional.

You need graphs AND polar bears to really make an impact!

About the author

Alan Matthews is the author of How To Design And Deliver Great Training and The Successful Presenter’s Handbook, available from Amazon. You can get his free report, “8 Steps To Excellence – the 8 key habits that make top trainers and presenters stand out” from the website at [http://www.alanmatthewstraining.com] You will also find lots of articles and videos to help you become an outstanding trainer or presenter.