“There’s two people having breakfast and there’s a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that’s a surprise. But if it doesn’t…” This is how Alfred Hitchcock described suspense.  According to Wikipedia, “Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment.” You don’t have to like thrillers to experience suspense. Watch this incredible performance by dance artist Miyoko Shida for the Spanish TV program “Tú Sí Que Vales” and notice suspense in the judges’ faces.

Suspense is a coveted state that any speaker and storyteller would like to create for the audience. It is the ultimate tool of brain captivation that leaves the audience hanging on your every word, waiting to hear what happens next.  How do you achieve suspense in speeches and presentations?  Here are five strategies that can help:

1. Open powerfully. It takes your audience only a few seconds to decide whether they like you and want to hear more. That’s all we have to capture someone’s attention from the start.  Your audience’s minds can be anywhere: thinking about what to have for lunch, compiling their grocery list, or making social media status updates. You need something powerful to snap them out of their current preoccupations and bring them with you on the journey.   The World Class Speaking System recommends opening with “the Big Bang” instead of the so called “unpleasant pleasantries” that we hear so often from other presenters.  The best way to create a powerful opening is to go straight into a story that can captivate the audience members and make them want to hear more.

2. Blend anticipation and uncertainty. Miyoko Shida’s performance is a spiral of anticipation when she introduces each new piece and uncertainty of whether she will be able to balance the structure.  It keeps our eyes glued to the screen.  In a speech, you can achieve suspense by following Alfred Hitchcock’s advice and sharing things with the audience which the characters in your story do not know and building tension as the characters uncover the truth. A common example would be a description of a study or research in a presentation where the subjects are unaware of the set-up, which is shared with the audience. The audience members approach the whole situation from the researchers’ perspective, hypothesizing certain outcomes, yet being uncertain of what they will find.

3. Let the audience experience the scene by using sensory language and compelling visuals. In movies, suspense is often achieved through the rapid change of close-ups, detail shots and music. It stimulates the sensory system of the viewers.  Research shows that bizarre and grotesque images in printed ads are effective at grabbing attention because consumers take time to figure out what is happening in the pictures.  They approach such images as stories or paintings.  Create a sensory experience for your audience members that will fuel their brains’ urge to predict what happens next and thus will keep them engaged.

4. Escalate conflict. Every good story goes through the phases of conflict or struggle followed by a resolution.  For the climax to occur, you have to build the tension. Escalate the conflict as if you were inflating a balloon almost to the point of burst. Make the characters in your story speak in dialogue. Reveal their inner ruminations and the build-up of emotions. Make the audience feel the struggle and be eager to see the resolution and change.

5. Introduce a brain jolt. A brain jolt can be any activity that surprises the brain and captures attention.  You can offer a puzzle for your audience to solve, a magic trick, a captivating image to ponder, or a powerful question or quotation to reflect on.  The idea is to get the audience super-focused at least for a few moments on the task at hand.  These moments of concentration create a sense of flow and engagement with the content.

Are you trying too hard to be perfect when you need to speak or present?  I have a secret to share with you that may liberate you from this overwhelming desire to be perfect. For years, whenever I had to speak in front of groups, I had a concern at the back of my mind that my accent would be an impediment. I knew that my accent was slight and did not prevent people from understanding me, but somehow it still felt less than perfect.  After all, most of my speaking and training is done in English, which is my second language. Even the fact that  I was a linguist and a certified ESL instructor who used to teach English grammar and writing to international students in the U.S. didn’t help. Only through a lot of practice and feedback from my audiences, I came to the conclusion that it really didn’t matter.  On the contrary, I was often better prepared because I paid more attention to how I phrased things and rehearsed more. People were curious to know where I was from, which made me stand out and led to more interesting conversations. And most importantly, whenever I helped others with their communication challenges, I could honestly say that if I was able to become a speaker, coach and trainer in a second language, they could become more effective communicators too. I could help them because I knew their struggles, self-doubt and fears of public speaking.  Speaking is about connection, not perfection.

Perfect speeches often lack connection with the audience because nobody is perfect. Perfection can even undermine the effectiveness of your message. When you share your knowledge with your audience members, there may be a doubt in their minds that the solutions that worked for you may not work for them because they may not be as savvy, confident, determined, or decisive as you are.  How can you overcome their objection that you sound special?

1. Let someone else be the Guru. You want to stress what you share with your audience because we naturally gravitate towards people like us. Don’t be afraid to talk about your failures and frustrations because we all have experienced them. Position yourself as the one who received a helpful lesson or revelation and is about to pass it on to your audience. Now, the focus of your story is less on you as the know-it-all Guru and more on your audience members – their pains, needs and desires – as well as the process that gets them where they want to be. You can call back to the Guru’s message more in your speech without sounding like you are preaching or trying to sell yourself too hard.

2. Let your audience contribute to the solution.  A sense of autonomy is a reward to the brain. Give your audience members choices, engage them by asking powerful questions, and acknowledge their input and wisdom. What questions can you ask your audience to make them reflect on your points? How can they better fine-tune and apply your strategies to their unique situations? People feel more committed to the ideas that they have helped to develop.

3. Don’t memorize your speech word-for-word. Have an outline, know your quotes and memorable expressions, and internalize what you want to say by practicing it. Don’t try to sound too formal. Don’t speak like you write. People prefer things that are easy to process. Repetition, clarity and simplicity help to build connection and trust.  “Cognitive fluency” is a measure of how easy it is to think about something:

“…studies have shown that when presenting people with a factual statement, manipulations that make the statement easier to mentally process – even totally nonsubstantive changes like writing it in a cleaner font or making it rhyme or simply repeating it – can alter people’s judgment of the truth of the statement, along with their evaluation of the intelligence of the statement’s author and their confidence in their own judgments and abilities.”

Here is a trick to make sure you stick to the conversational language.  Instead of standing when you practice your speech, have a seat and imagine you are having a conversation with someone.  What would you say to get your point across? If your language is too formal, it will feel awkward.

4. Replace “Ladies and gentlemen” with “You.”  If you use collective phrases, such as “Ladies and gentlemen…”, “How many of you…”, “Dear friends and colleagues…”, you create a perception that you are speaking to too many people. You want each of your audience members to feel like you are speaking directly to him or her.  Look audience members in their eyes as you scan the room.  Choose words as if you are speaking to each member individually.  The word “you” is your most important word.

5. Make your physical environment warm and inviting.  Colors, smells, textures in our surroundings all affect our moods and behavior without our conscious awareness. You can’t always choose where you speak, but it is important to pay attention to the design, acoustics and seating arrangement in the room. Clear away anything that may create a barrier between you and your audience, such as lecterns, projectors, etc. Remove empty seats. Make sure everybody can see and hear you well. Use a cordless mike that allows you to move around the room and offer a mike to audience members when they ask or answer questions.

What techniques do you use to build connection with your audience?