How do you project passion?
A common mistake of public figures is to increase the volume -- to shout their way through a speech or a press conference. You'll see this every election year with first-time candidates for Congress, yelling their way through a stump speech.
You see it with famous football and basketball coaches at post-game press conferences. You see it a lot, because it makes for good TV. In a bad way.
Shouting to project emotion doesn't work. The press and public don't see passion. They see a well-known person losing their composure and getting angry.
This is a deadly mistake. Just ask Howard Dean, who may have become president if not for an overly enthusiastic primal yell in a speech to supporters.
The danger of this is even greater today, because even if there aren't TV cameras at this event, four out of five people today have iPhones or Droids or Blackberries that shoot video. The speech will wind up on YouTube.
So how to you project passion and resolve?
Winston Churchill's wartime speeches are remembered for his passion. Read this excerpt and listen to the audio of the speech.
Excerpt from "We shall fight them on the beaches"
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the new world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
See to how Churchill uses repetition, not volume. He builds and expands on his theme of "We shall" to build unity and common purpose. Notice that he doesn't use the word "I" at all in this excerpt. It's not about him. It's about "we."
Churchill finds different ways of using "we shall," not only in the famous series of "we shall fight" but toward the end of the speech he segues to "we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be" and "we shall never surrender."
His voice actually gets slower and quieter-- not louder -- during the closing of his speech. You notice when he gives extra emphasis to words.
This is a technique of experienced speakers. When they want an audience to really listen, they don't shout. They whisper.