Hi Friends,
You have to give a big presentation at work. You have to make a speech at a wedding. You have to introduce a guest speaker.
You want to be seen as charismatic. You want to make a good impression.
You want the audience to respond. You need applause!
But you're terrified that you might give one of those awkward wedding speeches, or an introduction so lame that the audience doesn't even applaud when the speaker is introduced.
Don't worry. I've got you covered.
I will teach you:
The key to understanding what makes audiences applaud.
Two topics that always get applause.
Three rhetorical devices (techniques) that always get applause.
How to combine these techniques to create unforgettable lines that audiences cannot help but respond to with applause and cheers.
How the most gifted speakers in history used these simple techniques in their most famous speeches (with video clips and analysis of the applause lines).
Applause
A charismatic public speaker is one who can command an audience, who can hold them in the palm of their hands, who can get them to respond.
The most important kind of response a speaker needs to get from an audience is applause. It turns out that there's a science of applause, and there are only a few things that generate almost all the applause.
There are five simple techniques that account for about 80% of all applause in public speaking, and I'm going to teach you those techniques today.
Applause is Not Spontaneous
We might think that crowds applaud spontaneously when good things happen, but they don't. Crowds need to be told when to applaud. There are too many people in an audience. They're all facing the speaker. They can't possibly coordinate with one another. There's hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in an audience.
Somehow they all applaud at the same time or basically the same time. How do they do it? It's because the speaker tells them when to applaud, gives them very clear signals what to applaud and when to applaud.
This is why in a television studio they have an applause sign, because audiences need to be told when to applaud. They don't just do it spontaneously. This is the key to understanding how to be a charismatic speaker, that it's your job as the speaker to tell your audience when to respond, when to applaud, when to cheer, when to boo, etc.
I'm going to teach you precisely how to do that. But first, let's look at a funny clip of Zach Galifianakis going on The Jimmy Kimmel Show and showing how you use an applause sign.
Okay, so we've seen that you need to tell an audience when to applaud, that they won't just applaud spontaneously. Who figured all this out?
There's a British sociologist named Max Atkinson who years ago studied hundreds of political speeches by British politicians. In a way, he uncovered the basic science of how applause work. A lot of what I'm going to teach you today is from Max Atkinson and his great book Our Masters' Voices. If you want to check it out, you really should.
5 Applause Techniques
What Atkinson discovered is that there are only about five techniques that account for the vast majority of applause events when you look at a public speech, and that's what I'm going to teach you today.
There are two types of content that get applause, and those are simply (1) attacks on them or the enemy, and (2) praise or celebration of us.
This is basic us and them psychology: attacks on them, celebrations and praise of us. These things reliably generate applause. Those are the two types of content.
Then there are three structures, or what I'll call rhetorical devices. These three rhetorical devices are (3) contrasts, such as “not this, but this,” (4) three-part lists, "I came. I saw. I conquered," and (5) naming, like "Ladies and gentlemen," and then you say someone's name and people applaud.
So that's it. Two types of content, attack on “them” and celebration of “us”; and three devices, contrasts, three-part lists, and naming. The rest of this blog I'm going to show you examples of those, so you get a really firm grasp of what these techniques are.
CONTENT TECHNIQUES
1. Attack Them, 2. Celebrate Us
The first technique for getting applause is to either attack them or celebrate us. The first example I'm going to give you is from Donald Trump's convention speech where he accepts the nomination.
One of the very first things he does is a celebration of “us” and an attack on “them.” In this case, it's a celebration of the Republican Party and his victory in the primaries and an attack on the Democrats. So let's take a look at that clip.
So you can see in the Trump clip that a celebration of us the Republicans and all the votes that they got brings great applause, while an attack on them the Democrats and Hillary Clinton and how few votes they got brings great applause again.
This is a demonstration of this simple, powerful technique, attack them, celebrate us. It's almost always guaranteed to get applause.
RHETORICAL DEVICES
3. Contrasts
The next technique is contrast. This is where we compare this to that and this to that.
These contrasts help tell an audience when to applaud, because normally contrast comes in two parts. They know at the end of the second part, it's their cue to applaud. Especially when this is accompanied by the right kind of gestures and facial expressions and a falling tone of voice at the end. These indicate that the contrast is over and it's time to applaud.
I have three great examples of contrasts from famous public speeches that illustrate this principle. The first is from Ronald Reagan, his famous Berlin Wall speech, where he says, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
I'm not going to show you that part, but I'm going to show you another quote from that speech a classic contrast. He says, "East and West do not distrust each other because we are armed. We are armed because we distrust each other." The classic contrast. Let's look at that clip of Reagan in 1987 at the Berlin Wall.
So you can see from the Reagan clip that contrasts tell the audience went to applaud. Sure enough, that contrast line gets applause, just as your contrast lines are going to get applause when you use them.
The next example is from another great American speech from JFK's inaugural address in 1961. There's a couple of really famous contrasts here. You're probably already thinking of the most famous contrast from that speech, but the first one is a little bit less famous.
It comes about 13 minutes into the speech and Kennedy says, "Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." And then there's applause.
This is the contrast, "Let's never negotiate out of fear and never fear to negotiate." It's a good contrast. It's a nice play on words. Let's take a look at Kennedy delivering that line and getting applause.
The second example of contrast from Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address is probably one of the most famous lines ever delivered in an American speech, and so you know what already.
He says, "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Again, a great play on words. It's a reversal. It's a contrast, and it gets a huge applause.
Let's take a look at Kennedy delivering his most famous line.
Our next example of contrast as an applause line comes from the most famous speech in American history, Martin Luther King's 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech.
This speech is full of fantastic examples of applause lines, and I've pulled a couple out for examples in this video, but the first is a contrast. This is the famous line from the speech, which many of you will recognize.
He says, "I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
There's the contrast, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”. It's a great contrast. It tells the audience how to respond, and of course, it generates a big applause. Let's watch Martin Luther King deliver that contrast line from the I Have A Dream speech.
Those are three examples of contrasts. They get applause because of their two-part structure. It's easy to predict when the speaker's done with the contrast, and what the audience needs more than anything else is to be told when to respond.
The contrast is a perfect rhetorical structure with a sort of A part and the B part and then they know it's time to applaud, especially when it's delivered with the right intonation.
4. Lists of Three
The next rhetorical device that is almost guaranteed to get applause when you use them in your public speeches is the three-part list or lists of three. So again, the reason that three-part lists work is because their structure has a kind of rhythm, and we know especially when the speaker reaches the third part and is signaling to the audience that it's time to response. Remember, the key is the audience needs to be told when to respond.
A three-part list has the structure and rhythm which tells the audience when the last element of the list is being delivered and then it's their cue to respond. I have several famous examples of three-part lists again.
The first comes from Winston Churchill's 1942 speech, sometimes called “We Are The Masters Of Our Fate”. In 1942, Churchill came and spoke before the joint session of the US Congress. This is in the middle of World War II, and this is a line he delivers at the very end. It's incredibly powerful and gets huge applause.
There's a longer quote that leads up to it, but I'm just giving the last snippet that has the three-part list. He says, "In the days to come, the British and American people will, for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together in majesty, in justice, and in peace." There's the three part list, “in majesty, in justice, and in peace”.
Listen to Churchill's delivery. He is a master of delivery. Listen to the intonation. There's no ambiguity. This is the end of the list and the end of the speech. It gets uproarious applause as he sits down.
Let's take a listen to Winston Churchill in 1942 as he delivers a classic three-part list.
That is a stirring speech by Churchill. It's amazing how these speeches can rouse your emotions when they're delivered that well.
The next is another famous speech from American history, the 1963 George Wallace inaugural address. This is sometimes called call the “Segregation Forever” speech.
The famous three-part list which gets a big applause line is, "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever." There's nice parallelism. It's a three-part list. The audience knows when to respond and they do.
Let's take a listen from 1963 George Wallace's inaugural address from the Segregation Forever speech and a three-part list.
5. Naming
We've now seen contrasts and how they get applause. We've seen three-part lists and how they get applause. Now we see the third rhetorical device, naming.
When you name someone into speech, especially whenyou lead up to it appropriately and when you give the right intonation, people know that they're supposed to respond with applause.
I've given you some very, very common examples of naming that get applause. But one of the things speakers are very often called upon to do is to introduce people. And nothing is worse than introducing someone and having there be no applause.
You have to be able to deliver an introduction in a way that tells the audience it's time to respond. One of the things that I do when I introduce people is I almost always say, "Please join me in welcoming," and then I say the person's name. It never fails to get applause, because I'm telling the audience it's time to applaud.
Here are three famous examples of naming.
The first example I have is Leonardo DiCaprio getting the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Revenant. It's a straightforward example of naming. "The winner is," and then his name is announced and people applaud. Let's take a look at that clip.
This technique is so simple that you almost don't think of it as a technique, but introductions are so important. It is so important to get applause for introductions that it's worth realizing this is a real technique. And you can use it in the middle of a speech too.
It is not just when you introduce people that you can get applause for naming. You'll see later in some of the combination examples that people use naming in the middle of a speech to great effect. You can combine naming with three-part lists or contrast, and it works really well.
Our second example of naming is probably the most famous naming in all of television history, the "Here's Johnny" introduction by Ed McMahon from The Johnny Carson Show. Let's hear Ed McMahon introduce Johnny Carson.
The third example is from a political speech introduction. Often in political speeches, especially at conventions, you hear a politician introduced as, "And the next President of the United States, please welcome," and then they name the person.
In this case, this is a Barack Obama being introduced before his famous 2004 Democratic convention speech. He's being introduced by US Senator Dick Durbin as the next Senator from Illinois. Let's listen to Dick Durbin naming Barack Obama and getting a big applause.
Combine the Techniques to Maximize Applause
Until this point, you’ve seen illustrations of the three main structural techniques for getting applause: contrasts, three-part lists, and naming. But when these techniques really become powerful is when they're combined.
The greatest public speakers in history and the greatest speech-writers in history had a gift for combining these techniques in a way which makes it impossible for the audience to resist applauding.
In fact, some of these combinations of contrasts, lists, and naming are so powerful, the audience begins to applaud even before the speaker has finished delivering the line. They know, and the signal is so clear, that they begin to respond even before the line is finished.
The first example I have of combinations of these techniques is from Barack Obama's 2012 victory speech after he's been re-elected.
He says, "I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you're willing to try."
I count at least eight contrasts and a naming in that. You can feel the energy of the audience swelling as he goes through all those contrasts and the tension is building. Then he finally ends it with a naming of America. It's also a celebration of us.
He combines like four different techniques, lists, contrast, naming, and an us and them thing, a celebration of us. Let's listen to Barack Obama delivering this line from his 2012 victory speech.
That's a great line. It really works well and really gets applause.
The next example comes from Franklin Delano Roosevelt speech declaring war on Japan after the United States has been attacked at Pearl Harbor. This is December 1941.
The speech is most famous for Roosevelt saying, "This is a day which will live in infamy." But there's a lot of other great lines in the speech. Here is a combination of a three-part list which ends with a celebration of us and a naming.
In this case, it's a naming of God, which is not an uncommon naming that you see in speeches. God almost always gets applause when he's named in a speech. The quote is, "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God."
We get the three-part list, "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people," and then the third part is this statement, "We will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God." There's the naming. And it gets a big, big applause. Let's listen to Roosevelt deliver that three part list with the naming and the celebration of us.
I've saved the most moving example until last. This is again from the most famous speech in American history I think, “I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King in 1963.
This is probably the most famous line in the speech, although there are many, but this is the closing line. He says, "We will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, I'm free at last.'"
So what do we have there? We have all these contrasts, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics. That's a three-part list, each containing contrast. And then we have, "We'll be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, I'm free at last.'" That's a three-part list with a naming of God in the end.
It's just an absolutely masterful rhetorical device that gets uproarious applause and cheers when it's delivered. Let's listen to maybe the most famous line from those famous speech in American history, Martin Luther King delivering the final line of his I Have A Dream speech.
It's amazing that speech, even 55 years later. It's so powerful and that line is so powerful. It stirred me emotionally as I was preparing to do this video.
Summary
To recap, you can be a charismatic public speaker. You do this by learning to control an audience. A speaker who can hold the audience in the palm of their hands, who can command them, who can tell them when to applaud, when to boo, when to cheer is going to be perceived as incredibly powerful and charismatic.
It is no secret how you do it.
There are simple techniques for doing it. I've taught you five basic ones.
Attack them, the enemy, the others, etc,
Celebrate and praise us.
Contrasts
Three-part lists
Naming.
Once you've mastered those, you begin to combine them.
Combine three-part lists and contrasts, contrast and naming.
Maybe then you, like the masters, you combine them all: three-part lists, contrasts, naming, and us versus them.
You will have the audience eating from the palm of your hand.