Neuroscience and artificial intelligence, strategies for effective public speaking
Giorgia Pizzuti's book is a guide to creating effective and persuasive presentations
Key points
"Speak to the emotional brain': it is it that decides, in a few moments, whether a speech is interesting or credible. It is the radar that the organism uses to assess the outside world and understand the danger of a situation. Gestures, words, but also a presentation pass through its sieve. If you want, therefore, to win over your audience, it is good to keep this fundamental function in mind and set up your presentation remembering that our brain is looking for the 'whys'. This is the golden rule provided by Giorgia Pizzuti's book 'Public speaking. Neuroscience and artificial intelligence' (GueriniNext), a guide to 'creating effective and persuasive presentations'.
The Art of Storytelling
The next step is to understand the audience you have in front of you, trying to identify their expectations and needs, to accompany each key piece of content in three messages: an organisation that facilitates understanding and helps to memorise the information.
But to achieve your results - to send a clear message, to get the desired budget, to convince a customer - you need to structure your presentation by using the art of storytelling.
One can create narrative tension and capture the audience's attention through techniques illustrated in the book, even following the ironic advice of a master storyteller like Kurt Vonnegut.
The opening and closing of the speech are crucial: you can start with an 'off-the-cuff' or a catchy quote, and leave with a choice that allows the message to stick in the audience's mind even after the presentation is over.
