After writing my last post, Got any change?, it occurred to me that there are some cases in which we don’t really want to change our listeners at all. Sometimes we give a presentation not to challenge our audience’s perspectives or opinions, but rather to reinforce them, to reassure the audience that they are already right.
Preaching to the choir, as it’s often called, is quite common in politics. Whether it’s a politician pandering for support, or a political advocate firing up the troops, the goal is to hit the usual hot buttons, to tell them exactly what they want and expect to hear.
Reassuring speeches, such as a business leader would make during times of corporate unrest or a eulogy at a funeral, are also times not to be challenging the conventional wisdom or speaking truth to power. Your Uncle Marvin may have been a bit of a bastard, but that’s really not what people want to hear about as they stand around his open grave, even if it’s what they are all thinking.
The pep talk to the new recruits, the retirement party salute and all of the other pro forma talks we give are meant not to affect a change, but to follow form. They are comforting social rituals.
It all comes back to knowing the purpose of your speech or presentation. Staying within the confines of the expected can be a bit of a bore, but sometimes your purpose is to soothe, not to stir things up.
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