Next level communicators have figured out the way to activate the “save button” in their audience’s brain.
Next level communicators have figured out the way to activate the “save button” in their audience’s brain.
Is this a safe place for me? I hope so. Okay, here’s my confession: My all time favorite movie is Titanic. I saw it eight times in the movie theater. It was my second date with Korie- the woman I’m now married to. I stood in line at midnight at the Tower Records in Pasadena so I could buy it on VHS. I can’t see you, but I’m feeling a little judged right now. And if you are judging me, keep in mind that it’s estimated some two hundred and eleven million people in the United States have seen the movie at some point in their lives.
So here’s my question: How in the world did James Cameron (the movie’s director) take an old, really familiar historical tragedy and turn it into one of the most successful box office hits of all time? Simple. Cameron used the art of novelty to hook us.
Novelty has to do with unveiling information that is either completely new to the audience, offers a fresh way to solve an old problem or is simply presented or packaged differently. In James Cameron’s case he chose the latter. His elevator speech when he was trying to sell Titanic was he wanted to create Romeo and Juliet on a boat (Jack and Rose). It was through this love story that Cameron presented to us the tensions of class and the Edwardian period during this time. He didn’t just present these real forces, he repackaged them in the form of a romance. In addition to this love story, James talked the studio into paying for an expedition several miles below sea so he could film the actual wreckage of the Titanic, and show it to audiences in the opening scenes, where for many (myself included) this was their first time seeing the sunken ship. And the result of this fresh packaging was that the movie grossed over two billion dollars worldwide.
Want to hook your audience? Use novelty.
The Science Behind Novelty
When we see or learn something new, or have an old truth presented to us in fresh ways, it releases a chemical in our brains called dopamine. Dopamine is what we experience in a new romantic relationship, or when we get to the next level of a video game. It’s also what leads people down the road of drug addiction. Dopamine has also been called our brain’s “save button”. Martha Burns, assistant professor at Northwestern University says this about dopamine and learning, “A big part of the answer to why some of your students hold onto the information you teach and others do not has to do with a little chemical in the brain that has to be present for a child (or an adult) to retain information. That chemical is called ‘dopamine’...I like to refer to dopamine as the ‘save button’ in the brain. When dopamine is present during an event or experience, we remember it; when it is absent, nothing seems to stick” (Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo, page 116).
I think you see the point. If we want our presentations to stick, we have to trigger dopamine. And the way to unleash this chemical is to either present new information, or familiar content in fresh ways.
I have found the following to be helpful in triggering the audience’s “save button”:
Use vivid illustrations.
Use physical props to underscore the main points of your message.
Carefully wordsmith the big idea of your talk.
Employ humor.
I’m coming out with a book of stories in August that will help you in your communication. You can preorder the book here.
What I’m reading:
Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey.
