Have you ever tried to tell someone a funny thing that happened to you?

Try as you might you simply are not able to re-capture the hilarity of the moment?  In fact, your version of what happened is not even remotely funny.  Even though you are convulsing with laughter as you tell your story of what happened, your friend stands quiet.  What took place then is not funny now.

When you can tolerate your failure to recreate that funny moment any longer you finally say, “I guess you had to be there.”

But being there was why the event was funny in the first place and try as you might you simply cannot detail enough emotion or timing of the actual event to make your audience even recognize the hilarity of the moment, let alone laugh with you.

Recounting a funny story to someone is a daunting task.  Even though your recollection of the event is absolutely hilarious, recreating the event for an audience is a challenge.

A skillful comedian can look at life’s simple moments and bring us to tears in their retelling.

Who is not impressed by:

• Brian Regan’s confusion over no-nonsense judges. You can watch it on youtube.
• Pablo Francisco’s little tortilla boy. You can watch it on youtube.
• Bill Cosby retelling Noah’s encounter with God. You can watch it on youtube.
• Victor Borge’s phonetic punctuation. You can watch it on youtube.

Skillful story tellers bring together the perfect combination of truth, timing, characterization and emotion to connect with their audience in a fascinating way.

Great communicators connect powerfully with their audience as well using a learnable and powerful skill that I call “emotional word pictures.” They are not limited to humor.

Emotional word pictures communicate what you mean AND what you feel AND what you want your audience to feel about a given subject.

Great emotional word pictures grab attention and instantly convey what you want to say directly to your audience in a succinct, precise, and effective way.

Here are a few samples of classic emotional word pictures from popular songs:

• You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout I’m telling you why.
• If you see me walking down the street and I start to cry, walk on by.
• All I do the whole night through is dream of you.

Creating effective word pictures require a number of key elements including the timing of the phrase during conversation or presentation and the orientation between you and the audience with which you are communicating.  You cannot be effective if you do not know who you are talking with and what information is capable of reaching them on an emotional level.

In the first song, the audience is a wide eyed anxious child hoping for good favor from Santa.  It is wonderful example of timing, audience and anxious waiting for a promised effect.

In the second lyric, a lover is powerfully telling her former suitor the pain that his presence will create.

The third speaks volumes by connecting the dreams of slumber and a person’s place in a night full of dreams.

I will write more about this fascinating topic.  Listen for opportunity to connect a moment in a conversation, with the emotion of that moment and a clarification of the relationship.  It sounds challenging, which it is, but it is learnable and will powerfully assist your communication skills as you master the simple but powerful skill of creating and using emotional word pictures.

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