Have you noticed that the message you receive is always affected but your surroundings? As you are reading this, your perceptions of the content will depend on:
- The lighting
- If you are hungry
- The temperature in the room
- How noisy the room is
- The chair you are sitting in
- The colours around you
- Other thoughts running around your head
- How good your eyesight is
The same distractions can occur when you are listening to any business message or public speaker.
The Scenario
You go to a business lunch. The beef is tough and the gravy greasy which does not put you in a good mood. The speaker stands up wearing a striped jacket and a spotted tie. Outside you can hear a road drill in the distance. The setting overwhelms you and it won’t matter how good the speech is because you aren’t going to concentrate on it.
We tend to think of ‘seeing’ as a purely physical thing but it is a mix of things including emotions, intellect, politics, society and situation which all have to be taken into account.
When you put blue and orange alongside each other they both appear deeper and richer than they do alone. the setting has influenced the ‘communication’ of each colour. in other words, all communicators and Public Speakers need to understand that different settings can change the meaning and effect of what is being said. That is often the reason for the different reactions audiences can have to the same material.
Pepsi made this mistake when they took their products to the Far East. Their slogan “Come Alive with Pepsi” moved with them. Unfortunately they did not realise that their words would be translated as “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave”.
Tricky!
When you next have an important message to deliver, watch the NOISE!
Have a great month and remember:
Speak wisely
Speak well
Speak Loud & Clear!
Web: www.loudandclearuk.com/