How many times have you heard the advice, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”?
There’s even science to back that up.
In 1967, Dr. Albert Mehrabian conducted studies at UCLA which found 55% of what we communicate is body language and 38% is vocal tone and inflection.
Is that 93% for team delivery and only 7% for team content?
Well, according to one of the top ten most popular TED talk presenters of all time, (and according to Chris Anderson, the head of TED) we might have a debate on our hands.
To paraphrase Julian Treasure’s comments in the video above:
BOTH are extremely important. But if you had to choose ONLY one, then the best choice would have to be content over delivery.
This is especially meaningful, because Julian is MOST famous for teaching people how to DELIVER their content.
If someone who has built an entire career around “how to say it” tells you that “what you say” is more important, then there’s some significant weight to that argument.
The same is true for Dr. Mehrabian, the “93% of communication is non-verbal” guy.
It turns out, that’s not really what he said at all. His results are often misinterpreted and misquoted - and it frustrates him. I reached out to him while writing my book, Magic Words, and even HE leaned more towards content being more important than the numbers from his original study would suggest.
It seems like team “delivery’s” best advocates are actually on team “content”.
But before we get carried away with saying that content is king, let’s remember the KEY phrase Julian used in the video above…
“They’re BOTH important.”
Julian’s argument isn’t a divisive one.
It’s not like this is a player on the Yankees stopping a game to tell the umpire that the last call should have gone in favor of the Red Sox.
It’s not one OR the other. It’s both.
Content and delivery have always been on the same team.
What changes sometimes, is the amount of attention we give to one over the other.
For example, if you’re preparing for a difficult conversation, you might ask yourself, “What am I going to SAY to this person?” (You’re focusing on the content. Don’t forget to consider your delivery!)
If you’re preparing for a presentation, you might ask yourself questions like, “Slides or no slides? Podium or no podium? What should I do with my hands?” etc. (Now you’re focusing on the delivery. Don’t forget about your content!)
ACTION ITEM FOR THIS WEEK: Consider BOTH your content and your delivery in ALL of your interactions. (Unless you only have time to prepare one. Then choose to focus on your content.)
Prepping content isn’t necessarily easy, but at least it’s familiar. We’ve all done a book report in school or given a presentation at work, or even just sent an email to someone. That is all content that we’ve prepared.
But how exactly does one prepare delivery?
How do you even begin? What is a good delivery style and what is a bad delivery style? Does it change based on the situation?
Julian Treasure’s new course makes great delivery simple and natural. Personally speaking, it has given me habits that allow me to naturally speak with more power so that I can focus my attention on the other, REALLY important stuff…my content and ideas.
That’s why I’ve been recommending his program for the last few weeks. I own it and use it in my everyday life and work and I believe more people could benefit. While the above link is an affiliate link, which means I get a commission from any sales of the program, the recommendation is no less genuine.
This wraps up my mini-series based on what I learned during my interview with Julian Treasure. Be sure to take advantage of his gracious offer to give my readers access to five free videos as well as the discount off the course.