On December 10, 1996, brain researcher Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor suffered a massive stroke. This near-death experience allowed her to study the communication tools of her brain’s two hemispheres and their role in how she perceived herself and the surrounding world.
Having survived the ordeal, she recounted her experience in vivid detail, creating one of the most popular TED talks of all time. She paints a vivid picture of the incident, while delivering a masterclass in communication techniques for public speakers.
Let’s dive into why Dr. Taylor’s “Stroke of Insight” speech works so well, and what it teaches us about communication.
Embrace Duality
“…our hemispheres think about different things, they care about different things, and, dare I say, they have very different personalities.”
Having created a context for her speech in her introduction, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor uses a real human brain to demonstrate the separation of the two hemispheres. She aims to feed her audience a sequence of vivid images throughout the speech, and the unusual prop immediately makes an impression.
The duality of the brain’s physical structure means we use our left hemispheres to process language, organize our lives, and store information about the past we may use to predict the future. The right hemisphere deals with creativity, emotions, and our connections to the world surrounding us. It makes us one with other humans, ignorant of what defines us as individuals.
Dr. Taylor’s stroke silenced her left hemisphere. Void of structure and logic, her thinking was overwhelmed by her sensory perception of the present moment.
In her speech, she details the feeling of losing her sense of self, evoking auditory, tactile, and visual sensations. This enables the audience to imagine the experience as accurately as possible, reliving it with her.
Effective communication caters to both hemispheres. Combine structure with emotional appeal to drive home your message while touching the soul.
Visualize
“And because I could no longer identify the boundaries of my body, I felt enormous and expansive.”
Great communicators create vivid imagery in the minds of their listeners. Dr. Taylor knows how to engage an audience with storytelling. Her gestures, body language, and choice of words convey an intense sensory experience to her audience, leaving everyone visibly captivated.
Having lost the function of her left brain hemisphere, she experienced reality through a collage of sensations, detached from the notion of self. She describes this mental state, focusing on details like the effort required to contract individual muscles.
“…the atoms and molecules of my arm blended with the atoms and molecules of the wall.”
The imagery she conveys is akin to watching a high-budget documentary on the physiological effects of strokes. Her repetitions add drama and suspense to the story. These visual storytelling techniques intensify the emotional impact of her message.
Use vivid imagery and detailed sensory descriptions to engage the imagination and emotions.
Use Silence
“Total silence. At first, I was shocked to find myself inside of a silent mind.”
Skilled communicators understand the power of silence. Emotionally and intellectually engaging speeches convey messages more effectively when interspersed with moments of silence.
Silence allows you to:
- Lend your speech rhythm
- Grant your audience time to digest information
- Provide a respite and allow time for reflection
- Intensify suspense and build anticipation
- Improve confidence in your delivery
- Enhance your emotional tone
- Reinforce engagement
The silence Dr. Taylor experienced when her left brain hemisphere shut down gave her a unique perspective of her existence. With the self-focused chatter of her brain paused, freed from a lifetime’s worth of emotional baggage, she felt freedom and euphoria.
Use strategic moments of silence to increase the dramatic impact of your speech.
Speak from the Heart
“And in that moment, I knew I was no longer the choreographer of my life.”
Dr. Taylor’s stroke journey was unique and extreme, but it was also universally relatable, because it could happen to anyone.
Having returned from the other side of a near-death experience and having analyzed it with a brain specialist’s eyes, she has quite a story to tell us. Add to that her emotional vulnerability, her fears, and the awe she felt, and you’ll understand why the audience can’t look away.
Authenticity captivates. Genuine, relatable emotions trigger empathy. When Dr. Taylor describes feeling like a “genie liberated from her bottle” as she was about to die, we all place ourselves in her shoes. And the raw authenticity of the experience may even leave us with a sense of awe.
Express genuine emotions; let it all hang out.
Leverage Choices
“We have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world.”
Proposing a choice to the audience is an effective communication strategy. It adds an element of interactivity, which increases engagement. Additionally, a call to action summarizes your message and gives the audience something to do to fulfill the promise of the message.
Dr. Taylor uses the concept of choice to empower the audience, inspiring a sense of control.
She juxtaposes the serenity of the right brain hemisphere with the logical nature of the left one, calling for people to connect with their inner peace.
Give your audience a choice, and give them something to do next
Key Takeaways for Communicators
- Use balanced messages to engage both hemispheres of the brain. Speak to the heart, as well as the mind.
- Paint a vivid picture. Visualization and imagery enhance the impact of your stories, making them more memorable.
- Use silence to deepen your connections. Silence is a powerful rhetorical tool. It allows the audience to reflect and build anticipation, deepening the emotional impact.
- Be authentic in your emotions. Make yourself vulnerable, which significantly enhances trust.
- Empower your audience through choices. Choices engage, empower, and prime people for action.
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