Why literal surprises steal the public speaking spotlight

Every morning, the light smell of eucalyptus wafts out of my bathroom.

Exactly 7 years before Real Simple magazine published an article about ways to make your house smell amazing, my husband purchased eucalyptus spray to “make his shower experience a spa experience, everyday.”

It’s his most bougie smallest of small splurge purchases.

What does spraying eucalyptus mist in your shower have anything to do with public speaking skills?

More specifically, how can this ancient medicinal remedy help you improve your public speaking and presentation skills?

Three words: The Oddball Experiments

Here’s your table of contents for this post:

1. You’ll learn what The Oddball Experiments were

2. You’ll learn how they impact your work presentations

3. Get hot, spicy public speaking tips for professionals (that’s you) 
   
   

Let’s dip our toes into a history lesson (part one)

The Oddball Experiments took place in 1975. The focus was on how our brains process unexpected or surprising stimuli differently from ordinary stimuli. The study found that when something stands out, our brains devote more attention to it.

If you’re a fellow brain nerd like me, the hippocampus was the part of the brain which was activated in the study. This part of the brain has a direct dopamine highway faster than the autobahn to the Amygdala which is the pleasure center of the brain. When your brain gets a hit of dopamine, it wants more more more. This dollop of dopamine tells your brain, “Hey, this is important!” and keeps you hooked, making you want to see, hear, or learn more. In public speaking, using novelty gives your audience that same irresistible dopamine boost.

Time to submerge your torso into the cold plunge pool! (part two)

Your brain pays extra attention to unexpected or novel information, like spraying eucalyptus mist into a shower for that coveted spa-like smell (I’d love to see Amazon’s numbers spike for eucalyptus spray after this article!).

Novel eucalyptus spray is an ultimate pattern interrupt. It captures your attention because it’s different from any other shower you’ve taken.

In corporate presentations skills speak, it’s different from what you’ve seen or heard prior. 

Recall with me the most recent business review presentation you sat through. Because you did sit through it. You endured it.

Imagine if, instead of slides of pie charts, graphs, and worse (copy and pasted excel files), the presenter showed a meme mid-way through to illustrate YOY growth.

You’d laugh!
You’d lean in.
You’d remember it.

Voila, the beauty of using novelty.

I guarantee, without a shadow of a doubt and $5,500 on red at the craps table (I go big when I bet on you), you will be remembered consistently when you use novelty in your presentations.

I can also guarantee you remember best the presentations which used novelty and repetition (the latter is another topic for another time).

Let's full commit. Heads under in this frigid water! (part three)

Use novelty when you present. Dole out dopamine hits to your audience like Dots candy. Here’s a short list of ways you can do this:

• Throw an easy pop quiz

• Introduce an unusual prop

• Tell personal stories or anecdotes

When you use storytelling (novelty), surprise visual aids (novelty), or reference childless cat ladies (novelty), you engage your audience more effectively and capture their attention. This approach helps professionals like you not only improve audience engagement but also create memorable, persuasive presentations.

Take a public speaking syringe and inject unexpected elements to your presentations.

Your audience will instantly wake up (a shot!).
Their focus will sharpen.
Their memory will lock into place.

And you?

You won’t just be another talking head, you’ll be heard and listened to. Better still: you’ll be unforgettable.

Ready to use this scientific “spa treatment” in your presentations? Click here to get started.

Transform your team’s presentations from stock images to striking. Bring this presentation spa experience to your team.

Click here to book your meeting to discuss a corporate training workshop, and let’s take presentations from a crossed off bullet point, to something unforgettable that wows and wins business.