How much emotion is too much in public speaking?  That’s the question the following video raised for me.  It’s Daniel Beaty, poet and actor, delivering the powerful story he calls, “Knock, Knock”:  http://tinyurl.com/ykul7c7. 

Beaty’s emotional pitch is exactly right for his subject, but what about more conventional settings and business-oriented topics?  How much is too much? 

Over my two decades of coaching I have developed two answers for this conundrum.  But first an observation.  In the vast majority of business speeches, there’s too little passion, not too much.  Far too many business audiences have been lulled to sleep by the droning messages of executives, professional speakers, and former sports stars brought in to tell the employees something about reaching for the gold. 

Here’s the first answer.  If you understand the audience and the occasion, there’s always a right emotional pitch to be found.  It’s called tact, and it’s focused on the audience and the occasion, not on your – the speaker’s – feelings.  When in doubt, go for restraint rather than shock value, but you really shouldn’t be in doubt if you have done your homework and understand the people in the room, their hopes and fears, and what’s at stake for them.  And seeing a speaker break down in tears unexpectedly can have great shock value, but seeing someone hold back the tears is almost always profoundly moving. 

And the second answer?  On those rare occasions when the speaker can combine a deep understanding of the situation with real passion for a subject, giving vent to strong emotion can be electrifying and can change the world.  Watch the ending of Reverend Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech to see what I mean:  http://tinyurl.com/y4acg5.  There are times when profound anger, sorrow, joy, or delight can lift us up as one and point us to a better world.  Those are the moments – as a lifetime student of public speaking – that I live for.