Ep. 283 CAN YOU SMELL THAT?

Mark, do you smell that?

That's something else.

Oh, my goodness. I think that's a good hook.

I think so too.

Let's do it.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown. Mark Brown.

Your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation, Ahas. Let's dive right in.

Oh, man. Well, hey, Mark, we talk about Vax V A K s a lot thanks to our buddy Craig Valentine. And we always say smell is the strongest. But we just got off a coaching call with one of our YPO CEOs that were coaching for upcoming conference, telling a story he's never told before. And we just had a moment where he was talking about the house that he grew up in and the fact that all of a sudden we were asking, well, were there any smells? And well, my cooked pasta, okay, you know, which. That's a good smell. But then all of a sudden he's like, oh, there was a rat that died and we couldn't find it. And it was. It. It took a month to find it. The only reason we found it is because the. The smell kept getting stronger and more disgusting. And finally we found it under the frid. Like he viscerally changed when he remembered that smell. Like there was, you know, pasta was good and there's nothing wrong. We could have worked with pasta, the story that we were telling. And it's just that, that moment. And I think people, even though they've heard us say it before, like just watching him change was the seeing or witnessing the power of olfactory smell. Oh, wow.

Gary said olfactory. I'm impressed, my brother. And for those who are brand new to us, Darren mentioned the vax earlier. That's four characteristics, four ways you can really get the audience to emotionally connect with you. V is for visual. That's a V in Vax. A is for the auditory, what they hear. Case for kinesthetic. Can you touch it? And of course, the S is for the smell. And for today's podcast, we're going to focus on the olfactory, the smell. And I want to point out to you, those who are not watching you only hearing this, try to imagine someone reliving a moment when they had to pick up a dead rat and look on our client's face. Not only his face, his movement, his reaction was, as Darren said, so visceral. And here's the thing. When we can transport our audience to an experience that we have where they can have the same emotion, the same physical response, the same body, the same chills, the same joy, the same emotion, or when we can do that effectively and connect with the audience, they're not just watching you or hearing you tell the story, they get to relive it with you. And we often hear that the smell is the most powerful of those four. The V, the A and the K and the S. And here's an example of. We gave an example of when one individual recalled a smell that was horrific. Here's the cool part. Not only did the smell come back to him, he gave us great details, which we will not share all of them here. But he was able, by recalling the smell, to physically describe the house for us, where it was, what it was like to go and get a plastic bag over his hand, to physically reach over. And he was. He was literally squirming as he reached down to relive the moment for Darren and me. Why do I tell you that when the power of smell is effectively applied, you as the presenter will bring yourself back to that place where the smell had the impact.

And.

And without even trying, this individual who is not, I repeat, not a seasoned speaker, not a professional speaker, he literally went back to that place and he showed us how he got the plastic bag, how he reached down, picked that thing up scornfully and had to dispose of it. And he wasn't trying to be dramatic. He was reliving the moment because that one sense of smell was able to create and evoke a response in him. And he even said, I had not thought about it in years. I forgot about it, but now I can see it again. I say all that to say, do not discount the value of a smell in your presentation. It could be a pleasant odor, bring back wonderful memories, bring back different kinds of memories. But as you look at your most current story you're telling or working on right now, is it possible you could apply the sense of smell to an experience you had that could lift and change the experience that you give to your audience?

And, Mark, you said, transport your audience, which is the end goal. A reminder. It starts by transporting yourself so that smell can bring you back just like it did this client. And when he went back, Mark and I, listening, we were with him. We were with him. He literally pulled his hand out and we could see the plastic bag he was actually holding the plastic bag over, holding it over his hand, and there was nothing there. But in his mind, he was. Was reliving it. And that's one. One point that you have to transport yourself. And that smell can bring you there as well. Now, sometimes we might not even know. Well, there was no smell. Okay. Remember, we're taught. We always teach people about the emotional truth. Bring us to that moment. When I set the stage of walking on stage in an empty room in front of 2,000 chairs for the world championship, I don't remember a smell. But in many meeting rooms, there is coffee. So I bring that in to enhance my story. It's the emotional truth of being in that moment. It wasn't the physical. I don't know, maybe they have coffee in the back, maybe they don't. I don't think they do. But in a meeting room, what could a common smell be that could bring your audience and make your story more visceral? There's another big word, Mark. Visceral. And I think I might even use that word properly. Okay. And also think of congruence in your smell or think of dichotomy in your smell. So maybe it's the irony of the smell in that area or the pure feng shui of the smell like the coffee. Now understand, here's what I mean by dichotomy. In walking into the empty room with 2,000 chairs, smelling the coffee, I do it as a peaceful smell, which sets up the incongruity of the tension in the room contrast. Strategically, I'm using a dichotomy to be able to. And I take the time and I inhale when I do that to show that peacefulness of the coffee before I go to the tension. Now, in this case, it was disgusting smell of the dying. And just the whole background he gave us about. It took a month to find it. And the only reason we found is it kept getting stronger and stronger because it had filled the whole house. They didn't know where the smell was coming from. They couldn't isolate the source. And it was. It was just. We're like, okay, we need to talk about this on a podcast.

And please bear in mind also that Darren mentioned dichotomy. I want to use the word contrast because sometimes in your story, you may find a smell in a situation is in contrast to what you expect. I have no idea what your experiences may be, but perhaps there was a time when you were in a stressful situation and the smell provide calm, or you walked into a situation where it Was chaotic. But somebody had an incense candle burning and immediately in the midst of the chaos, you felt something calm. Or it could be the opposite. Everything was quiet and peaceful. And what is that? Is that smoke? And instantly alarm bells start going off and the smell of smoke turns peace into chaos. And there are ways to use these contrasts for dramatic effect. I'm not saying to make anything up, but you don't run the risk of losing the power of that contrast by not seeing the value in including the smell in your description. Because smells can evoke different emotions. Romantic emotions, scared emotions, joyful. You're a brand new parent. I think it was one of a. A famous comedian once talked about having the baby and it was so cute, baby. And all of a sudden one day, God puts odor in the poo poo and it's different. And the look on your face, how, how the face reacts. One more area of congruency. Your face should reflect what you're feeling. Your face should reflect what you're smelling. Your face and body could convulse in, you know, being just offended by it. Right? But your face and body, your full body movement should be congruent with the smell that you're experiencing for the audience to be there with you. And when you do it well, you might even see the audience members having a similar physical response because you as a presenter do that so well. It's authentic, it's genuine, it's credible and it's able to move them. So be congruent in the way you react. And the facial expression can, can not only betray but can enhance the experience the audience has just by what you do as you talk about what you smell.

And keep in mind, give them the moment, or give them a moment to absorb the smell. Meaning, don't just state a fact, let them have a sense. And again, like Mark saying, your face should go along with it if it's meant to be peaceful or if it's meant to be disgusting, or if it's. Whatever the intention is, let the flavor fill the air for a moment. Don't just, oh, and there was smoke in the air. And then that. What, what smoke? Like, what is your reaction to that?

I remember Darren, last year we were coaching someone who talked about the impact of smell. And here is also dichotomy in a sense. We had him on our podcast Smoke when he talked about the grandfather's aftershave, Old Spice. And one would think of a deodorant or a cologne as creating a pleasant memory. In his case, it was far from it. And sometimes the smell you have should create an image or thought in the mind of the audience. But the result of the way you tell your story, what they expect is not what they get. So you hear, you know, you think it's Old Spice or Bod or Bodman, you know, bad commercial Old Spice. But the impact was negative in his experience. So think about, are there ways you could use in your presentation, your story, are there ways you could use smell to a similar effect to create an expectation in the mind of the audience, but then the reality belies the expectation and gives one more twist to the story? Because when you do that, the audience will remember that smell because it was not the expected outcome having that smell. And on top of that, whether we choose to think about it or not, I would dare say most of the time, when we invoke a certain smell for the audience, it triggers a memory from their own experience, which can then magnify the impact of what you say because it plays into their memory as well. So think about it. Don't dilute or in your mind, discount or devalue the impact of using smell. Well, in your presentation.

I saw what you did there. Nice. Now, quick word of caution. Don't overdo it. Meaning don't have, like every story, start off with a smell. You know, be choosy. As Mark says, to be effective, you must be selective. So, Mark, sometimes people take what we say and then they, you know, multiply it. So I just want to be careful that every story, you don't start off the smell of this, the smell of this, the smell of this, and vary your description. Instead of saying smell, smell, smell in the air, coffee, you know, I didn't say smell. So vary your introduction of that smell.

Friends V A K s visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and smell. All wonderful tools to help you become more effective and even unforgettable. But think about what smells might there be in a story you're working on right now or the one you're beginning to work on? Is there a part of the story you can revisit and ask yourself, oh, I had forgotten about that. And how could it help me drive the story forward, have an emotional impact, connect with the audience, and make my presentation unforgettable. That's your assignment.

And I will be remissed if I don't invite you to join. Mark me, Richard Bliss, Jennifer Lear, Ford Sakes, ed Tate, Chris McGuire, Game Changers. Once a year, if you're looking for being unforgettable, you have to be on a stage to be Unforgettable. Well, how do you get booked? We're going to be covering more bookings, higher fees. We only do this once a year. It's coming up in april. Go to stagetimelive.com the price is going up the end of the month depending on when you listen to this. So join us. Go to stagetime Live. We'd love to have you with us. Either live in Las Vegas, downtown Vegas, going down to the old, old classic Vegas, or you can join us hybrid. So smell is important and so is getting booked. We'll see you next week.

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