How to use sensory language in a talk

How sensory detail turns abstract claims into moments an audience can live through, and how much of it a talk needs.

This lesson gives the mechanism behind a vivid scene, the five senses. When a speaker names what something looked like, sounded like, felt like, smelled like or tasted like, the listener tends to simulate it. Studies of sensory and action language suggest that the parts of the brain handling that sense take part in understanding the words. Sensory language is the tool that puts the audience inside the moment with you.

Most talks live almost entirely in abstraction, in concepts, claims, categories and numbers. The room hears that kind of language, files it and drifts. Scenes built from sensory detail pull people in, and an opening built that way can place the audience inside a scene before any fact arrives.

The working method is to find the abstract moments, where you describe an idea, and ask what that moment actually looked, sounded or felt like. Then add one concrete sensory detail. One well-chosen sense per scene is usually enough. All five senses everywhere would exhaust the room.

Key ideas.

When a speaker names what something looked, sounded, felt, smelled or tasted like, listeners tend to simulate it.
Studies of sensory and action language suggest the parts of the brain that handle a sense take part in understanding words about it.
Talks that live in abstraction, in concepts, claims, categories and numbers, lose the room, because listeners file the words and drift.
One well-chosen sensory detail per scene is usually enough to bring an audience into the moment of a talk.

Questions.

How do I make my presentation less abstract?

Add concrete sensory detail to the abstract moments. Find each place where you describe an idea, ask what that moment looked, sounded or felt like, and put in one specific sensory detail. Listeners tend to simulate sensory language, so it places them inside the moment. One well-chosen sense per scene is usually enough, and all five everywhere would exhaust the room.

Why does sensory language work in public speaking?

Listeners tend to simulate what sensory words describe. Studies of sensory and action language suggest the parts of the brain that handle a sense take part in understanding words about it. That simulation puts the audience inside the moment with the speaker. One well-chosen sensory detail per scene is usually enough to pull the room in.

Lesson 4.2 of From Story to Stage, a free written course by Aaron C. Leaman, published by Brighter Future. The terms it uses are defined in the glossary.