Scientifically Proven Resources to Get Applause in Your Presentations

We don't present to receive applause, but when it happens, it means something. When a person or group applauds, they are expressing agreement, emotion, or recognition. It is a reaction that when spontaneous can be a sign that you achieved things, including: connection with your audience.

That's why today we will explore the conclusions of a study that by analyzing the phenomenon of applause can help us create strategies to connect with the audience when speaking in public.

The Study

Every time a speaker stands in front of an audience, they face the challenge of capturing their attention, creating connection, and provoking an emotional response. In the world of presentations, applause, beyond being a gesture of courtesy, depending on its intensity and other factors can indicate that your message has resonated with the audience.

But what is it that really causes that moment when people decide to applaud?

In 2017, a team of researchers from the IBM Almaden Research Center set out to answer this question through an unprecedented study.

The objective of the study was to analyze, in a scientific and data-driven way, what elements within a speech increase the probability of generating applause.
To accomplish this, the team collected and examined 2,135 TED Talks given between 2006 and 2016. These talks were chosen for being carefully structured speeches designed to inspire, persuade, and mobilize a global audience.

Based on the official transcripts of these talks, researchers identified and marked each moment when the audience applauded.

Not all applause is created equal.

To ensure that the study captured only genuine public responses, they eliminated applause that occurred at the end of presentations, as these are typically a show of respect and not necessarily a reaction provoked by a specific rhetorical element.

They were left with 904 talks and 3,178 moments of spontaneous applause, which would be analyzed in depth.

The next step was to determine what characteristics of the speech were present in those applause moments. To do this, they applied advanced natural language processing techniques and artificial intelligence, along with a statistical method called penalized regression with Lasso. This analysis allowed them to filter and isolate the linguistic patterns that had a real impact on the audience.

The results were interesting. The study identified 24 rhetorical devices that significantly increased the probability of receiving applause.

Some of these devices were expected, such as the use of expressions of gratitude or proper names to create closeness. However, other findings were more surprising, such as the fact that certain short words, rhythmic structures, and expressions in the present tense also influenced the audience's response.

That's why today we will analyze what elements of language help generate more applause and which are better to avoid.

Effective communication is not just an art, it is also a science. And on these pages, we are going to explore the principles that support it.

This is what you should avoid

It's not just about what to say, but also what not to say. Just as certain words and structures can create connection and provoke applause, others can diminish the audience's interest. There are expressions that can create distance, ideas that can slow down the pace of the presentation, and words that, instead of reinforcing the message, could weaken it

Below, we present the resources that, according to the research, reduce the probability that your audience will react with enthusiasm. 

Avoiding them will not only make your message clearer and more persuasive, but will also increase the likelihood that your ideas truly make an impact.

References to the past

• Before we did things differently, but now everything has changed.
• Years ago, companies didn't have this technology.
• In the past, this disease had no treatment.

Expressions of inhibition

• I know there are many barriers to change, but we must try.
• We understand that implementation could be a problem.
• There are limitations in current studies on this treatment.

Words with angry connotations

• It's frustrating to see how some processes don't move forward.
• It's unacceptable that we continue using obsolete solutions.
• It's concerning that many doctors ignore this data.

Excessive use of rhetorical questions

• Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes?
• How much longer are they going to waste time with inefficient tools?
• Don't you think it's time to change the way we treat this?

Explicitly asking for applause

• Give a round of applause to our team.
• Applause for our sponsors.
• Come on, this deserves a big round of applause.

Use of difficult-to-understand words

• We must conduct a comprehensive clinical and epidemiological assessment before proceeding with any intervention.
• If we determine that this therapeutic strategy does not present a favorable risk-benefit relationship or does not meet efficacy and safety criteria, we will explore alternatives based on the best available evidence.
• It is essential to conduct a comprehensive analysis of clinical, pathophysiological, and therapeutic data before making a decision that impacts patient management.

Use of fillers or verbal crutches (you know, right)

• Well, um, uh… the main idea is to improve efficiency.
• You know, what we mean is that this is important.
• I mean, the solution could be to implement this new model.

Use of words of hearing or perception

• As you can see, this proposal is the best option.
• If you listen carefully, you will notice the difference.
• As you can tell, this technology is superior.

Long pauses that break the narrative

• I think… we should consider another option.
• If we observe… the data, we notice a difference.
• This leads us to… the conclusion that we must act.
  
  

What You Should Do to Connect and Generate Applause

While there are elements of language that can make your presentation lose impact, there are also resources that create closeness, reinforce your authority, and make the audience feel that your message is relevant. 

Use personal pronouns ("I", "you", "we")

• I understand the challenges of this project, but I know that together we can solve them.
• You need a solution that will grow your business without complications.
• We, as a medical community, have the responsibility to innovate in treatments.

Use first person singular ("I", "my", "me")

• I have seen how teams like ours achieve incredible results with the right approach.
• My team has worked tirelessly to offer you the most efficient tool on the market.
• I am concerned that we are not yet applying these findings in clinical practice.

Use second person ("you", "you all")

• You have the ability to lead this change in the company.
• You all have faced this problem for years, and today we bring the solution.
• You, as a specialist, can make a difference by applying this treatment to your patients.

Use affirmations ("yes", "ok") to reinforce ideas

• Yes, change is challenging, but we are prepared to face it.
• Ok, imagine that you can reduce costs by 30% without effort.
• Well, the results are promising, but we still need to expand the study.

Use numbers to increase credibility

• We have improved our efficiency by 25% in the last three months.
• This software has helped over 500 companies improve their productivity.
• 87% of patients showed improvement with this new protocol.

Use expressions of certainty ("always", "never")

• Whenever we work as a team, we achieve better results.
• Never has it been so easy to manage all your operations in one system.
• Whenever it is detected early, the patient's prognosis improves significantly.

Use words of inclusion ("everyone", "we")

• Everyone on this team is responsible for the success of this project.
• We believe that all companies deserve accessible technology.
• All doctors present here can apply these findings to your patients.

Use expressions in the present tense ("now", "nowadays")

• Now we have the opportunity to transform the way we work.
• Nowadays, customers demand immediacy and personalization.
• Now we can offer personalized therapies thanks to advances in genetics.

Use alliteration (repetition of similar initial sounds)

• Productivity, precision, and purpose: three keys to our success.
• Fast, profitable, and revolutionary: that's our software.
• Diagnosis, detection, and decision: pillars in the early management of this disease.

Use rhyme to make the message more memorable

• If we want to grow, we must learn. If we want to advance, we must innovate.
• Lower costs, more control. More efficiency, less error.
• More data, fewer doubts. Better evidence, better health.

Use rhythmic homogeneity to improve fluidity

• We combine strategy, innovation, and action to achieve results.
• Our system is efficient, powerful, and easy to use.
• This treatment is safe, effective, and accessible to patients.

Mention proper names to create connection

• I want to recognize Laura and her team for leading this change with passion.
• Companies like Pharma Feliz are already using this technology successfully.
• Dr. Rodríguez in Spain has already implemented this protocol with promising results.

Use expressions of gratitude ("thank you", "I appreciate", "I'm grateful")

• Thank you to each of you for your commitment to this project.
• We appreciate the trust our customers have placed in us.
• I am grateful to my colleagues for their dedication to this research.

As has been said, we don't give a public presentation to receive applause, but doing so can give us some feedback that we're doing something right with this audience. So the next time I suggest it to you, in your next presentation, choose some of these resources and try to use them, at least as an experiment. It might surprise you and make you realize that you have a capacity to connect that is superior to what you expected.

Bibliography

Atkinson, J. M. (1984). Public speaking and audience responses: Some techniques for inviting applause. En J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 370–407). Cambridge University Press.

Bull, P. (2016). Claps and claptrap: The analysis of speaker–audience interaction in political speeches. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 473–492.

Liu, Z., Xu, A., Zhang, M., Mahmud, J., & Sinha, V. (2017). Fostering user engagement: Rhetorical devices for applause generation learnt from TED Talks. En Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2017) (pp. 592–595). AAAI Press.