We went to a concert in Laguna Beach this evening. The music was pleasant but somewhat in the background. Most of the crowd ate dinner, chatted or sat watching the sun set against the rolling breakers on the cliff below us. In all a beautiful evening.

On the surface, everyone was there to listen to a concert. It was advertised as a Spring concert and certainly there was music. To those of us in the back, the music was barely audible and it must have seemed the same even closer to the actual musicians. However, the music wasn’t bad. In fact it was very good, a mix of xylophone and bass viol and drums and cymbals. It just wasn’t the center of attention.

Under that surface of a concert, all around that outdoor concert hall, with the blue sky for a ceiling and the rolling blue waves of the Pacific Ocean for a backdrop, hundreds of conversations were underway. People arrived and departed, mixed and matched, opened picnic baskets, ate, talked, drank, in short enjoyed themselves, maybe had a few disputes, aired a few gripes and made a few compliments.

This is like all good stories. Yes, there is the main story line but emerging and disappearing throughout the story are sub-plots where most of the action takes place. The best stories have this rich tapestry against which the author paints his or her artful plot.

Our concert tonight was simply an excuse to get together with people we hadn’t seen in a while or had met only once or twice, to dine on a potluck dinner or bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches on long garlic bread rolls, catch up with each other, and talk and enjoy.

Yes, frame your story but don’t forget the rich undercurrents that make it worth reading.

My wife and I are in the process of finalizing the sale of the house where we lived for 18 years. That process includes going through many years worth of accumulated stuff, including some boxes that haven’t been looked at in years.

There are times when you need to clear out the old the make way for the new and this appears to be that time for us.

In the same way, we must often clear out the old ideas and beliefs we have about our businesses. If you aren’t as successful as you would like to be, consider how much of the past still influences you. Are you still doing things that haven’t worked in the past? Are you afraid to take on new tactics and ideas that could promote our business to new heights?

If so, remember that every one of us has to clear out the old if we want to continue to grow. It may be painful at the time but the result will be amazing.

The most powerful means of communication we have available to us are speaking and writing. We speak and write all day every day, whether we notice it or not. The difference between influential speakers and writers and everyone else is focus.

If you want to evoke emotion in your readers and listeners, you need to feel those emotions yourself.

Most of us have deep seated feelings we don’t want to talk about or let others know about. These may be the result of a traumatic incident or personal tragedy. Many times we have suppressed them and built a wall around them so we no longer feel them.

The problem with this is that when we are walled up like this, we can’t let our emotions loose in our writing and speaking. This results in not quite connecting on a real, deep level with your audience.

To really connect, you need to get back in touch with those deep, dark emotions you may have suppressed. It’s not easy. It can be terrifying. It can also be incredible liberating.

When you are open and your walls are down, you will connect on a deeper level than you have ever known before.

A key element of writing is to touch the deep emotions of your readers as much as possible. If you do this you are more likely to get your words read because your readers will relate to what you have to say at a deeper level.

The biggest single key to writing well is to stop paying so much attention technique and pay more attention to connection.

I keep talking about emotion in writing. However, the key is not to put emotion in writing but to evoke emotion in your reader by using story techniques.

The lesson or call to action is the most important part of the writing process. If you don’t tell your reader what to do with the information you have given then, you will leave them confused.

Most amateurs never think of using stories in speeches. I’ve listened to enough of them put together talks that were all facts and that were completely devoid of emotion.

Life is all about emotion. I don’t care how much you say you make decisions based on facts, the truth is we act almost exclusively on emotional triggers. The people who refuse to believe this are perfect targets for the sales and marketing professionals who do understand exactly how it works.

The fundamental underlying key to emotions is the well-told story, which bypasses the defenses we think we have established and goes straight to the emotional center where decisions are made.

Have you ever noticed how, after studying all the data, you usually have an “aha” moment when the decision gets made? It just comes to mind that yes, this is the right thing to do. Mostly we let this “aha” moment rule because we trust it.

Now go back and look at all the “aha” emotional moments you have experienced in your life. These will be your sharpest memories and may very well be the incidents that shaped your life. Since these stories had the most powerful impact on your life, they will also have the most powerful impact on your listeners in your speeches.

Most people look on the story as a way of getting to the selling point. They do not understand that the story is the selling point. Without it nothing happens. With it everything happens.

Use your strongest emotional touch points in all of your speeches, presentations, articles, and every other means of communication you use and you will get amazing results.