How much emotion is too much emotion in a speech or presentation?
As a communicator, telling stories in an interactive manner to grab the listener’s attention is a great thing. However, sometimes these stories may be personal and may lead you in more emotional waters during your speech or presentation. But here is the thing about emotion: it draws people in. as long as it seems relevant to the audience, it is a great attention grabber.
If you are being emotionally appropriate at moments during your speech and the audience seems interested then you are on the right track as you are communicating on the intellectual as well as the emotional level. That is extremely powerful.
If you are worried about your voice cracking as you get emotional- don’t be! I have never heard anyone complaining about how they hated a speaker because their voice cracked despite giving an interesting speech. What i have heard is people complaining about how a speaker bored them to death. Emotion works for you as it makes you more human and relatable. Make sure that you are not blubbering, is given in small doses, and is relevant to your subject. Do not try to strip the emotion out. The most highly paid speakers in the world have more emotion than anyone else.
Keep up with the stories; keep up with the emotion.