Public speaking is an art form. For some, it comes naturally—the voice inflection, the hand gestures, the pace of the presentation. For others, it is work or, worse, mortifying.
What makes a presentation persuasive though? If you're talking to a town hall gathering in Hugo will the same presentation be persuasive to a group in Duluth? In Savannah, Georgia? Maybe, but there's something that is fundamentally necessary to a persuasive presentation: You have to try and be as natural as possible.
What I think is natural is that you take on the persona that you find comfortable. The impeachment hearings in the US Senate for example. Some of the speakers were more flamboyant, even wild. Others were more deliberate and structured. Which was more effective? I don't know that either was necessarily more effective, but they were all about as effective as they could have been. Whether the audience agrees or disagrees with the speaker is a whole other can of worms that I'm not getting into today.
Whether you're a witness or an advocate or a negotiator, I recommend you don't get hung up on theatrics and hyperbole. I recommend you be you and take your chances from there.
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