The secret? On 14 October 1918, Hitler and numerous comrades in his regiment were seriously wounded by England’s first use of chlorine gas and Hitler was temporarily blinded. He lost his voice and had to learn to speak again. This is fascinating to me. It explains his gravelly voice and shows his determination. He worked very hard to improve his voice as he recovered because he had a passion and a vision to be a great speaker and leader one day. Yes, creepy yet, true.
As he rose to power, he worked with a coach to change his voice and body language to suit each person or crowd. He would prepare the night before each meeting or speech, having gathered as much lintel all the person or group as he could and customize his content and his delivery for maximize persuasive impact.
I spent three months analyzing his voice and body language in over 100 videos and sometimes I was mesmerized, other times i was quite sick and couldn't sleep.
He could vary his voice and delivery like a great actor, going from soft calm and soothing like a lullaby to a child to loud fist filled gavel of voice filled with rage. He would use various accents, and change his style from low brow language to sophisticated light and urbane depending on his audience and he could use a joking lilt of a voice one minute and a menacing taught with one paragraph.
All in all, Hitler worked very hard to be a powerful speaker and spread his evil.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
