Passing the vibe check
The first year I taught high school, one of my students introduced me to the term ‘vibe.’
I asked him what he meant. As he put it, someone’s vibe is how they make others feel.
Back when my vibe was “being confused with the high schoolers I coached.”
In the 10+ years since we spoke, I’ve learned ‘passing the vibe check’ is a casual way of saying that someone makes you feel good about their presence.
Plenty of presenters struggle to pass the vibe check. (I know that I’ve failed from time to time.) But many more don’t do enough to THINK about passing in the first place, dooming them to speeches that aren’t designed (on a tone or content level) to appeal to their audiences.
No matter your crowd—high schoolers, a TED audience, business executives—you’ve gotta try to pass the vibe check.
Here are three lessons for you to think about and improve your vibes.
Explore your inflection.
Begin by trying to expand your register. Repeat “asleep in the deep,” going lower each time. Then, say “I’m on fire” repeatedly, steadily moving your pitch up.
Choose a short speech you’ve heard—could be from a film, play, the news, politics, whatever—and say it at three different levels.
LEVEL ONE: your face and vocal patterns should go DOWN at the end of a sentence. You want to communicate a serious and focused vibe.
LEVEL TWO: your face and your vocal patterns should be CENTERED at the sentence’s end. Your goal is to sound informative and engaged.
LEVEL THREE: your face and your vocal pattern should go UP at the end. You should sound more passionate, dramatic, or intrigued.
Record yourself. Play it back. Play it for a colleague. Explain what the three levels are.
Can they tell which level you were trying to go for?
State your intentions.
Ask for Table Topics (brief, open-ended prompts meant to encourage two-minute speeches).
Before every sentence, state your intention in one adjective (“powerful” if you want to be impactful; “sarcastic” before you tell a joke).
Then, try it with tongue twisters like these.
Most of the sentences don’t have any inherent ‘vibe’ or ‘emotion,’ so adding your interpretation of how they could sound with a clear intention will force you to think about the value add of vibes.
If you’re struggling to think of nuanced emotions, check out this feelings wheel.
Be consistent.
I love fine dining.
Last month, I went to The Fat Duck in London. It’s known for two things: being ranked the #1 restaurant on earth, and losing that #1 ranking because of one of the largest norovirus outbreaks in history.
A meal fit for a king!
Thankfully, they cleaned up the contamination a decade before I dined.
The Fat Duck has regained and retained a three-Michelin-star ranking because of its commitment to vibes.
Its food is flavorful, but not the most flavorful I’ve experienced. It’s the pinpoint-precise attention to the customers’ emotional state that sets this place apart. The vibe they attempt to create is whimsical nostalgia.
From a dish with edible sand and headphone-transmitted audio of beach noises…
Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea…
To a fantastical map meant to evoke Alice in Wonderland…
Curioser and curioser..
To a storybook house with special candies in the ‘rooms’…
When one door closes, another one opens.
They go all-in on being consistent with this nostalgic vibe.
I would compare this favorably to Alinea, another three-star restaurant in Chicago.
Alinea’s cuisine is probably more flavorful. They have a few terrific set pieces, like a playful dessert where they ‘paint’ the table with flavors.
Shout out to Michael Lohan.
But they’re not AS committed to the innovative and playful vibe.
Alinea’s surroundings are fairly industrial and plain. The wait staff is very collegial and professional, but not focused on ‘play’ the way The Fat Duck’s staff speaks in riddles, witty jokes, and speeches about nostalgia.
Like a great speech, a great meal is more than the sum of its parts. It’s about the emotion it evokes from start to finish.
Don’t get me wrong—Alinea’s still a great experience. But, as Northwestern professor Kevin McTigue says, “It’s better to whole-ass one thing than half-ass two.”
This applies to your speaking style.
Do your slides further exemplify your brand?
What about your word choice?
Your outfit? Your haircut? The colors you choose to wear? Your Zoom background?
Everything matters when your crowd evaluates your vibes.
