The best motivational videos are the ones where the speakers say “Fuck”.

Ok, maybe not the best, but the memorable ones sure do.
These are the heroes (I’ve been watching too much Colbert).

The people who give these sorts of talks, Gary Vaynerchuk, David Heinemeier Hansson, are people who are extremely passionate and into what they talk about, and do for a living. They use raw language to get to the raw nerve.  Just like William Shatner’s new talk show, it’s to cut past the show that people put on, and it’s to make sure that the message they are giving manages to stay in your head.

If you can walk away from a talk remembering really understanding one point and learning one lesson, then it was probably worth while.

It’s About Emotion

It’s fun to see someone go up on stage then proceed to drop the F-bombs on them.  That excitement, or shock and horror if its an older crowd, actually helps in remembering the point being made. It’s one point that Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman write about in their book, The Elements of Persuasion.  Our ability to remember is both based on our surprise to the statement, and our emotional reaction to it.  These two affect the amount of adrenaline that’s released into our bodies as a result.

Knowing that memory and emotion are inextricably tied, you can help your client by providing a clear context for the information you want remembered so that it is presorted and easier to absorb

Dickman, Maxwell, The Elements of Persuasion

If you like either of these videos, make sure to check out GaryVaynerchuk.com where he’s always pushing out great video content, and follow what else David Heinemeier Hansson has to say at his blog.

If you know any other videos like please include a link in the comments!

Enjoy.

David Heinemeier Hansson Creator of Rails; Partner, 37Signals talks at startup school 2008

http://www.omnisio.com/bin/Embed.swf?embedID=dkbBwqZuir3yqSadbiFy2w

Gary Vaynerchuk’s Park Avenue Motivational Discussion

http://www.viddler.com/player/a531d079/