Which is more important: being fluent or being connected with your audience i.e. the other party?
Traditionally, we pay a lot of attention to being fluent, even organising many aids to make sure we can join words together in a smooth and flowing way.
Actually…
It may be more effective to concentrate on being connected with the audience.
If people have a sense of connection, they’ll listen with the heart rather than the head—and, in fact, take more away from the conversation. They won’t be that aware of glitches in the delivery.
It might not really about the words anyway.
If people are disengaged, it really doesn’t matter how good your words are.
Sometimes attempts at fluency can get in the way of natural connection.
The ideal is both, I suppose, but if you can’t have that, which would you go for…
Connection or fluency?