Sit Down. Let's Talk.
What makes a great speech? Yes, it's nice to avoid stumbling over your words, shaking like a leaf, and forgetting every word you planned on saying. Yes, it's nice to have an awesome organization, support a central thesis, and maintain eye contact to keep your audience engaged. But guys, these are the basics. Any speaker in any situation can keep up with these standards with practice and preparation.
But what makes a memorable, compelling speech? How do you get your audience to ask for more? How do you talk for an hour and have your audience feel like they've been listening for five minutes?
1. Average speakers focus on the words they say. Great speakers enhance their words with tone inflection and body language. Your audience is only going to hear what you have to say once. What you say is less important than how you say it. How many speeches have you listened to where someone stands up in front, with a monotone voice, droning over how this and that are important. Blah, blah, blah. Boring. How many speeches have you watched where the speaker shakes like a leaf and never moves out of the corner? For your sake, I hope not many. Shout at your audience. Whisper to your audience. Tell a story. Use confident body language and invite your audience in. They'll be sitting on the edges of their seats begging for more.
2. Focus on one compelling message. Again, your audience is only going to hear what you have to say once. Get your message across, make your point, and make it interesting. A confused audience is a disinterested audience.
3. Have a conversation with your audience. I cannot stress this point enough. Your speech is not a performance. It's not a speech. It's a conversation. Let your audience get to know you. Make your audience comfortable. If you share from your heart, you allow the audience to feel like they are a part of what you're speaking about, not just lonely bystanders. Appeal to their emotions and engage them.
4. Be authentically passionate about the topic you're speaking about. What makes your topic so freaking cool or so freaking interesting that everyone needs to know about it? If you're not interested in your own topic, how do you expect the audience to be interested? How are they supposed to stay engaged when you hate your topic just as much as they do? Love your topic, make it compelling, and speak from the heart.
You may have seen great speeches and thought to yourself, "I'm too shy. I'll never be a good speaker," or "They're a professional. Public speaking is too hard. I'll never be able to do that." WRONG. You can hold a conversation, right? You are interested in something, right? Giving a great speech is no different than talking to your mom or your best friend. Bubble over with passion, treat your audience like your best friends, and have a conversation.
Sir Ken Robinson, a Ted Talk speaker, gives a very interesting speech called "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" Yes, he picks an interesting topic, but even after watching the first three minutes of his speech, you can tell his audience appeal outweighs the words he's saying. He's passionate about what he's talking about. He makes friends with his audience, and he has a conversation with them. He doesn't give a presentation. He doesn't speak at his audience. He speaks to them and gets his point across.
Another Ted Talk speaker, Brene Brown, gives a speech on "The Power of Vulnerability." Immediately, you are drawn in by her personable attitude and the way she invites the audience in to her own life. She has a conversation with them, allows them to get to know her personally, and is passionate about what she's sharing. Again, a great speech has been given.
Even Michelle Obama, the former first lady, gives a great speech, but not because she's famous. This speech is great because she talked to her audience like they were her friends. She conversed with them by giving them personal details about her life. People like to get to know who's talking to them. Michelle did exactly this. She invites her audience in, has a conversation with them, and still bubbles over with passion about what she's talking about. Her inflection and emotion shine through, and people are moved. All you need to do is have a conversation.
But what makes a memorable, compelling speech? How do you get your audience to ask for more? How do you talk for an hour and have your audience feel like they've been listening for five minutes?
1. Average speakers focus on the words they say. Great speakers enhance their words with tone inflection and body language. Your audience is only going to hear what you have to say once. What you say is less important than how you say it. How many speeches have you listened to where someone stands up in front, with a monotone voice, droning over how this and that are important. Blah, blah, blah. Boring. How many speeches have you watched where the speaker shakes like a leaf and never moves out of the corner? For your sake, I hope not many. Shout at your audience. Whisper to your audience. Tell a story. Use confident body language and invite your audience in. They'll be sitting on the edges of their seats begging for more.
2. Focus on one compelling message. Again, your audience is only going to hear what you have to say once. Get your message across, make your point, and make it interesting. A confused audience is a disinterested audience.
3. Have a conversation with your audience. I cannot stress this point enough. Your speech is not a performance. It's not a speech. It's a conversation. Let your audience get to know you. Make your audience comfortable. If you share from your heart, you allow the audience to feel like they are a part of what you're speaking about, not just lonely bystanders. Appeal to their emotions and engage them.
4. Be authentically passionate about the topic you're speaking about. What makes your topic so freaking cool or so freaking interesting that everyone needs to know about it? If you're not interested in your own topic, how do you expect the audience to be interested? How are they supposed to stay engaged when you hate your topic just as much as they do? Love your topic, make it compelling, and speak from the heart.
You may have seen great speeches and thought to yourself, "I'm too shy. I'll never be a good speaker," or "They're a professional. Public speaking is too hard. I'll never be able to do that." WRONG. You can hold a conversation, right? You are interested in something, right? Giving a great speech is no different than talking to your mom or your best friend. Bubble over with passion, treat your audience like your best friends, and have a conversation.
Sir Ken Robinson, a Ted Talk speaker, gives a very interesting speech called "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" Yes, he picks an interesting topic, but even after watching the first three minutes of his speech, you can tell his audience appeal outweighs the words he's saying. He's passionate about what he's talking about. He makes friends with his audience, and he has a conversation with them. He doesn't give a presentation. He doesn't speak at his audience. He speaks to them and gets his point across.
Another Ted Talk speaker, Brene Brown, gives a speech on "The Power of Vulnerability." Immediately, you are drawn in by her personable attitude and the way she invites the audience in to her own life. She has a conversation with them, allows them to get to know her personally, and is passionate about what she's sharing. Again, a great speech has been given.
Even Michelle Obama, the former first lady, gives a great speech, but not because she's famous. This speech is great because she talked to her audience like they were her friends. She conversed with them by giving them personal details about her life. People like to get to know who's talking to them. Michelle did exactly this. She invites her audience in, has a conversation with them, and still bubbles over with passion about what she's talking about. Her inflection and emotion shine through, and people are moved. All you need to do is have a conversation.
All the points you made about what makes a great speech are ones I too agreed on and used as part of my post except one: passion for the topic in which you're speaking about. I hadn't considered this much, but I definitely agree. If you have no passion or interest in what you're saying how can you be sure that you audience will or find the means to persuade them.
ReplyDeleteYour examples of speakers having a conversation with their audiences are all great examples, and I'm glad that you chose to include three. Using only one example presents only a single way that a speaker can connect with an audience, which is often not applicable to all, or even the majority, of the speeches that we must give or the situations we must give them in.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love your organization of this blog post, and the points you make. You've managed to do so in a way the others haven't, to the point and specific! Wondering what you think about this statement, "Giving a great speech is no different than talking to your mom or your best friend" with regards to whether or not it remains formal if you use the above idea?
ReplyDeleteI love the organizational aspect within this blog. Not only were you able to provide very extensive detailing and explanations regarding successful speech giving, but you were also able to create such a high degree of organization that any reader could very easily understand and stay underwhelmed while reading. I also like the connection to the examples that were given within the text.
ReplyDeleteFirst time seeing your blog, what fascinates me the most is the design of it. Plain white background with black font, the words stood out on its own without myself having to put some extra effort in reading. Also, when you number up your points and bold them, it distinguishes your main points from the rest. I'm reading your blog as if I'm hearing a person speaking. Instead of plainly telling readers on emphasis, you emphasised what you want your readers to emphasised. I'm very hooked on reading this and learned a lot through a single blog post. Thank you for doing such a great job.
ReplyDelete