Archive for October, 2008

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A Public Speaker’s Tips For Writing A Speech

Monday, October 13th, 2008
Learn How To Write Your Speeches To Be Memorable And To Make An Impact!

Learn How To Write Your Speeches To Be Memorable And To Make An Impact!

Go to any book store and you’ll find a 6″ long section of books that promise to teach you how to deliver a speech in public better. What’s all to often missing from this avalanche of advice is any real guidance on how to create a speech that will work for your audience. No matter how well you deliver a speech, it will all be for naught if the speech itself does not do a good job of telling your story & making your point.

Perhaps this is a good time for us to take a moment and consider what a speech really is (I’m a big fan of the basics). At its core, a speech is simply an opportunity for you to tell your audience about something that you are interested in. The part that all too many people seem to overlook is that you really want your speech to be memorable. In other words, after you stop talking, you would like people in the audience to be able to remember what you said, and even better, take action based on it. This all means that WHAT you say and HOW you say it are very important. Here’s the zinger: it’s not the topic that boring, but rather how it’s presented that can be boring.

Sometimes you get to pick what you want to talk about, most of the time you are told. The very first question that you need to ask yourself is: why am I giving this speech? What is my one, single purpose? This can generally be found in one of five big words: to inform, to inspire, to entertain, to motivate, or to convince. Once you’ve picked one of these (yes, you can only pick one) then you are set to do the most important part of speech creation: pick the slant.

The slant (or focus if you prefer) is what makes your speech stand out. You want to pick a particular angle that your audience may not be expecting and then you approach your subject from there.

Finally, you need to boil your entire speech down into one single sentence. This sentence, if printed on cards and and handed out to your audience, would leave them with the essence of your speech if you were not able to show up and speak. You would never hand out this sentence and in fact you might not even use it as part of your speech. However, simply by creating it you will have allowed the main point of your speech to crystallize in your head that that will make all the difference in the world.

How good of a job do you feel that you do when you have to write a speech? Do you take the time to determine the ultimate purpose of your speech? How do you go about picking the slant that you want to use? Have you ever written down just one sentence that describes the point that you want to make? Leave a comment and let me know what you are thinking.

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Posted in speech writing | 9 Comments »

How Should I Introduce You Public Speaker?

Monday, October 6th, 2008
Billy Crystal Always Has A Great Introduction Before He Speaks

Billy Crystal Always Has A Great Introduction Before He Speaks

You know, it’s always the little things that set the real pros apart from the rest of us. When it comes to speaking in public, having a really good introduction for yourself can be the key to getting your speech off to a great start. I must confess that I had forgotten just how powerful an introduction could be. It took a chance opportunity to attend a private show put on by Billy Crystal to really remind me why introductions are important and, when done correctly, just how powerful they can be.

I was out in Las Vegas attending the big EMC trade show and as part of the show they had the comedian Billy Crystal come in and put on a private show. So there I was along with 1,000′s of other trade show attendees sitting in a mini-arena waiting for Billy to take the stage. All of a sudden, the lights went down, and the jumbo tron TV screens on the stage lit up. What happened next was the mini-movie that had been created to introduce Billy at the start of the 2004 Academy Awards played. This was a serious movie – it must have lasted for just a bit over 5 minutes or so. It was also quite funny – Billy kept finding himself stuck inside a bunch of famous movies as it appeared as though people were trying to talk him into hosting the Academy Awards. Once the movie was over, Billy came out, took the stage, and put on a great show.

It wasn’t until days later (sorry, I really am this slow sometimes) that I suddenly realized WHY the movie had been played. Billy Crystal is a comedian. Comedians (the big ones at least) never just come out and take the stage – they always have an opening act. Why you ask? Simple, the opening act gets the crowd warmed up. It gets them used to laughing. This means that when the main act (the comedian) comes out, he/she doesn’t have to work as hard to get laughs – we’re already primed for them. Even if the opening act bombs, the main comedian will appear great in comparison and we’ll still laugh much easier. Billy didn’t have an opening act for the private show that he was putting on so Billy’s intro movie got every laughing before he came out. It worked like a charm.

What we can all learn from this is that WE need an opening act before we start a speech. Even if other speakers have gone before us, we need our own personal opening act. Good news, you don’t have to go out and hire a comedian. All you have to do is write your own introduction and make sure that someone reads it just before you start your speech. If you’ve got a great intro, then the audience will be primed to hear what you are going to say. They’ll view you as an expert and they will hang on your every word.

What Should Be In My Introduction? Your introduction serves two distinct and separate purposes: to establish your authority and to inform your audience why you are there. I’d suggest that you start by establishing your authority to be speaking on this topic. This can be fairly boring stuff so boil it down to what will impress this audience the most: study that you’ve done, work experience, years in this field, etc. Next you want to explain why you are here today giving this speech. Just saying: my manager asked me to report on this topic is not good enough. Ideally you’ll explain that you are uniquely suited to discuss the issue, or that you have a deep motivation to resolve the problem. This serves as a great springboard into your actual speech.

How Long Should My Introduction Be? The shorter the better. When written out your introduction should be no longer than 1/2 of a typewritten page. Remember: from the audience’s point-of-view your introduction is just answering the question “who is this person” – once they’ve got the info that they need, they’ll stop listening.

Who Should Read My Introduction? This is the most important part. You’re introduction needs to be read to the audience (off of the paper that you handed to him/her) by someone that the audience respects and accepts as one of their own. This will act as a bridge to your speech and will give you instant acceptance by the audience.

As simple as these steps to creating a powerful introduction may seem, there are still a number of potholes that can still screw things up. The #1 issue that I see come up time after time is that the person reading the introduction doesn’t take the time to read it before the event, tries to wing it, and ends up flubbing it. Proper coordination with your introducer can minimize the chances of this happening.

What does your introduction look like? Has it worked for you in the past – do you feel that the audience is ready for you to start speaking when you finally open your mouth? Have you ever seen an introduction done badly? What went wrong? How did this impact the speaker’s speech? Leave a comment and let me know what you are thinking.

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Posted in opening | 10 Comments »

4 Things A Public Speaker Needs To Know About WebConferencing

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
What Works Well For Webconferencing?

What Works Well For Webconferencing?

So is delivering a presentation over the web easier or harder than delivering it to a live audience? Just to make sure that we’re all on the same page, let’s agree on what webconferencing is (hint: it’s not sending your PowerPoint presentation to someone via email). For our purposes, we can define webconferencing as a way to give a presentation, hold an important meeting, or even train employees without requiring the people participating to have to travel. Thanks to phone bridges, PowerPoint decks, and high-speed Internet connections this is now a viable way to deliver presentations.

The technology is pretty slick – you can quickly come up to speed on how to technically DO a webconference. The real trick is to find out how to do a GOOD JOB of presenting using this new technology. Dave Zielinski recently had a chance to talk with Laura Vizzusi and David Goad who work for Cisco’s WebEx division. WebEx rules this space on the web so these guys really know what they are talking about. Here are their top four suggestions for webconferencing public speaker wanna be’s:

  1. Prep, Prep, Prep: Just because the medium has changed, does not mean that the rules have changed. Even through you don’t have to travel to give the presentation and since, possibly, the audience won’t be able to actually see you, some people will be tempted to slack off. DON’T DO IT! You can still put your audience to sleep if you don’t deliver a polished presentation.
  2. It’s All In The Voice: How you sound is even more important in a webconference than it is when you are presenting in person. Whatever you do – don’t use a speakerphone! You will sound far away and your voice will fade in and out as you move your head. DO use a headset mic if you can. In fact, stand up and present if at all possible – this will allow you to project your voice better and will allow you to use the full range of your voice.
  3. That’s Why They Call Them Visual Aids: Since your audience won’t be able to look at you, they will be spending more time looking at your slides. Make sure they are worth looking at! You are also going to have to keep your slides moving right along in order to keep your audience’s attention. Slide transitions and the liberal use of photographs are always good ideas.
  4. Welcome To The 21st Century: Most webconferencing tools come with a variety of bells and whistles that allow you to interact with your audience during your presentation. Used poorly, you’ll tick everyone off. Used correctly, this is a great way to dynamically engage everyone in what you are saying. Tools like interactive polls and on-screen annotations can capture and hold everyone’s attention.

Don’t forget one of the biggest benefits of webconferencing is that it is very easy to record your presentation. This is a great way to give a presentation once and then use it over and over again…

How have the webconferences that you’ve given gone so far? Do you find that they are harder or easier than presentations given in person? Do you use the fancy new technical features that come as a part of webconference tools? Do you feel that you do a better or worse job of keeping your audience’s attention? Leave some comments and let me know what you are thinking.

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Posted in webconferencing | 3 Comments »

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