Thursday, June 5, 2008

How do you give “the speech of your life”?

by Richard L. Weaver II

Let’s just say that as things have worked out in your life, that what you would like to have more than anything else comes down to giving what must be considered the speech of your life. How you come across, how you present yourself, and how you affect a group of people, is going to determine whether or not you get what you want.

The speech of your life comes from you, and your success depends on your message, you the messenger, and your magic. You can think about your message being the meat, you the messenger being the potatoes, and the magic being the spice. Let’s look at each factor.

The meat of your message depends first on study. Study is what makes greatness. Whether it is based on your own background, the experiences you’ve had, or research and investigation, great speeches reveal a depth of knowledge and understanding.

When your message comes from deep within you, it reveals your soul. Soul is that animating essence that we associate with your life. A great message is not just words; it is emotion, body language, and passion or spirit. People listen to your soul.

Finally, in a great message speakers share their scars. They reach into their storehouse for the blemishes, faults, and sores that make them human. Sharing their scars makes them human.

The important aspect of you as the messenger is that you be yourself. Know who you are. To know who you are, be a self-monitor. Examine why you do the things you do, why you say what you say, and why you think what you think. Look at your behavior.

Be introspective. Examine your thoughts and feelings. This involves self-searching, self-reflection, and self-contemplation. Know yourself, and show yourself. Tear away the veil, and reveal the true you—who you really are.

As a messenger, you must be sincere. This means being open, candid, frank, honest, and truthful. When the covers of your book are opened, are your contents thin, superficial, and shallow? Then enrich yourself by reading, listening, observing, and experiencing.

Finally, as the messenger, be direct with your audience. Let your audience understand what you know. Develop and polish rich, personal, soul-wrenching stories that will grab, hold, and bind your audience’s attention to your message.

As the messenger, you must project confidence (positive self-assurance), credibility (an authentic, believable, convincing, and trustworthy nature), comfort (that you are pleased and satisfied with your ideas), success (accomplishment, achievement, attainment, and victory), and polish (that you have spent some time perfecting, refining, and improving your ideas).

In public speaking, nobody asks for perfection; they can, however, expect polish!

Your magic represents the spice. It can be revealed in your writing, in your delivery, and in your embellishment. “Magic” does not come from supernatural powers or slight of hand. It comes from careful, thoughtful, planning and preparation.

Write out some of your ideas. Use antithesis (opposites), or the setting of one clause or other member of a sentence against another to which it is opposed. “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” “What counts is not the number of hours you put in, but how much you put in the hours.”

Effective writing, too, utilizes parallel structure. Sometimes referred to as continuums, serializing, or stacking, it occurs when ideas of equal worth are given the same syntactical form. From the famous poem constructed in parallel form, “Children Learn What They Live,” by Dorothy Law Nolte, just two lines as examples: “If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn. If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight....” At the end of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream,” speech: “So, let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York....”

Effective writing utilizes triplets, or, a list of three things. A list of three is always better than either two or four. Three is always more than four! “People are born, people live, people die!” “If you want to enrich today, plant flowers. If you want to enrich years, plant trees. If you want to enrich eternity, plant ideas.”

Your delivery, too, contributes to the magic. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Delivery is a tool for expressing clear, interesting ideas without distracting the audience. Effective delivery is conveyed by your voice, language, and body.

Your voice is the sales tool that can sell your feelings and emotions. It is the most powerful, persuasive, professional tool you own. Vary your pitch (the highness or lowness of your voice), select the best rate (it depends on your personality, the mood you’re trying to create, the nature of your audience and the occasion), and avoid vocalized pauses (uhms, and ahhhs). Pauses are for time to breathe, for messages to sink in, to give listeners time to breathe, and for emphasis.

Language is important, and effective word choice can be magic. Study all your life to be a wordsmith—one who knows, works with, and shapes words. Pronounce words correctly, because incorrect pronunciation strips away credibility. Use proper grammar; it is a key indicator of who you are and what your background is.

Your body is an important part of your delivery. Pay attention to your posture, personal appearance, facial expressions, eye contact, and hands (forget your hands, but don’t forget to use them). And, never give your ideas to an audience; give your speech to individuals in your audience. Connect with one individual at a time. Weak eye contact looks insincere, insecure, and uncomfortable.

Finally, embellish your speech by telling key stories, using power phrases (“Attitude, not aptitude, determines altitude”), and using humor and quotations. Don’t use humor to get a laugh; use it to revitalize your audience. The best humor occurs naturally.

The speech of your life comes from you. Now, when you are faced with giving the speech of your life, you know you have control over the message, the messenger, and the magic. The real greatness within you awaits your recognition.

______________________________________________________________________________

On June 14, 2005, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, gave the commencement address at Stanford University. Although not labeled as “the speech of his life,” clearly this was an outstanding address, and it includes a number of the elements discussed in this essay. Find the address at: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Guy Kawasaki wrote a terrific essay, “How to Get a Standing Ovation,” on January 18, 2006, http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/how_to_get_a_st.html at his website, “How to Change the World.” His practical advice includes “Have something interesting to say,” and “Tell stories,” and all of it is useful and to the point. The comments about the essay that follow it are both worthwhile and entertaining.

Debra Hamilton, president of Creative Communications and Training, Inc., writes a basic essay entitled, “Giving a great speech: 7 secrets to dynamic, memorable public speaking,” which begins with advice such as “use an icebreaker,” and “focus your material.” Her essay is available at the ezinearticles.com website. Solid advice is given, and it is fundamental to giving great speeches. See article: Click here ______________________________________________________________________________





Contact Richard L. Weaver II

No comments:

Post a Comment

Essays, SMOERs Words-of-Wisdom, Fridays Laugh, book reviews... And Then Some! Thank you for your comment.