Why should we write our speeches?

“Why should I write my speech? I’ve been giving speeches for 15 years“

Have you been to a presentation and the speaker went on and on with no coherent message? I happened to see a well-known and very well-paid movie actor give an acceptance speech. Rather than merely thanking those who contributed to his success, this actor decided to take the time to discuss his cause—extemporarily. Perhaps you may be able to speak off-the-cuff; however, the effectiveness of such a speech will be diminished—perhaps significantly.

Many professional speakers write their speeches. “Why,” you may ask. They don’t write them memorize their speech and they certainly don’t write them to read their presentations. They write them to refine, massage, and condense their speeches to assure they have a well polished speech where every word is significant. They also want to assure that the speech is well organized and it flows smoothly.

For example, part of a speech I was asked to review was:

“Volunteerism can change the life of others in a positive way. Let me tell you about Mary Smith. Mary Smith resides at, not around, not near, but inside the North Cemetery. You would think that living in the morbid confines of a cemetery would mean hopelessness and helpless desperation. But when you meet Mary, you will not see somebody who is hopeless, desperate or helpless. You will see a woman who knows she can make a difference.”

can be changed to:

“Volunteerism can positively change the life of others. You would think that living in the morbid confines of a cemetery would mean hopelessness and helpless desperation. Ask Mary. She resides not around, not near, but inside the North Cemetery. But Mary is not hopeless, desperate or helpless. You will see a woman who knows she can make a difference.”

By rearranging and restructuring the paragraph, I reduced the number of words from 77 to 59. The content flowed smoother, was more active and there was no redundancy. Additionally, there’s was no need to state the person’s name twice or to say “Let me tell you about…” Can you refine it even more?

Similarly, I have heard speakers say “Let me tell you a story about…”  For example, “Let me tell you a story of a young boy that happened many years ago.” Instead, why not simply pause for a moment and begin the story by saying, “Many years ago, there was a young boy…”   By simply starting a story, after a momentary pause, it becomes more engaging and interesting. Contrarily, stating “Let me tell you a story about…” drags out the speech to no advantage.

Also notice that I put the time frame, “many years ago,” at the beginning rather than the end of the sentence. It is important to start a sentence with the least important statement and end the sentence with the most important part of the sentence.  You want to build up to a crescendo, not down to a lull. Nearly all fairy tales begin with “Once upon a time…” Have you heard a fairy tale begin with “There was an evil witch once upon a time?” Even Star Wars begin with “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”—not “In a galaxy far, far away, a long time ago…”

David Brooks, the 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking for Toastmasters, says that “it is absolutely necessary to write a speech and refine the speech as many times as necessary.” Many times I will write a speech or an article for a newspaper, magazine or my blog at least a week or two before I need to speak or submit an article. I will then leave it alone for a day or so and then return to refine it. Even this article, I have left it alone for 2 to 3 days, review the content and modify it.

Though you may know what to do and how to do it, you may still be wondering why presenters and speakers should write and rewrite their speeches. A professional speaker I know has been speaking for more than 30 years to corporations and he is well paid. I was assisting in filming his educational videos. He was quite good and I noticed the content was excellent. It was very easy to listen to him, yet I thought he should slow down a bit and pause occasionally. He said that he understood however, when he’s being paid as much as he is, every word costs the company about $5. His contention was that he owes the audience to give them as much information as he can in the allotted time. Sure enough, the content of the video he was filming was excellent. However, I still believe the value of his time would be better served if he would slow down and pause, thereby increasing his audiences’ retention rate. Yet, for him, who can argue with success? I do wonder if he could have been even more successful if he would slow down, pause and let his audience absorb the content.

Thus, we should write our speeches not to memorize them or to read them. We do so to refine our speeches. One last thought. I’ve been asked, “What do we do with the speech if we are not to memorize it?” You should practice the same as if your intent is to memorize your speech; however, the purpose of practicing and refining your speech is to know it. To me, there is a difference between memorizing and knowing your speech. Memorizing a speech is memorizing the speech word for word. Memorizing leads to performing for the audience like an actor who needs to memorize his/her lines. Knowing your speech leads to conversing with your audience. Instead of an abstract factor through memorization, it becomes a part of you, as if you are conversing with your friend. Both have a purpose, and for a speaker you want to engage the audience. You do this by conversing with the audience.

Frank S. Adamo
The Compassionate Godfather

A Communication Skills Specialist
www.SpotlightPresenter.com
frank@fsadamo.com
1-714-408-9287

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men

At this time of the year, many Christians, reflect on the joy of the season, peace on earth, and harmony among men by celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Yet, how can we achieve world peace? As a 26 year member of a Rotary club, I know Rotary fosters world peace and understanding. In fact, in their mission statement, Rotary International states “The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.”

For example, the Rotary Club of Jerusalem works with the local YMCA to promote peace and harmony, starting with preschool children. From their Web site, it states “This unique preschool, located where the club has enjoyed its luncheon meetings for many years, is a meeting place and educational center for children from Christian, Muslim and Jewish homes.  Here they are exposed to each other’s cultures in a natural setting.  The “Gan” [Hebrew for gardent] was founded in 1981 and has successfully continued since, emphasizing the common interests of both the children and their parents.  Each class has two teachers, on teaching in Hebrew and other in Arabic.  The school engenders an atmosphere of tolerance and goodwill.”

Similarly, Jews, Christians and Muslims continually meet locally in Southern California to help resolve their differences. There are also many local to international organizations, in addition to Rotary International, who are striving to advance world peace and understanding.

Yet, we have not achieved world peace. Certainly, we must understand and accept each other before we can achieve world peace. However, the key to understanding, in my opinion, is having the skills to communicate—effectively.

I never really considered how profound the meaning of Simon & Garfunkel’s song, the “Sound of Silence,” Actually, Paul Simon didn’t write the song to make some profound statement; on the other hand, if you listen—really listen-to the following stanza, he did write profoundly.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

So many individuals hear each other and talk to each other. However, out of ten thousand people, even more, how many are actually speaking and listening? When we hear and talk, we are not communicating. It is only the sounds of silence, sounds which are gibberish.

When have you ever heard total silence; real silence where you could hear a feather fall to the ground? I live in Cypress, nearly two miles from any freeway. During the spring and summer and into the fall, I like to sit outside and enjoy a cup of cappuccino. I don’t hear the freeways; however, I usually hear urban sounds like the traffic on Lincoln Blvd, the birds chirping, the city or utility  maintenance workers, the wind (especially when we have the Santa Anas, and hearing people talking. On very rare occasions, I will hear— t o t a l  s i l e n c e. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, or birds, or people talking. What a blessed moment even if it lasted for just a few moments.

We are surrounded by urban sounds, especially in Southern California. Perhaps that’s why we hear and talk so often, even though talking does little, if any, good towards peace, goodwill and understanding. Yet, when we learn to listen, really listen, we can begin to speak and communicate. When we learn to speak, we can begin to understand. When we learn from understanding, we can then have peace, at least, among ourselves. Then if everyone would learn to have peace within our own personal world, the concept of true communication will spread and then maybe we can

Can we ever achieve world peace? Unlikely, in my opinion. However, can we achieve peace within own world? Of course we can, if each of us makes a concerted effort to listen and speak, rather than hear and talk, to those in our own world. Then, by doing so, perhaps—just perhaps—we can achieve peace worldwide as we teach others how to listen and speak.

For all Christians, may the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace be with you this holiday season and may we prosper through effective communications during the New Year. For non-Christians, may the spirit and meaning of Christmas be with you throughout the New Year and strive to bring peace and goodwill to your own world of influence. Perhaps, by next year, we will be closer to world peace than ever before.

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Why tell stories when giving presentations – Part 2

Tell Stories rather than Delivering a Resume

How many times have you’ve gone to a presentation or workshop and the first 10 to 15 minutes are devoted to the presenter’s credentials, achievements, books and articles they’ve written and more? Of course, the audience needs some knowledge of the speaker to assure that s/he has, at least, some knowledge of the topic. Yet, don’t we generally attend based on prior marketing materials we have seen, heard or read to promote the presenter and his/her topic? Isn’t that why we attend?

I’m not saying that the audience should not know more about the speaker, yet there is a distinct difference between talking about yourself and telling a story about yourself. We learned in part 1, “Why tell stories when giving presentations,” professional speakers tell a story to make a point.   Then, why not incorporate personal stories, make a point, and at the same time, allow the audience to get to know you as a speaker.

A while back, I attended a luncheon for trainers where the keynote speaker was giving a 45-minute presentation, highlights of his upcoming all-day training workshop. I was quite interested in the topic matter and I had intended to invest in the workshop—until he started speaking. He went on and on for nearly 15 minutes about his credentials and all the work which led to the results he was finally going to present. For example, he may have said something like, “I graduated from Smalltown University with a Masters in business marketing and I have written 10 books on business networking and five books on social networking. I’m proud to say that I was awarded the Networker of the Year last year. I have given presentations to multiple Fortune 400 companies. In my studies, I  have found that…“. By the time he finally started to discuss the actual subject matter, 15 minutes later, I had already tuned him out and lost interest. Oh, by the way, I didn’t invest in his workshop.

Now, if he had began his speech by telling us a story of how his own business increased in sales by a whopping 150% in just 3 short months by following these three networking steps; then he would have grabbed my attention, and like the many others in the  audience, I would have eagerly invested in his workshop.

Even in a technical presentation, you can tell a story related to your commitment and dedication to see a project through, no matter how long. For example, you might say, “We began our search five years ago. Each step in the progress brought us closer and closer to a breakthrough—yet each step seem to give us more questions  than answers.  For five year we had been pursuing the answer to the question ‘Why…;” however, just like Thomas Edison, we persevered, answering each new question and then—then just a month ago, we were working late into the wee hours of the morning—I’m sure you’ve done that, haven’t you?—when we achieved the breakthrough we were seeking. These are results...”

Particularly in today’s environment where the audience may have iPads, iPhones, etc, it is so easy to turnout a speaker and do something else. And what happens to your presentation if a member of the audience sends a text or tweets others and says, “Boy, is this speaker boring. He’s been talking for 10 minutes and I’m still not sure why I came.”

In essence, personal stories put the audience in the driver’s seat; whereas, talking about yourself and your experiences places the audience in the passenger seat.  You want to have the audience in control of their own dreams, not yours, when you are finished with your workshop or presentation. So, don’t bore your audience with a list of accomplishments, etc. Rather, tell stories about yourself. Of course, make sure the stories are pertinent to your topic matter.

Moving On: How to Recover from a Job Loss – Forbes

Moving On: How to Recover from a Job Loss – Forbes.

Why tell stories when giving presentations – Part 1

Professional speakers often tell a story to make a point. Why, you may ask? They understand the audience may quickly forget the point; while stories are frequently remembered. Our long-term memory is a compilation of visual images. Think back to a childhood memory. What are you envisioning? Often, you will remember the memory as if you were watching a movie of that event in your life.

Our other senses may trigger a memory, yet, we process our memory visually. For instance, one Saturday, after I received my driver’s license at age 16, I took the car to pick up old newspapers and deliver them to the school—an old fashion, fund-raising, paper drive. On that day, the aroma in the air was unique. Perhaps it was a combination of a beautiful spring day, the smell of the newspaper in the car, and the excitement of driving by myself for the first time. I never again had the sense of that day; however, one day, many years later, while I was driving down a street, I sensed that smell again which immediately took me back to that warm spring day—many years ago. Though my memory was triggered by that same aroma in the air; I sensed the memory as a stream of visual images stored in my mind.

One way to improve memory is by associating a series of words with a story. As an example, I was a guest on a local talk show about five ears ago when we were asked to remember twelve unrelated items. Normally, we will remember three to four of them, perhaps out-of-order. I must admit, I have forgotten 2 or 3 items, yet I remember most in the order they were given. They were:

Car        Footballs     Corn        Boots
Radio      Books         Stairs      Hair
Pen        Chickens      Candles     Eyes

Try it yourself, simply glance at the list for a few, or several, seconds until you think you can recall all twelve items—in order. Then wait for a few minutes and write them down on a piece of paper. I could only remember 3 of the 12.

Now, let’s make up a story. The car had a radio and all of a sudden, a pen came through the radio. The pen magically wrote my name on all the footballs in the car. Then, all of a sudden, the car doors flew open and all the footballs fell out. All the signed footballs told a story written in books. Then live chickens from the poultry store escaped and pecked on the books. The chickens stopped pecking when they saw corn at the top of the stairs. It was a trap. The chickens were fried by the candles and the cowboys, with their boots on their feet and their 10-gallon hats on to cover their hair had a fried-chicken feast. After  the feast, all the cowboys closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Use this story or one you make up. Wait a few minutes and see how many items you remembered. I’m sure you will remember most, if not all, the item—as they show above. And I’m certain that weeks, months, or years later, you will remember most of the items–not because you remembered the items, but you remembered the story.

So, if you want your audience to remember your important message, make a point and tell a story.  Better yet, don’t just tell a story to reinforce the point.  Rather, incorporate that point within the story and make it a part of the story.

Becoming a Good Public Speaker | JobsCentral Community – your friendly hangout for career topics and more!

Here’s a good article on becoming a good public speaker.

Becoming a Good Public Speaker | JobsCentral Community – your friendly hangout for career topics and more!.

PowerPoint 2010′s sample “Five Rules” presentation shows off powerful new graphics engine – istartedsomething

PowerPoint 2010′s sample “Five Rules” presentation shows off powerful new graphics engine – istartedsomething.

This is really good information for using PowerPoint. Five Rules.

Telling a story to make a point is remembered while talking about yourself is boring

One of the most successful ways to generate an effective presentation is to make a point and tell a story, or tell a story and then make a point. Two to three years later, if a member of the audience should happen to see you at another event, that member might say to you, “You know.  I don’t recall the point, but that was a terrific story you told.”

A story is a way to solidify the point you are making. When I’m talking about the fear of speaking in public (actually, now I talk about the discomfort of public speaking), I tell my audience about the time I was 12 years old.  We lived in a two-story home with the one bathroom upstairs.  My parents left me home to go grocery shopping. They left while I was on the couch reading a comic book about werewolves,  Before they left, I didn’t go to the bathroom and within a half hour, I really needed to go, but the bathroom was upstairs. I slowly got up from the couch, walked to the foyer and quickly turned on the dim foyer light which cast shadows on the wall.  The stairs went straight up half-way and then turned right angle into the darken upstairs hallway.  Oh, the hallway light was upstairs.  As I started up, the first step went creeeeeeeeeeeeeeekk. I looked up and all I saw was the shadows of werewolves.  Another step and another.  Finally, after what I felt was a lifetime, I made it up the stairs.  I rushed to turn on the hall light, went to the bathroom, slammed and locked the door.  I was safe.  The point of the story was that I was never in real danger, but I perceived real danger in my mind.  FEAR — False Evidence Appearing Real.   The same with public speaking.  We perceive that we will look foolish or that we will falter in front of our audience; nevertheless we are not in real danger.

Though I was telling a story about myself, I was not talking about myself.  There’s a distinct difference.  If I would talk about myself, perhaps in showing how we can be more successful when we become comfortable in public speaking, I would say, “Now that I don’t have the fear of pubic speaking, I have written best-selling books on the topic of becoming comfortable when speaking in public.  I now give presentations on effective presentations and these workshops are bringing in bundles or revenue.  I now live in a 25 room mansion in the hills of Del Mar and I have a Fiat, and my favorite car, my red Corvette. I did this by overcoming my fear of pubic speaking, becoming a paid speaker, and dedicating my time to writing books on the topic of effective communications.  Blah, blah, blah.

The purpose was to let my audience know they can accomplish their dreams by becoming confident when speaking in public.  However,  it was all about me.  So what?  Sure, I did all of this, but really, how does this relate to the members of the audience?

In essence, personal stories put the audience in the driver’s seat; whereas, talking about yourself and your experiences places the audience in the passenger seat.  You want to have the audience in control of their own dreams, not yours, when you are finished with your workshop or presentation.

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Visualize your audience in underwear?

Would you like your audience to visualize you like this in your underwear?

I came across, for the umpteenth time, the suggestion of imagining your audience in underwear if you are uncomfortable when speaking in public. Why? How would you like it if the audience was imagining you in your underwear? Some have even suggested to imagine your audience naked.

That certainly doesn’t work. I was told that a professional speaker was scheduled to give a presentation to this group. He was unable to attend because of a personal emergency, so he asked his friend if he could take his place. The friend asked who would he be the audience. The intended speaker said that it was a nature group. Since, he loved to hike and be around nature, he accepted the task.

Because this was a last minute task, he was running late,. As he arrived to the staging area, he was being announced. He simply ran onto the stage and then looked towards the audience. He was totally dumbfounded and speechless for the first time in years—He was facing a group of nudists.

Now, I’m not sure if the story is true; however, I believe it would be quite disconcerting to be talking to a group of nudists. Rather than imagining your audience in underwear or their birthday suits, visualize them as well dressed, well mannered, and very attentive to your presentation. Isn’t that how we really want to visualize the audience?

Positive visualization is the essence of winning. Sports stars visualize themselves catching the football in the closing seconds to win the game. They visualize themselves throwing up the winning shot from half court as the sound blows to signal the end of the game. Or a batter will visualize that the game is tied, it’s the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, and a 3-2 count and he hits the fast ball out of the park to win the game.

Though speakers and presenters are not generally in competition with other speakers, they are, or should be, in competition with themselves to give their very best to their audiences. Positive visualization can help speakers to give better presentations. Two weeks before I began teaching my class on public speaking skills, I was imagining the attendees as being attentive and focused on my every word. I also visualized them giving me a standing ovation at the end. Though they didn’t give me a standing ovation, they did gave me great evaluations.

Thus, stop imagining your audience in their underwear. Focus on your audience being professional, well dressed, and well mannered. Visualize them as being very attentive and learning from every word you speak. If you do, you will be more comfortable when speaking in public and your audience will appreciate your informative presentation.