A New York Times bestselling author has come to our area to discuss her book with leaders in our business community. Based on the brilliant insights in this book, many audiences have cleared their calendars for the morning and are eager to bring back concrete ideas for their companies. He spoke for an hour, and by the end of that time everyone’s experience was summed up by a man’s comment on exit: “That was an hour of my life, I’m never going back.”
I work with professional speakers, and that comment makes me shudder. It is both anathema and a terrible admission that the speaker has failed to live up to his basic responsibilities. He provides no value to his audience in return for their time. He had the knowledge and experience to write a valuable book, but he failed on stage. What is the problem?
Speakers make common mistakes, especially among those with extensive expertise in their field of study. He has no clear goals. Without an organizing goal, presentations become muddy, overcrowded, and useless.
If you want your viewers to feel that their time with you is a smart investment, then set strong goals. Then, let it shape and define your speech. Here are the steps to follow:
Creating Speech Goals
Nick Morgan, author Give Your Speech, Change the World, suggests creating a one-sentence answer to the question “What would I want my audience to do differently as a result of my speech?” Nearly every presentation we do is a form of persuasive talk. Even if you only report 3rd quarter results, you consciously shape your listeners’ opinions of what they hear. If you describe a new process, whether it’s a phone system or a sales enablement strategy, you’re trying to influence your audience to learn and adopt the procedure. If you’re strictly sharing information, send it via email. Don’t waste everyone’s time getting them together if you’re not trying to influence.
When you ask yourself “What would I like my audience to do differently as a result of my speech,” you turn your attention to action and implementation. When they leave the room, how will their behavior change—and what will you do in your presentation to encourage that behavior change? The goal keeps you focused on results, not just your current performance. You must have this goal clearly in mind and identify exactly what it is you want your audience to do. If you don’t know, how can they find out?
Research Main Subjects
As part of your preparation, you will establish yourself as an expert in your field. This can take hours of research, or years of study, depending on your topic. Now is the time for you to collect all the relevant information, stories, examples, statistics, projections and so on. By the time you’re done, you’ll probably have enough money for a few speeches—or a New York Times bestseller. But you will surely have a lot more than you can use. The temptation is to cram as much of it into your time as possible. Oppose! Remember the dangers of getting too soft, muddy, and useless? This is where you dodge those landmines, and you do that by returning to your destination. Anything that supports that specific goal is included in your speech. Look at your materials: what will move your audience toward the desired behavior change? Just save it. Anything that isn’t—no matter how entertaining, or brilliant, or convincing—is saved back for use in another speech, another day. It’s still good; that’s not good for this speech. The more you take, the clearer your goals will sound. Simplification produces amplification.
Create Your Speech
Now, gather and organize your chosen materials and create a roadmap. This will help you and your audience know where you are going and where you have been. How do the main principles logically follow one another? What are the two or three key points you want your audience to remember (that’s a bit optimistic—if they walk away with one or two you’ve done a good job. But we can dream). Focus your best stories and most memorable moments on those important things. You want to be the one to choose what your audience will remember, so stop at the sticking points. The story should be short and to your point—it should be effective at creating an emotional connection with your audience, illustrating a concept and making it memorable, but it should make a point, not just entertain for no good reason.
Your roadmap is a summary of your main points. Understanding, retention, and applying your audience can help if you preview those key points at the start, go through them one by one, pause at transitions to remind them where you’ve been and what’s coming next, and then recap ahead end of your speech. These arrangements will be replicated in their brain’s working and long-term memory and will make it easier to remember the information you share.
Call to action
At the end of your speech, you will create energy in the room (if not, call me). Don’t let that energy dissipate as people leave the room and start checking their messages. Issue a call to action as part of your speech’s conclusion. How can they put your idea into action, and what will that be like for them? This is where your goals start to pay off in behavior change and results.
If you are asked to speak to a group of 50 people, you have 50 hours to live in your belief. These are hours that can be spent creating new products, finding new clients, or playing with the kids. Honor that trust by providing your audience with rich rewards with thoughtful, focused, memorable, and rewarding experiences.
