PlusPlus. Florian Mueck
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cope with the rejection, and — and — and —
You get the point? All you need to say is that you changed jobs because you and your boss didn’t get along. Less is more.
It’s like Cinderella, who separates the good peas from the bad peas.
Look for words and phrases that resonate with meaning. Every word counts in public speaking, and every word less counts more.
Boost your content even more by talking less and saying more.
A BUNCH OF RED, YELLOW AND ORANGE FLOWERS
When you tell stories in a speech, be very descriptive.
You could say, She gave me a bunch of flowers.
Or you say, She gave me a bunch of red, yellow and orange spring flowers.
You could say, I crossed the street.
Or you say, I crossed the dimly lit street.
You could either say, A friend of mine from the UK.
Or you could say, A college buddy of mine from Bristol, with whom I shared a room and some of the best days of my life.
As public speakers we can learn from great novelists like Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemingway or Charles Dickens. Be more descriptive; add color to your speech content. Play with the imagination of your audience.
Boost your content even more by being more descriptive.
THEY HAVE FIVE SENSES
We can hear. We can see. We can smell. We can taste. We can feel the things we touch and that touch us. People have five senses. A great way to boost your storytelling is to trigger all five senses of your audience.
What most public speakers do well is appeal to people’s visual sense:
Suddenly I was standing in front of this imposing Gothic church.
And then a sleazy businessman in his early fifties approached me.
I was standing in front of the cheesiest Chrismas tree I had ever seen.
What you can do even better in public speaking is to activate all the other senses — hearing, touch, smell and taste.
Examples: “Hearing”
I heard a squeeking sound.
We listened to the song “With Or Without You" by U2.
The deep growl of an accelerating Harley-Davidson woke me up.
Examples: “Touch”
The skin of the great white shark felt like sandpaper.
I touched the hot iron.
The fine white sand of the Seychelles beach slipped softly through my fingers.
Examples: “Smell”
My neighbor’s freshly baked Streusel cake reminded me of happy days in my childhood.
It smelled like conference coffee.
A choking black cloud of diesel smoke enveloped us.
Examples: “Taste”
It tasted like crispy Oktoberfest chicken.
I will never forget the fruitfully acid taste of that 2004 Numantia red wine.
The peach was so ripe it tasted like innocence.
The senses of hearing and smell offer the most pregnant possibilities for distinguishing yourself from other speakers. Songs, sounds, and smells, blended and seasoned, make a fantastic rhetorical dish.
Boost your content even more by touching all five senses of your audience.
“I”, NOT “ONE”
Storytelling needs to be personal. When we talk about difficult times in life, weaknesses, failures, or other topics that make us uneasy, we tend to switch from the personal “I” form to the impersonal “you” or “one” form.
Example: “Subway ticket”
When you become an entrepreneur and face economic thunderstorms, it could happen that you find yourself standing in front of the ticket machine at a subway station, and suddenly you realize — you cannot even pay for a ticket.
But — you connect much better with your audience when you use the “I” form:
My symbolic moment of perseverance arrived as I was standing at the Rosenthaler Platz subway station in Berlin. All my credit cards were blocked, and I had 1.27 € left in my pocket. I couldn’t afford a simple subway ticket. I felt humiliated.
Take all your impersonal statements and make them personal:
From: One feels badly when being bullied. To: I felt badly when they bullied me.
From: One should never give up. To: I never gave up.
From: One must believe. To: I needed to believe.
Boost your content even more by personalizing what you say.
THEY HAVE A NAME
Another area that improves our storytelling involves the way we use names. In my seminars, most speakers talk about a client, about their children, about their spouses, bosses, neighbors, or colleagues.
But — they almost never give these people names.
You make your stories more personal when you use people’s names:
My ex-boss, mentor, and friend Ralf Beunker..
My son Álvaro...
Daniel Braun, a client-friend of mine...
It’s easy to fix this. Use names throughout your entire speech. You’ll sound much more personable, and you’ll sound like you’re more grounded in the real world.
Boost your content even more by giving people names.
AND THEN MY DAD SAID
I’m a great fan of dialogs in public speeches. When it comes to drama, however, most people are reluctant. I’m not an actor, they say. The reality is, they’re shy and self-conscious — so they need some encouragement!
The truth is: you don’t have to be an actor. As my friend, professional speaker Olivia Schofield says, An actor is an expert at being someone else, while, as a public speaker, you’re an expert at being yourself.
You can still add some significant, effective drama to your speeches — easily. You can spice up your content by using dialogs.
And then my dad said: Son, you know what makes me the happiest man on earth? When I’m out on the street and see a group of my alumni after 30 years, and the first thing I see on their faces when they see me is a smile. That makes me the happiest man on earth.
When we use dialogs, we change our facial expression, we vary our voice, we use dramatic acting techniques — and we’re not even aware we’re doing it.
When I speak about the power of a smile, I always recall this conversation with my dad. I remember him; I see him; I feel him. This is why that dialog comes across as authentic — because it was real.
Dialogs with moms and dads are always great, because almost all of us have them. Almost everyone can identify.
Many other conversations are easy to