Give Your Speech, Change the World. Nick Morgan
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lest you think that when I say “changing the world” I’m only talking about the big speeches (the ones that CEOs give to shareholders, for example) understand that I’m talking about every speech ever given. The principles and practical tools in this book (and we will get to the practical part soon) apply to all public speaking, whether to five thousand people or five, for a grand public occasion or simply a regular meeting to report on third quarter numbers. After all, if you give a brilliant, inspiring, audiencecentered presentation about those third quarter numbers, you will change the attitudes of your team in the room with you. And if you change their attitudes, you just might change their behavior. And if you change their behavior, you’ve changed the world in the only way that counts.
So let’s get started. We’re going to range over a good deal of ground, and I’m going to give a great deal of practical advice for beginners and experts alike. You should feel free to apply those parts of the book that are most directly useful to you. The general principles apply to all kinds of speeches, as I’ve said, but you may not need to rehearse, for example, in some of the ways I’ve suggested. It’s up to you. What follows is a book, not a speech, but nonetheless I would like it to be as audience-centered as possible. You’re going to learn how to work the room by reading this book, and to do that effectively you need to develop an approach that is your own.
In part I, you’ll learn, through a brief history of public speaking, why it works the way it does, and why most of modern speech making is so bad. Then, I’ll introduce you to the audience-centered approach that will enable you to rise above the ordinary level of presentations and presenters.
In part II, you’ll learn how to prepare the content. Most speech coaches will tell you to focus on your clothing or your smile. But people do go to presentations to hear content first, and it’s essential to get it right. You need to deliver your talk in a way that respects the audience’s need to make a decision about the argument you’re presenting to them. Accordingly, I walk you through a process that begins with understanding the audience, and crafting an elevator speech that fits that audience. Then we address the psychological needs of the audience, find a story that fits the event, structure the content in a way that makes sense to your listeners, plan the journey that we’re going to take that audience on, and figure out how to get them involved in the most dynamic way.
In part III, we’ll talk about how to rehearse the presentation you’ve developed. I’ll show you how to rehearse certain aspects of your speech to find its truth. I talk about how to choreograph your speech kinesthetically, so that you use your body to reinforce your message rather than detract from it, as most speakers do. We’ll focus also on what the audience needs in terms of kinesthetic, aural, and visual learning, and we’ll close with some help for the very nervous and some technical information.
Finally, in part IV, I’ll take you through the day of delivery itself, and give you some warm-up tips to help you cope with nerves and maximize your performance. We’ll talk about how to put the energy of the audience to work for you. And I’ll wrap up the section with a chapter on a variety of specific public-speaking issues, such as question-and-answer sessions, the media, videoconferencing, and the like. By the time you’ve worked your way through the book, you should be prepared for most public-speaking challenges, and you should have a good grounding in audiencecentered speaking.
A brief note on terminology: Many businesspeople make a strong distinction between a “speech” and a “presentation.” The former is a big deal to a lot of people, and the latter is something more informal, perhaps a talk in front of colleagues or employees. Part of the argument of this book is that there is no real distinction between the two. The same principles apply no matter how many people you’re talking to. In fact, it’s easier to apply these principles to small groups than large. Thus I will use the two terms, speech and presentation, interchangeably.
Remember
The only reason to give a speech is to change the world.
Effective speeches move their audiences to action.
Effective speakers listen to their audiences.
Charisma comes from the ability to be emotionally expressive.
To deliver a successful speech, find kinesthetic connections with the audience.
PART I
History and Overview
CHAPTER 1
How Did We Get Here?
I’LL BEGIN WITH A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW we got to the rather sorry state of public speeches and presentations we find ourselves in today. Trust me; it’s important to help you understand why kinesthetic speaking is so vital to success in the modern, post-television era.
The Ancient Greeks invented public speaking because they had to.
The idea that ordinary people should stand up and deliver public presentations began with the Ancient Greeks. In their legal system, the opposing sides were expected to speak for themselves in court. Around this dire necessity, a whole lore of public-speaking tips and advice developed. Soon enough, the plaintiffs and defendants began to hire expert rhetors (think lawyer) to speak for them. The field of rhetoric grew up in response to this need for private citizens and their representatives to speak clearly, cogently, and powerfully in public settings where a lot was at stake.
At the same time, political figures found the need to speak on matters of public moment, much as they do today. Both these strands of public speaking led to the creation of a good deal of advice on how to give great presentations, and some classic speech examples. Much of this body of rhetorical knowledge is still useful today. The Greeks have left us with excellent, detailed advice on how to recognize faulty arguments, how to create elegant tropes, or turns of phrase that will move listeners, and how to structure a persuasive speech that works in front of an audience.
In addition, they gave some very practical advice on how to deliver a speech. Since we have no direct knowledge of what the best Greek speakers actually sounded or looked like, the practical advice is limited to a few concepts and stories.
Demosthenes, for example, was a noted Greek public orator who began with what must have been sloppy pronunciation or perhaps a speech impediment. He practiced his speeches on the beach when no one else was around, taking smooth pebbles from the sand and putting them in his mouth. Once he could speak clearly with pebbles, he removed them and found that he quickly became known for the clarity of his delivery.
That technique has come down to us today, and there are still speech coaches who recommend that their “mush-mouthed” students practice their speeches holding a pencil between their teeth or the like. It remains a good idea for people who have difficulty enunciating clearly in public settings. But, of course, it’s not the whole story, as we shall see. Far more confusion is generated by speakers whose verbal and nonverbal communications are inconsistent, or who present their material in confusing and poorly structured ways, first annoying and then alienating their audiences.
To succeed in a presentation, you have to reach your audience with both head and heart.
Public speaking is a mixed genre of human activity. It involves both intellectual and emotional content. It demands both clear thinking and good technique. It uses both the brain and the body. Most important, it is both prepared and given—it exists in both theory and practice. You can’t “think” a speech. For it to be a speech you must have an audience, and you must give that audience the presentation. The Greeks understood this. Their analysis of what it takes to be a great speaker pays attention to both story structure and performance in the broadest sense. What follows will use many of their insights, still powerful two thousand years on.
Thus, we can pass relatively quickly over most of the ensuing two thousand years of rhetorical history and come to the modern era. In the Renaissance and after, the ancient Greek models were considered the acme of public speaking and followed closely. Since much of the university curriculum was based on the Greeks and the Romans, when it wasn’t based on the Bible, there was little innovation in public rhetoric.