Should Public Speakers Retire and Let Their Audiences Take Over?

Robert W. Bly the author of Persuasive Presentations for Business sparked my interest with this article describing why you, the audience member, is more likely to be a better speaker than a professional keynote speaker. I have to say I raised my eyebrows at this and I mostly disagree with his summation on what today's audiences really want in a keynote speaker. However, he has some strong points on the importance of delivering valuable information. Check this out.

So why do I say that you're likely better than all of these highly-trained, dedicated, full-time professional speakers? It's my observation that audiences have grown weary of the clichéd, cornball "professional speaker," especially those speaking on general topics like motivation, salesmanship, leadership and success. Why?

In the good old days, there was a scarcity of information, and audiences were looking to be amused, motivated and entertained by their speakers. In ancient times, going to hear orators speak was a major form of entertainment, along with gladiator combat and plays. Starved for intellectual stimulation, people considered attending lectures a fun way to spend a pleasant afternoon or evening. In the 1800s, one of the most popular public speakers was the scientist Michael Faraday, whose most memorable lecture was titled "The Chemical History of a Candle." Faraday illustrated the chemical principles he covered in his talks with demonstrations, which were often sold out.

Today, we live in an information society, and we're already drowning in content. The speaker is competing with TV, computers, the Internet, video games, movies and many other sources of information and entertainment. A lecture cannot compete with these when it comes to simple amusement. Therefore, today's speaker has to deliver something very specific to engage and win over his audience. In particular, he must deliver valuable and useful content: ideas, strategies, techniques and methods that solve a pressing problem that members of the audience are facing, or help them live their lives better or do their work more effectively. more

I would add that they MUST have valuable and useful content and MUST deliver it in an entertaining and engaging manner or risk loosing their audience all together. This is why great keynote speakers get paid top dollar, because they can deliver the information in a manner that the audience enjoys hearing. When you enjoy listening to something your much more likely to remember it, much less stay awake. Please don't quit your day job just yet!

Speaker Testimonials - Asking for the Love

This can be a hard one. If you are new in the business, an old timer, speaking for free or just thinking about speaking, PLEASE, remember to ask for a recommendation. I will not insult you by explaining why recommendations are important; however, somehow during all the excitement of getting the gig and delivering a great performance, this important bit seems to be overlooked.

Don’t be shy. Go back and ask former clients if they can write you one. You will be surprised, often people may ask you to write one yourself and send it to them for approval. Well who can argue with that? (Of course, none of the people I have worked for has ever done that)

Other ideas

• This one is good for beginners - Offer to speak for free for a testimonial, a link, or heaven forbid they are shooting video, then offer to speak for free and take them to dinner.
• Always call to thank your client. This is a good time to ask for a testimonial.
• If you have a phone with video abilities, ask participants who come to thank you afterwords if you can record them. Then post it if they gush or say something good. People like the idea of being recognized. Make sure to send them a link of themselves online so that they can send it to their friends. (Marketing hat on here.)
  
• Another beginner idea - You may have an audience member who works for a well known company. Although the company they work for didn't hire you, you can find a way to work in the companies name on the testimonial. I'm not giving away the rest of that.

When your contact calls to tell you that you did a great job or that your check will be late, ask them if you could have a recommendation from them. While your at it, ask them if you can a have link! As you move forward in your career as a motivational speaker, you will find that testimonials come in without asking for them. However, never take this for granted and always ask.

Professional Speaker Craig Price “The Power of Negative Thinking” tells me that putting all your speaking contacts into LinkedIn is a great way to go back and ask for recommendations.

I know this is basic stuff but as a speaker it may just be possible that your organizational abilities are not “all that”. Find a way to keep a master file of your testimonials. You will need come to rely on this as your list grows.

Secret technique that I will deny ever having done:

It might be occasionally ok to change a few words in the testimonial as long as it does not change the basic meaning and message of the text. Use this at your own risk.

What every aspiring public speaker wants to know: How to write a keynote speech

I interviewed some of my favorite hot speakers for this article and narrowed down their information to three key points.

Decide how you will start and how you will end your speech.

• The two most important parts of any speech are the opening and closing.
• If your beginning and ending stink, nobody will care about the middle.
• Tell your second funniest joke first and your funniest joke last.
• Close with powerful ending.

Create an agenda. Your objective has to be dramatic and mean something to your audience.

• You have to have a dramatic agenda. If you are going to explain what you will talk about, it should have some impact. Be creative! Find a way for introducing your agenda that is personal, that everyone can relate to. That is not about YOU.
• Knowing your audience means knowing what they value. You can only influence people if you know what they value.

The body of the speech: Point-Story-Point

• A superior method for developing the body of your speech is to use point-story-point.
• Here is the formula: Opening – Agenda – Point – Story - Point (repeat as necessary) - Close
• Make a point; tell a story, then cap with a point again. Make a point, use a story to illustrate the point and then make the point again in a different way.

Additional tips for developing stories and making points.

• Very good stories “vignettes” are short stories that make a strong point. No one wants to hear your long stories. They don’t care. There are not any good long stories. Some people can get away with a long story such as Bill Cosby. However, most people are not Bill Cosby or Lewis Black.
• A vignette has a point. People learn from stories. They are the number one vehicle for knowledge and inspiration. You can teach, inspire and entertain with a story.
• HUGE TIP: Never be the hero of your own story. People will not put up with it. Find a way to tell the story in which you learn the lesson, not a story that exemplifies your greatness.
• You have to be funny and confident if you are going to make yourself the butt of a joke.
• You can have a giant monster ego, but to influence people you have to manage your ego and tell a story that delivers THEM the tools for success without sounding like your Moses with the tablets.
• Vignettes can be complex; they can deliver a message that spreads throughout the keynote but you have to be centralized enough that you do not wander off to where you’re speaking about something completely different.
• Most speakers are criticized because they hammered the same 3 points repeatedly. Do not do this.
• Most speakers do not have enough points and tell too many stories with the same boring point. Points should be different but connected enough that they should be able to live together comfortably in the same speech.
• Make use of callbacks. A callback is a point that calls back to another point (or story).
• If a story is good but your point is not, you went along way to deliver nothing.
• When you give a point, tell an enjoyable story and make point again, they enjoy the story.
• You may not be a sophisticated comedian, but you can still hold their attention very well if you make a good point, tell a story that supports it and then make the point again in a different and dramatic story.
• If you don’t give the point upfront, people don’t where your going and don’t want to follow you.

Entertainment is when people have a general idea of what is coming but are surprised or impressed by what shows up.

Tips for customization:

• Research on your client or audience. What are the demographics?
• Define the outcome of the presentation: What do you want your audience to walk away with? Are they going to leave with tools to deal with life’s challenges? An inspiring message? Do you want them to believe in themselves more?
• Depending on your topic, it might help to speak to a few people within the organization in addition to the person who hired you or ask you speak.