How to deliver a great speech
When most business leaders stand up to give a speech, they fail to be interesting, they fail to be understood and they fail to inspire action.
Why?
Because they lack a clear structure to follow. If you want to be interesting, be understood and inspire people to take action, watch this video where I share a clear structure to follow so your next speech is a hit!
Video Transcript:
When most business leaders stand up to give a speech, they fail to be interesting, they fail to be understood, and they fail to inspire action. Why? Because they lack a clear structure to follow. If you want to be interesting, be understood, and inspire people to take action, keep watching, and I'll give you a clear structure that you can follow so your next speech is a hit. The first step is to start with the problem, the hook. Don't waste the first 20 seconds with pleasantries and introduction to yourself or justifying why you should be on stage. You will lose your audience. The problem is, what actually makes your talk interesting. It's the reason your audience will stop playing with their phones, and pay attention. Next, you want to introduce a controlling idea. When Winston Churchill inspired a nation of Brits, his controlling idea was that evil should be resisted even to the point of death. Figure out what your controlling idea is. It should be the resolution to the problem. And remember, you can only have one. Next, you need to ask a story question. Relate this back to the problem and open a story loop in your audience's mind. What would happen if...? Then you need to go back to the problem and agitate it further. We do this by talking about the emotional impact on your audience. Talk about how this problem manifests an internal frustration or an emotion. After you've agitated the problem, you need to define what's at stake. What's at stake if we don't resolve this problem? This is going to help inspire people to take action behind your cause. Only now do you want to spend any time introducing yourself, but don't make the mistake of boring people with a long bio. Show empathy and authority, show that you care, and demonstrate why they should listen to you. Next, give your audience a plan. This is the point you could introduce data, bullet points, and other detail that often characterise the opening of most boring talks. The reason we wait until this point is that you've now given this information context. When you start the speech with data and charts, it has no emotional context and people zone out. At the end of the plan, it's time to call your audience to take action, but don't just ask for agreement or a bit of enthusiasm in the room. Think about how you can get the audience to take a step that puts skin in the game. The next step is to envision a moment in time where the problem is resolved and the negative stakes have been avoided. When we do this, you will get this. The key here is to make it visceral, make it specific. Finally, repeat your controlling idea and your call to action. Then drop the mic. People remember the first and the last thing that you say, so don't waffle on. If you are opening the floor up for questions, save this last bit until after the last question. Those are the structural elements of a great speech. Follow them, and your audience will find you interesting. They will understand you. They will be inspired to take action. And if you think you've found great value and depth in this communication framework for you and your team, I want you to hit the link below or email me on Matt@OneZebra.com and we'll be happy to guide you. Have an awesome day.