A dozen ways to improve your speech

For years I have enjoyed listening to speakers of all kinds, trying to identify what makes them successful. Many preachers have developed their skills to a fine art level, such as Charles Swindoll or Joyce Meyers. With rare exceptions like President Barak Obama or, depending on the event, Sarah Palin, civic and political leaders often lag far behind religious leaders in terms of polish and presentation. Whoever they are, leaders would do well to work forever to improve their communication skills.

Here are some practical nuts and bolts:

Talk. The first law of communication is to communicate, so if you want people to get the message, share it. And you should speak with a vocabulary, as simple as possible, and in a way that others can understand. Don’t do what some teachers try to do, impress the audience with multi-syllable words. It does not work. When the crowd goes home, the only thing they remember is your arrogance. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6). There is nothing simpler than that.

Don’t apologize for talking. It’s one thing to hear a rare speaker offer a nervous apology on the church platform; it is quite another to hear this from a leader. If talking makes you nervous, get over it or get another job. Your apologies for being uncomfortable make everyone else uncomfortable. The more comfortable you are “in your own skin,” the more comfortable your audience will be with your presentation.

Convey confidence. Take ownership of the opportunity to speak and treat listeners with respect. Say “Thank you” but don’t joke. Do whatever it takes to build your confidence: prepare properly, practice, use notes, etc. Stand physically relaxed and avoid signaling the nerves with strange gestures or strange movements.

Connect with the audience. Smile. Look directly at people individually and collectively. Scan the entire audience in a natural and measured way so everyone feels like you are speaking to them. On the road or at the event, keep an eye out for an exclusive development of the occasion, which you mention at the beginning of your talk. Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer is a master at this. Every time, in the dingy old high school auditorium or the Waldorf Astoria, he finds something to say that is distinctive and complementary to his listeners and his place. Get to know your audience and engage directly with them, your city, or your event today. Make them feel special: why comedians leave the stage saying, “You’ve been a great audience.”

Develop some suitable witty phrases that will work anywhere. The old one-line comments, which you feel comfortable with, are always there for you as a good friend. They reduce your anxiety, help you convey confidence and connect with the audience, and help engage the audience and help them relax. One of my favorites says something like this: “I always wanted to speak in XYZ. (Short pause) I guess now I can die happy.” That one never stops making you laugh.

Never read your speech. It may be appropriate to read a short formal announcement or a reference to someone else’s statement. But reading your content is the quickest way to lose your audience’s attention, put it to sleep, or literally lose it while voting with your feet out the back door. I once sat in the gallery of the Michigan Legislature listening to Governor John Engler deliver his state of the state address. While I appreciated him and most of his ideas, I struggled to stay focused as he read heavily line after line. You can guess what the opposition party was doing. To the governor’s credit, he improved over time, according to some of his intimates, with help and professional practice. Good for him. Good for your constituency.

Be brief. FDR’s “Be honest; be brief; sit down” is a good rule of thumb for any speaker. In November 1863, Edward Everett delivered the keynote address at the groundbreaking ceremony of a new military cemetery in Gettysburg, followed by President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”. Later, Everett wrote to Lincoln: “I would be glad if you could compliment me that I came as close to the central idea of ​​the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

Tell stories. Jesus generally spoke to crowds of followers in parables, which are short stories from everyday life that contain an application of deeper spiritual truths. While more than thirty parables are recorded in the Gospels, the book of Mark says that Jesus used many other parables in his public speaking ministry. In fact, “He did not tell them anything without using a parable” (Mark 4: 33-34). People are interested in people and that’s what the best stories of a leader are all about.

List core values ​​and / or set goals clearly. Put your values ​​and goals in every important presentation. Why? Because an important way to motivate people is to make sure they know where they are going. Values ​​and goals are an integral part of a vision speech. Share them, or better yet, as a leader embodies them. Lead by example.

Be positive. “Negative campaigns” have long become commonplace in American life. But a leader is best served by taking the right path. Ronald Reagan gave us a version of this, his eleventh commandment: “You shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” Describe who you and your organization are, not who other or competing organizations are not. Being quoted in the media with a loud attack on others has more to do with ego or revenge than with advancing your organization’s vision. Nobody follows a flamethrower for long. The heat is too intense.

Use props to reinforce, not replace your speech. PowerPoints, short videos, images, audio, and other technologies can be enormously effective tools in engaging your audience. But you’re still the speaker, and for my money, you should speak up. No medium has yet been developed that is as compelling as a passionate person who truly believes what he is saying. Use accessories wisely, but don’t forget the natural power of “unplugging.”

Use your same (best) vision speech repeatedly. Leadership expert Barry Z. Posner’s formula for good visual communication: “Repeat, repeat, repeat!” Richard Nixon emphasized the point more colorfully: “When you’re writing a line that you’ve written so often that you want to throw up, that’s the moment the American people will hear it.” Communicate the vision persuasively and persistently on every possible occasion. And don’t worry if you share the vision too often. Management consultants Thomas Werner and Robert Lynch recommend that leaders communicate their vision 7 times in 7 different ways. I would say much more often than that.

These elements are suggestions born from experience, not from rules. Some will apply all the time. Some will apply sometimes. It is your judgment call.

You are the leader. Lead with your words.