How A Speaker Can Become Quotable

The power of a good quote is that it gets remembered
The power of a good quote is that it gets remembered

So why do we speakers go to the effort of giving a speech in the first place? Hopefully it is so that what we say will be remembered by our audience if they are willing to use their listening skills. The sad reality is that no matter what clever presentation tips we use, most of what we say won’t be remembered; however, if we can come up with a memorable statement that we use in our speech, then we stand a chance of making a lasting impact on our audience and sharing with them the importance of public speaking. Now just how does a speaker go about creating a memorable quote?

Make Your Idea Very Clear

Why are you giving this speech? Before you can go about creating a memorable quote, you need to first make sure that you can very clearly state the purpose of your speech. Take the time to write down a single sentence that captures the essence of your speech. This is going to be a key tool that you’ll use as you create your memorable quotes.

Make Your Phrasing Shine

A memorable quote is all about the words that you use. This means that you need to take the time to get your words right. There are several different ways to go about doing this. One such way is to focus on picking words that are going to build a vivid mental image in your audience’s mind. Another is to take a line from a television ad, a song, or a familiar saying and build on it. The key is to work on the exact words that you are going to use in your quotable phrase.

It’s All About The Delivery

Since you’ve taken the time to craft a quotable line and you’ve worked it into your speech, it would be a waste if you didn’t take the time to make sure that your delivery allows the phrase to stand out. When you come to the line that you really want your audience to remember, pause, deliver the line, and then pause again. This will set off what you’ve said in your audience’s mind. You can also move to a new spot on the stage just to make sure that your audience understands that something important is about to happen.

What All Of This Means For You

One of the benefits of public speaking for any speaker is for our words to be remembered by our audience. All too often, this doesn’t happen. There was just too much to remember and it all seemed to blend together for our audience. However, we can solve this problem by creating memorable quotes and embedding them into our speeches.

Before you can create a memorable quote, you need to take the time to crystalize your idea. What is it that you want to leave your audience with? Once you know what you want to say, you need to take the time to work on the wording that you’ll use to communicate your idea to your audience. Finally, because how your audience hears your quote is so important, you need to take the time to practice your delivery of it.

You may never be as famous as Winston Churchhill or John F. Kennedy. However, if you’ll only take the time to create powerful and memorable quotes that you can use in your next speech, then what you said will be remembered long after you are done saying it.

– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™

Question For You: How many memorable quotes do you think that you can pack into a single speech?

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Note: What we talked about are advanced speaking skills. If you are just starting out I highly recommend joining Toastmasters in order to get the benefits of public speaking. Look for a Toastmasters club to join in your home town by visiting the web site www.Toastmasters.org. Toastmasters is dedicated to helping their members to understand the importance of public speaking by developing listening skills and getting presentation tips. Toastmasters is how I got started speaking and it can help you also!

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Getting your audience’s attention and then holding on to it while you speak is one of the hardest things that a speaker has to do. We are always looking for new and better ways to accomplish this difficult task. I’ve got some good news for you. A simple solution is one that always seems to work: use the human interest story.