Only Great Ideas Should Go Into Your Next Speech

Every speech needs to not only have an idea, but have a good idea
Every speech needs to not only have an idea, but have a good idea

When you sit down to prepare your next speech, do you know what the most important thing that you are going to need is? It turns out that it’s not a clean sheet of paper, nor a sharp pencil. Nor is it a quiet place to work although all of these things are important, they are not the most important thing. The one thing that you’re going to need if you want to create a great speech is a good idea. Now just exactly where do those come from?

Keep It Clear

When we think about what makes an idea a great idea, hopefully the concept that an idea needs to be clear in order to be great comes to mind. What we’re talking about here is simply that if your audience doesn’t understand what you’re going to be talking about, then no matter how good their listening skills are, there really is no reason for you to give the speech in the first place.

This, of course, leads to the tricky question – how can you ensure that your next speech is going to contain a great idea that is clear? This isn’t the kind of issue that can be solved by using some clever presentation tips. One way to make this happen occurs while you’re creating your speech. Is it possible for you to state your idea using simple words that everyone uses every day? You have be able to be clear to yourself before you can be clear to others.

Finally, the more we think about a given idea, the easier it is for extra fluff to get added to it. I’m talking about things like filler words, jargon, and meaningless corporate buzz words. Make sure that you stay on top of these types of words and phrases and cut them out of your speech ruthlessly in order to keep your idea clear.

Keep It Simple

We all know about the importance of public speaking – it’s how great ideas get shared. It stand to reason that if you are going to want your idea to be seen by your audience as being a great idea, then they are going to have to be able to understand it. One of the biggest challenges that you are going to have here is the simple fact that just like everyone else, your audience is overloaded – they have a ton of information coming at them all of the time.

In order for your idea to be seen for what it is, a great idea, you’re going to need to make sure that it provides your audience with a value. This value could be that you take some of the information that they have already been exposed to and you tie it together so that they’ll be able to better understand it.

Keep It Interesting

I’d say that the greatest sin that a public speaker can commit would be to be boring. Your audience has shown up to hear you speak with an expectation that you’ll be interesting, you need to deliver on this promise.

The best way to use your great idea to deliver an interesting speech is for you to be interested in your speech topic. Your interest will create an energy that will cause your audience to be interested in what you have to say.

Don’t forget that nobody wants to show up to hear a speech about something that they already know about. Instead, what they want to hear is new things. As the speaker you are responsible for making your speech contain new and interesting things. Keep it fresh and you’ll be able to keep their attention.

What Does All Of This Mean For You

Writing a speech is hard work. Writing a speech that is going to get your point across and keep the attention of your audience is even harder to do. One of the benefits of public speaking is that you can share new and important ideas with your audience. That’s why it’s so important that you start out with a great idea.

Great ideas don’t just show up – you need to search for them. They can be recognized because of the traits that they have. These included being clear, being simple, and being interesting.

If you take the time to make sure that you are starting with a good idea, the rest of the speech should just flow from that. Yes, writing a good speech is still going to be a hard thing to do; however, when you start with a great idea the speech that you end up with makes it all worthwhile.

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

Question For You: If you have an idea that turns out to not be simple to express, what do you think that you should do with it?

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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

Giving a speech in front of an audience can be one of the most nerve racking things that you’ll ever do. I’d like to be able to tell you to just take your time, focus on the words that you want to say and everything will turn out ok. However, all too often events conspire against us speakers. Here are three situations that every speaker will probably encounter someday that can’t be solved by using clever presentation tips and what you can do about them…