So why do you give speeches? Is it to give you a chance to hear yourself speak? I’m guessing the answer to that question is no. The reason that most of us give speeches is because we want to use the importance of public speaking to have an impact on our audience. What we really want to happen is we want to be memorable. We want our audience to hear what we have to tell them and then be able to recall it long after we are done speaking. The challenge that this creates for us is that we now have to discover how to create speeches that will be memorable.
It’s All About The Idea
One of the biggest problems that we can run into when we are giving a speech is when we try to cover too much information. What we forget is that our audience only has the ability to take in so much, if we overload them then they’ll walk away with nothing. Instead, what we need to do is to make sure that our next speech focuses on one single novel idea. A rule of thumb that I use is that you should be able to communicate your single idea in one sentence.
When you are presenting your one idea, you are going to want to do so in a unique way. Yes, people may have talked about global warming before you; however, if you talk about it in a way that nobody else ever has then you will be the one that is remembered. When our audience encounters an idea that is being presented in a novel way, this is what they will be able to remember. You will also want to share with your audience why you care about what you are talking about. If you can do a good job of this, you just might be able to get them to care about it also.
You Have To Believe In What You Are Saying
Any speech that you deliver has to be about something that you really care about. During your speech you are going to want to be able to share your genuine enthusiasm with your audience. If you can find a way to make this happen, then you will be able to boost the interest of your audience. The fancy word for this is “emotional contagion” and it’s a type of interpersonal influence.
As speakers we need to understand that our emotions, both the positive and the negative ones, are contagious and can become a powerful force in our next speech. If you can find a way during your next speech to be “in the moment” then your delivery will allow your audience to be drawn into what you are saying and in the end will allow you to connect with them.
Deliver Your Idea In A Way That Will Be Memorable
I think that we can all agree that we want our next speech to be memorable. Now, just exactly how can we go about making this happen? It turns out that the answer is that when we are delivering our speech, we need to use emotion, not logic, to connect with our audience. A great way to make this happen is to include stories in your speech that will allow you to connect with your audience’s emotions.
When you include a story in your speech in order to make it memorable, you need to do more than making your audience laugh or cry. You need to make sure that your story is going to be remembered by including memorable characters and a plot to tie them all together. If you want to help your audience to treasure your story, then you can use props and catch phrases throughout your story. If you can link your story to something that your audience already knows, then you’ll increase their ability to remember it after you are done.
What All Of This Means For You
Every speech that we give has the same goal – to be remembered. We want our audience to experience the benefits of public speaking and treasure our words and have them running through their minds long after we have left the stage. In order to make this happen we need to find ways to make our next speech be memorable to them.
When we want a speech that we give to be remembered by our audience, we need to take steps to limit our speech to containing just one idea. We have to present that idea in a novel way that will catch the attention of our audience. You have to believe in what you are talking about and allow your enthusiasm to flow to your audience during the speech. If you can be in the moment during your speech you’ll have a better chance of connecting with your audience. In order to make a speech memorable, we need to use emotion, not logic to connect with our audience. If we include stories in our speech, we’ll connect better with our audience. Our stories need to have memorable characters and plots and tie into something that our audience already knows about.
We’ll know that we’ve been successful in giving a speech if we run into someone who was in our audience days later and they can still remember what we told them. In order to make that happen, we have to design a speech that can be remembered. Limiting our ideas to just one and making the speech be memorable will allow us to achieve our ultimate speaking goal – to be remembered.
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™
Question For You: What’s the best way to create a story that your audience will be able to remember?
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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
Every speaker eventually reaches a point where they are the best that they can be. They’ve reached a point where their skills and their knowledge can no longer take them to the next level in speaking. All too often speakers just stop here – they will never get any better. However, it does not have to be this way. It is possible to keep moving forward and to become a better speaker so that you can express the importance of public speaking. The key is that you can’t do it by yourself. What you are going to need is a mentor. Now all you have to do is to discover how you can get a mentor who is going to be willing to work with you.