Archive for the ‘Structural Strategies’ Category

The following mistakes will keep you from making the impact you should have and from being the speaker you should be. Be honest in evaluating whether you make the mistakes or not. Then, and only then, can you change them.

1. Don’t use too much set-up before you get into your story. This is a very common mistake I see most speakers make. Let the story be part of the set up and hook us in from the very beginning with a strong conflict.

2. Don’t say unnecessary words such as, “I thought to myself…” Well, who else can you think to?! Just say, “I thought…”

Another one I heard recently was, “I shared the stage with him before he passed away.” I think we’ll know it was before he passed away. The bad news is, guess when I heard this? It was when I listened to one of my own speeches. That’s right, I’m guilty. I said it. The lesson is to listen to your recorded speeches and see what extraneous words and phrases can be pulled.  

3. Don’t leave a point in your speech without teasing for what’s coming next. This is especially important in training sessions when you have 10-15 minutes breaks. If you don’t sufficiently tease for what’s coming up after the break, some of your audience members might not return. Whether you’re giving a speech or a training session, always tease for what’s coming next.

4. Don’t give a speech without having one exact next step for your audience to take after the speech. This next step should have something to do with you. For example, I have given various speeches wherein the next step was to…

• Beccome 3 times the speaker you are today by visiting www.52SpeakingTips.com
• Keep your audience hooked by investing in my Storytelling Home-Study Course for speakers
• Earn an extra income by visiting www.certifiedspeakingcoach.com (the next class is not until 2012 so I wouldn’t have this as a next step until a few months before it began)
• See the books that changed my business and my life at www.CraigsBookshelf.com
• Sharpen your speaking skills with my free e-book at www.thebookonspeaking.com
• Friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, connect with my on LinkedIn, visit me on YouTube, etc.  

Even if the next step is simply to visit your main website, make sure they have a good reason for doing so. The key is to limit your next step to one per speech. Offering several next steps confuses your audience and…

A confused mind says no but a clear mind says go

Keep it simple and clear.  

My Bad Mistake – Just this weekend I had a speech to 500 salespeople at a national conference. At the last minute, my time was cut from 1 hour to 45 minutes. This is fine because I know how to easily adapt my keynote for the allotted time. The problem was I neglected to give my exact next step of visiting 52Speakingtips.com. Therefore, even though I had a good connection, I didn’t give them the chance to learn more from me. I left 500 potential new leads on the table with my mistake.

Lesson? No matter how much your time is cut, never cut the important next step you have for them. After all, it’s one of the reasons you gave the speech in the first place.

5. Don’t schedule the length of your speech to fit the allotted time. For example, if you are called to speak for 45 minutes, do not plan for 45 minutes. Instead, plan for between 35 and 38 minutes. Why? Because someone will have to introduce you and that takes  a few minutes. In addition, it usually takes a few minutes for your audience to settle in before the program begins. Finally, it’s absolutely okay (even advantageous) to finish a bit early. Why? Because you will leave them wanting more instead of wishing they heard less. You want your audience to say, “I could listen to you all day,” rather than, “I feel like I listened to you all day.”

Plus, many event coordinators underestimate how much time is needed to go from one segment of the event to the other. Finishing a couple of minutes early is helpful for them to keep the meeting back on track.

 6. Don’t speak to your wants but to their needs. For example, I have a speech coming up very soon and I want to use a couple of my favorite stories. However, those are not what they need to hear. As a result, I am cutting my favorites and going with the best fit. This might seem obvious to do but, believe me, when you develop stories that hit home-runs with certain audiences, it’s very tempting to use those with other audiences even if it has to stretch to fit. Don’t.

A great story that doesn’t fit is worse than a good story that does

 7. Don’t forget that speaking involves a series of scenes. If you find yourself speaking for several minutes and you have not brought your audience into another scene, chances are your content is becoming loose and your audience is becoming lost. Why? Because your audience does not just want to listen to you, they want to experience you. Stories provide that experience as long as your audience feels like part of the scene.

 

That past 12 years of professional speaking have taught me something invaluable that I never expected to learn about audiences.

Your connection to them often comes from what you didn’t plan to do or say

 

Spontaneity Sparks Speaking Success

Surely you can connect with your planned content. However, audience members love to feel like this is not just another cookie-cutter speech that you are giving and that some of what is happening hasn’t happened anywhere else. Spontaneous moments provide this satisfaction.  

By jumping on the spontaneous moments, you will…  

• Deepen your connection
• generate an eruption of humor
• Turn some of your audience members into the stars of your speech
• Get more buy-in for your message because “People buy into what they help create,” and your audience helps to create this speech
• Give your audience members something fun to refer to days and months later
• Lift the energy
• Refresh you as the speaker because it feels new and magical for you too!

 

Why don’t more speakers use spontaneity?

With so many benefits to having spontaneity, what keeps most speakers from taking advantage of these potential speech-changing moments?

Answer:  Trust and time.

Trust: They don’t trust themselves to be able to leave their planned content, jump on the spontaneous moments, and then seamlessly return to continue their points. You must be willing to leave your mental script and take a chance without knowing exactly where it will take you.

 Time: They don’t allow enough time and space within their content to milk these wonderful moments. If you’re called to do a 45-minute engagement, you should not plan for 45 minutes of content. Instead, plan for 35-40 minutes for a couple of reasons.

• First, it will take a few minutes for people to settle into the venue and for your introducer to introduce you.

 

• Next, you cannot connect with your audience when you are rushing through your material. If you plan to fill up the entire 45 minutes with your content, you WILL be rushing and there will be no room to even look for spontaneity. Remember the old speaker proverb: When you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out.

 

• Finally, it’s perfectly fine to end a few minutes early whereas it’s often disastrous to end a few minutes late. The balance you want to strike is to give them great content and leave them wanting more. Only when you provide space for these moments, will they arise and present themselves as tremendous opportunities.

 

Move towards, not away from, these opportunities

Example #1: Sometimes you can bring audience members on stage to help make a point and realize there is a potential for some humorous, spontaneous moments. Here’s an example that comes from a public speaking workshop I did last month in Sri Lanka. I brought someone up on stage who told a story about how he and his friend hid behind a bush as they watched their teacher walk by a pool. Then they decided to run out and push this teacher into the pool. As I worked with this participant’s story, I received my own surprise about his friend. Listen to how it went (68 seconds)

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That was just the tip of the iceberg of the spontaneity that happened with that participant. Still, it lifted the energy of the audience, provided humor, and made him the star. People are still e-mailing me about that moment a month later.

Example #2: Other times audience members will do something or say something that you can address. For example, let’s take a workshop I did two days ago for the enrollment staff at a University. I facilitated and activity in which the participants were to get into groups of three and make triangles. Usually they draw these triangles on paper. However, one participant claimed to have made several triangles but none were on paper and I couldn’t quite grasp her explanation or see any of her triangles. Now, you can’t see what I’m doing, but you can still pick up the flavor of our interaction based on the response of the other audience members. Listen to this (86 seconds).

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Just in case you’re wondering, I was doing several physical moves and turns on stage and calling them “triangles.” The key is it was all in fun and she, at least for the time being, became the star of that moment. But the other key was knowing this was a two hour workshop and allowing myself not to fill the entire two hours with content. In other words, I left time for spontaneity and interaction. As a result, it lifted the energy, provided a tremendous amount of humor, and made her star.

Example #3: Here’s one more example that happened to me many years ago. While speaking to a group of probation officers, I began my dramatic closing story about a devastating moment in my childhood. Needless to say, I didn’t get the reaction I imagined. However, I did milk the reaction (spontaneous moment) I got. Instead of running away from or ignoring the moment, I ran to it. Here’s how it went (2 minutes):

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Your Challenge

So there you have it. Now you know what these wonderful magical spontaneous moments can do for you and you know that Trust and Time are what you need to take advantage of them.

In your next (non-contest) speech, I challenge you to have at least one spontaneous moment that you jump on and milk to see where it takes you. When you do, feel free to send me a comment in this blog entry describing the moment so I (and others) can enjoy it too! Thanks in advance. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

To become a top-notch speaker and keep improving, it is important to internalize valuable speaking truths. Now, these are my truths but I’ve certainly found them to work for the hundreds of speakers I have personally coached. I suggest that you tack these Reminders up in your workspace and keep them in front of you. 

If you are not familiar with some of these reminders, I have also provided the three resources you can access to grasp the reminders fully. 

7 Storytelling Reminders             

1. Tap into your audience’s world with a question before you transport them into your world with a story. 

2. Don’t give the cure before you build the conflict. 

3. Too much narration = a report. Too much dialogue = a stage play. The right mix = a very compelling story. 

4. It’s not the line, it’s the look before and after the line that tells the story 

5. If we don’t see a change in your character, then you don’t have a story. Show the change after the cure. 

6. Just give a hint to describe your scenes and characters. People buy into what they help create so if you go into too much detail, there’s nothing left for them to do. Save those details for your novel. 

7. Don’t just establish the conflict; escalate it using at least two escalation events). 

Resource: These reminders come out of my most popular best-selling course that helps you keep your audience on the edge of their seats with your stories. It’s called the Edge Of their Seats Storytelling Home-Study Course for Speakers. 

7 Keynoting Reminders

1. To be an excellent speaker you must be an excellent tease. Find ways to Transition Tease them for what’s coming next (using the Silver Spoon or Verbal Knife approach).    

2. Never end with the Q and A (Questions and Answers) session. Have one if necessary, but don’t end with it. 

3. Check the PARTS (make sure you have a Phrase, Anchor, Reflection, Technique, and Sale) for every point you make so that you become known as a content-rich speaker. 

4. Use all 4A’s for Anchors (Anecdote, Analogy, Activity, and Acronym) in every keynote speech or training session 

5. Use the 10:1 Rule of Thumb to determine how many points to make during your speech. If you’re speaking for 45 minutes, make no more than 4 major points and dive a mile deep into each one. Remember the old speaking proverb; 

When you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out 

6. Make sure you provide a Roadmap (i.e. “First  you will pick up tools on how to breathe life into your speech, then you’ll see how to bring the audience to you, and finally, how to build a message that sticks.”) so your audience knows exactly where they are going. 

7. Use the Discuss and Debrief method to have your audience review and verbally express your message towards the end of your speech. Remember what Tom Hopkins said: 

 If I say it, they can doubt me. If they say it, it’s true 

Get them to say your message. 

Resource: These reminders come out of the course that helps you develop and deliver a captivating 30 to 60 to 90 minute speech. It’s called the Create Your Killer Keynote Home-Study Course for Speakers. 

7 Selling Reminders

1. Never sell a product (or service, idea, change, or yourself); always sell the result. 

2. Go across the EDGE (Esteem more, Do more, Gain more, Enjoy more) when selling your results and making your promises. 

3. Always state the result before the resource. For example, I ask some of my audiences the following: “Raise your hand if, a year from now, you’d like to be at least 3 times better than the speaker you are today (result)? Great then visit my free site at http://www.52SpeakingTips.com (resource) and get a free speaking tip each week for 52 weeks.” 

4. Create the Need for Now so your audience acts on your next step immediately. They will not act later. 

5. Put the power of reciprocity to work for you. It’s in peoples’ DNA to want to return the favor. 

6. Never make a separate sales pitch during your speech. Instead, make it an organic extension of your story using the Then, Now, and How approach.   

7. Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal. When you lift yourself up, you let your audience down. But you also bring down your ability to sell because unless you come across as similar (and not special), your audience won’t act on your message or buy anything from you. 

Resource: These reminders come out of the course that helps you make an extra $3,000 to $5,000 per speech by selling products and services. It’s called the Mastering Back of the Room Sales Home-Study Course for Speakers  

If you’ve been studying my materials, then you already know not to end your speech with the questions and answers section. Instead, if you’re going to have a Q&A, do it before you wrap up in your own powerful way.

However, there is also something else that must be done before you close your speech and that’s the review. Most speakers will review by saying something like this:

So in conclusion, you must face reality, relinquish what is in the way, rely on the process, and reform to a better way.

 

And then they’ll close the speech with a story or in another powerful way. This is fine but there are issues with it.

1. The audience members are not involved as much as they should be
2. Your audience might still doubt your message
3. The energy might not be as high as it should be
4. It’s just content but not connection

 

Here’s a Very Powerful Way to Review the Content in your Speech

Use what I call the Discuss and Debrief method of reviewing your material. Here’s how it goes. I say something like the following:

Take the next 60 seconds, turn to a neighbor and tell him or her one or two ideas you got from this program.

This is the Discussion part of the Discuss and Debrief method. Then, once the 60 seconds are up, I say

Okay, times up. What did you come up with? Go ahead and shout out some of the ideas that stuck with you.

This is the Debrief part of the Discuss and Debrief formula.

It is absolutely amazing what happens when you do this method. Ideas start popping out in droves and you can barely capture them all. This is a good thing. For example, last week I gave a speech at the Illegal Substance Collections Unit (ISCU) in Washington DC and when I came to this review, twenty-one ideas popped out within a couple of minutes. In fact, the only reason we stopped is so I could move on to my closing.

So let’s take a quick look at the advantages of this method:

1. They feel validated because they have had time to check-in and discuss with their neighbors about what they picked up so the fear of shouting out the wrong answer goes away. That’s why the ideas pop out so fast.
2. They loosen up their minds during the discussion part. This is much better than simply turning to your audience (without having the discussion portion) and saying, “So what did you get from the program today?” I’ve seen many cases where very few ideas are shouted out and it makes the speaker look bad. Also, keep in mind the meeting planner is often looking at this and realizing that very little value has transferred.
3. They buy into the message more readily. I always remember Tom Hopkins, author of How to Master the Art of Selling, saying the following (I am paraphrasing here): If I say it, they can doubt me, but if they say it it’s true. In other words, getting them to say the message is much more powerful than simply saying it myself.
4. You get re-hired more. Why? Because the meeting planner is often in the room watching this transference of value take place. For example, after my speech at the ISCU last week, the meeting planner approached me and said, “We are excited about using you again very soon.” Oftentimes when you look at the meeting planner during the review when all these ideas are resurfacing, he or she has a grin from ear to ear because the value is evident in the retention of the material.
5. Your audience retains more of your message. This is because audience members often miss points the first time around. However, when they hear that same point from another audience member (and perhaps they hear how that audience member plans to implement it), they can then underline that point and see possibilities for putting it into action too.
6. The energy rises. When you get this kind of activity, the energy increases, which is important because there should be high energy as you move into the closing of your speech.
7. They feel good about giving a good response!

 

Twos Key to Using this Discuss and Debrief Method for Maximum Impact

You now know to have your audience discuss with their neighbors and then debrief with you as a group. However, when you debrief, I suggest following two very important guidelines to help your audience internalize your message.

Guideline #1: Rephrase their responses.

For example, here are some of the responses people gave the other day at ISCU when we debriefed. After you see each of their responses, you’ll see how I rephrased it to help drive home the messages.

Again I started off by saying, “Okay, times up. What did you come up with? Go ahead and shout out some of the ideas that stuck with you.”

Them: “You said to make them feel important”

Me: “That’s right, because when you make them feel visible, they make you valuable”

Them: “Don’t make excuses for their behavior”

Me: “Absolutely, because when you make excuses for someone, you invite him never to change”

Them: “We have to get out of the way of change”

Me: “Because you’re either on the way or in the way”

The reason it is important to rephrase their responses is so that your Foundational Phrases will stick with them over time. Three days or three months down the line when they find themselves on the brink of making excuses for someone’s behavior, they should remember my Foundational Phrase and hopefully change their approach.

 Guideline #2: Stop while they Pop

During the debrief part of the formula, you’re audience will shout out many ideas. One idea after another will pop out. So when do you stop the debriefing and move on to your closing? I suggest cutting them off while the ideas are still popping out. Why? Because, like the good magician, you want to leave them wanting more. This is much better than waiting until all the ideas pop out, which is followed by uncomfortable silence and brain strain. Stop it while they pop.

It’s like the other night when I made microwave popcorn and the directions said to turn off the microwave once the pops slowed down to 2 seconds in between each one. Otherwise, if you keep them popping, you’ll burn them. Likewise, once you see any kind of slowing down in how long it takes your audience to pop out ideas, stop and move to your closing. This keeps the energy high, doesn’t burn them out, and ensures they retain the ideas that truly mean the most to them.

Final thoughts:

If you want to get re-hired time and time again, use this Discuss and Debrief method and watch your calendar fill up!

Using two stories back-to-back is often a very effective way to influence your audience, especially if one story represents a “don’t” and the other story represents a “do.” Why? It’s because the contrast in the stories helps to make the “right way” decision clear. In this video, I use two stories back-to-back to make one clear point. Check it out:  

The following is an excerpt from The Nuts and Bolts of Public Speaking book, which I wrote in 2005. It includes a 4-step formula you can use to make your messages stick and shine. I used this formula for several years and many of my students still use it with great success. 

State – Illustrate – Apply – Sell – Restate

State
First, I usually state the point I am going to make. However, sometimes I hide the point in the middle or the end of the story to keep my audience curious. Don’t worry, because  as long as you firmly establish the conflict (click here for more on this) in your story, your audience will stay with you. 

Illustrate
Then I illustrate the point through a story or through some kind of quick example. Some humorous situations, activities, and visuals can help illustrate the points as well.

Apply
Next I apply the point to the audience. In other words, I get them to see what this point has to do with them. This is the step most speakers neglect. You need to find ways to make your audience feel that they can use your message for their lives. They did not come to hear your verbal autobiography. They came to get lessons for their own lives.

Sell
Then I sell the point using the push (what happens when they don’t adhere to your point), pull (what happens when they do adhere to your point), and passion and by thoroughly understanding and expressing what benefits or results they can receive.

Restate
Finally, I restate the point to drive it home and provide completeness to it. I may restate it using different words throughout the story but then I always eventually come back to repeating the actual Foundational Phrase I want my audience to remember. 
From the Theoretical to the Practical
Depending on the type of speech it is and how much time I am given, I may or may not follow the sell section by giving a technique or strategy. Usually I do, because I believe that people will stay motivated if they have tangible things to do. You can have a longer-lasting effect on your audience if you provide techniques to go along with your theories. We should go from the theoretical to the practical and from the general to the specific. For example, after going through the story, the push and pull, and the benefits of using your imagination, I may say something like the following:

One way to sharpen your imagination is to write down your perfect day. Write it out in as much detail as possible. I did this several years ago and everything I wrote down is coming to pass. I said I wanted to be a full-time professional speaker; now I am a full-time professional speaker. I said I wanted to own my own business; now I own my own business. I said I wanted a white Mercedes Benz convertible; now I have a white… Honda Accord! I’m getting there!

This helps sell my audience on the technique of writing down their perfect day and it gives them something to do long after I have left the speaking platform. Give them something specific to do and watch as organizations remember you and keep bringing you back time and time again.

I’ve always prided myself in being a content-rich speaker so imagine my surprise when I had the following conversation after a speech. A couple ladies cornered me and said, “You had a lot of content in your speech.” I said, “Thank you.” Then they said, “We mean you had too much content.” At first I thought, “Too much content? I’ve spent all this time striving to be a content-rich speaker and now they’re telling me I have too much content?” Guess what? They were right.

The problem with having too much content is just what one of the ladies told me. She said, “As soon as I’d begin writing something down, you’d say something else worth remembering and I wouldn’t catch it. Because you shared so many points, I’m afraid I won’t recall any of them.”

Here’s the problem many speakers will face if they are not careful

When we start to know more and more about our topic, inevitably that “more” ends up finding its way into our speech. What’s important to realize about speaking is that oftentimes less is more. Just because you know more doesn’t mean you have to show more within that speech.

Here are two great solutions to keep your audience from feeling lost or overwhelmed

1. Tighten up your structure by calling back to each major point before you move onto the next point. For example, if my point is on Facing Reality, once I make the point I can transition by saying, “So you face reality with whatever measurement scale you use because, remember, you master what you measure. Once you face reality, the next step is to…” Then, every time I finish my other points, I make sure to call back to every single one of the points I already covered. For my four Rs, I’ll call back to Facing reality, Relinquishing what’s in the way, Relying on the people and processes, and Reforming to a better way. Regularly calling back like this makes your message very clear and keeps your audience members from getting lost.
2. Use my 10 to 1 Rule of Thumb. Part of my mistake was that I tried to fit too many points into too little time. Now I use my 10 to 1 Rule of Thumb. For every 10 minutes I speak, I feel I can make an average of one point that I can illustrate effectively and make palatable for my audience. Therefore, if I’m asked to speak for 45 minutes, I’ll do my 4 Rs to Remarkable Results speech. If I’m asked to speak for 30 minutes, I’ll do my 3 Rs to Remarkable Results. The key is to heed the old speaker proverb that, “When you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out.” By using a similar formula to my 10 to 1, you’ll move towards much greater clarity and your message will be easily digested.

So What Can We Learn  from This?

Being content-rich should not include filling your audience up with content until they overflow. Instead, it should be about giving them a few solid, memorable, and actionable ideas that they can use to improve their situation. Indeed less is more. I’ll leave it at that.

If the most important word in speaking is ‘you,’ the most important number in speaking is three. The Rule of 3 manifests in many ways. It helps make your speech more humorous, clearer, and more memorable.

Use it For Humor

Let’s start with the humor. The Rule of Three applies when you have three examples that you mention back to back to back, and the third provides a twist. For example, when I talk about writing down your perfect day, I say the following:

“I did this years ago and everything I wrote down has come to pass. I wrote down, I wanted to be a professional speaker— I’m a professional speaker! I said I wanted to own my own business – I own my own business. I said I wanted a white Mercedes Benz convertible – I have a white Honda Accord. I’m getting there.”

As you can see, the third example is the twist, and that makes it funny. The interesting thing is this; I’ve actually tried four examples before, thinking it would build up the twist even more, but guess what happened? It fell flat. It just doesn’t work as well. There’s something magical about the Rule of 3. So use three examples, not four, two or five.

Use it For Clarity

Now let’s move on to clarity and making your message memorable. I used to give a one-hour workshop in which I gave my audience 7 Secrets to Speaking Success. It was an okay program, but do you know what took it to a much higher level? I changed the program, and instead of offering seven secrets, I offered three sections. For example, instead of saying, “You’re going to pick up seven strategies,” I said the following:

“If you look at your handout, you’ll see you will first pickup strategies on how you can breathe life into a speech and make your audience come alive. Then you’ll pick up tools on how you can bring the audience to you and keep them engaged at all times, and hopefully awake. And third, you’ll pick up tools on how you can build a message that sticks, so that people will rehire you time and time again.”

Do you see the three sections? Instead of having seven spots on my handout for them to fill out, I simply put the following three sections:

1. Breathe life into your speech
2. Bring the audience to you
3. Build a message that sticks

I don’t know why it makes such a difference, and frankly I just don’t care. The bottom line is that it works. Today my audience grasps my message much easier and deeper than they did when I had seven points.

Use it to Make Your Message Stick

Here is the most interesting part. Today I actually give many more than seven pointers in my speech! However, because my audience can fit all of the pointers I give them into the three sections – Breathe Life, Bring Your Audience In, and Build a Message That Sticks – they get the message much clearer, and for some reason it sticks with them better.

Anytime you want to make nine points in a speech (which is probably a speech of at least 90 minutes), separate those points into three sections of three points each. If you have 27 points to make in a day-long workshop, separate them into three sections of nine points each, if possible. Whatever you do, find a way to use the Rule of Three. It flat out works! People remember best in threes.

One caveat:

In a 5-7 minute speech, using the Rule of 3 for humor is fine. However, in terms of points, refrain from trying to make more than one because that’s all the time you have to support and illustrate it. Trying to make 3 points in 5-7 minutes is futile.