Welcome to this week’s edition of the #silent10 video project - which combines the practice of silent meditation with social video. The goal: to make the meditative benefits of silence more shareable online.
Want to share 10 seconds of silence?
UPDATE:
Friend and Simply Leap founder Lauree Ostrofsky just submitted her 10 seconds of silence. Her gaze and face are wonderful, just wonderful.
Quick context: sound bites vs cohesive thought
When hunkering down to prepare a speech, especially years ago, I would heavily utilize sound bite language first and foremost. I could’t wait to fill the narratives with multiple snap-shot phrases like: “The team makes the journey” and “Your attitude creates an avalanche of options” (-pardon the cheesiness please!).
Sometimes and more than what I’d like to admit
…this sound bite fetish would produce a collection of sort-of-snappy-phrases that lacked cohesive, purposeful thought. And ultimately, the sound bite heaviness diminished clarity and impact from the audience’s point of view. Speechwriter Peggy Noonan gets into this precept significantly; and I found it one of the most penetrating insights in her book.
Is concisely written content valuable to audiences?
Can use of brevity better enable listeners to absorb meaning?
You bet.
Noonan however, with precision of mind and grit, expresses concern for speech making in light of our media saturated culture which with addictive-like cravings — seeks the sound bite. Frankly at the end of this chapter, my brain was swirling with “YES YES YES” in agreement. She talks about the arc and depth of thought often being left out of the sound bite approach to speechwriting. That content style of many sound bites assembled together comes across like a garbled mess to the audience, more often than not.
The big take away
There were a heap of take aways in Noonan’s book. I’m eager to study it more, and her thinking.
Quick process to increase a speech’s depth of thought (& avoid sound bite overload)
After reflecting on and organizing a clear viewpoint…draft your speech. Then after a few drafts, audit your language. Ensure it’s expressed well and able to impart your intended meaning.
Then when articulating the draft out loud as practice, does it sound conversational and clear?
Or does the language progress in a rigid vs natural way?
Does the use of language sound like your own vernacular, fluid, with a cohesive point of view (vs a suite of catch phrases that seem to compete with each other for the audience’s attention)?
I read and re-read her thoughts on this.
Dedicating time to think about one’s work – and one’s ultimate purpose for the speech – presented a strong yet simple mindset for writing a speech (vs shaping it into a suite of mini blips of disconnected sound bite phrasing).
Just to mentally gnaw on it again:
Lose yourself in the work and the words will come. ~speechwriter Peggy Noonan from her book “On Speaking Well”
Does this resonate?
Or does it seem random in light of our Twitter-ready world?
Tinu Abayomi-Paul “lives her talk” …regularly speaking-up for the underserved and taking action to attain a greater good.
Thanks to her for this video conversation about Africa and how $5 can overcome “situations of scarcity.”
Tinu is a friend, BlueKey Campaign Champion, and refugee advocate. She has shared great appreciation for the work by USA for UNHCR. And in this video, Tinu shares striking examples of how a few dollars impact living standards in Africa.
