For years, an act of courage seemed something to use in the most extreme or vulnerable times …like our soldiers defending liberty.
That type of moment still sets the bar in my mind on how courage drives perseverance. In more recent years though, collaboration with folks on their speeches has taught a new view. Every person and every speech has revealed how courage moves ideas forward in creative ways.
The delicate route through creativity to voice:
Together we move through inevitably vulnerable times; creativity evokes that relevant but often rocky road which every public speaker heads down. Unearthing voice can be powerful and delicate all at once.
These experiences have shown:
It takes courage to get clear. It takes courage to realize the tricky thing called voice (…and overcome initial distaste with rough drafts and rough starts). The whole creative experience gets vulnerable, if not extremely so.
It’s a useful rough road, and takes everyday courage to move through to more resonant ideas as speakers. Asserting courage in this context gave way to a video project: The Deciding Courage series.
Can we study courage as an accessible habit to build?
This idea brings Gwen McKinney to mind. She founded McKinney & Associates, and as CEO has brought many social justice issues to light in our country.
(3) reasons why courage matters
Strong, convicted, and with wise humor — Gwen talks about courage as a frequent decision to make. Her wisdom from our (3) minute video conversation:
Courage can be hard to recognize in ourselves as we summon the in-the-moment resolve to use it.
Mistakes are a distinct part of the human dynamic in which courage plays a unique role.
Our audiences (any audience!) can respond in an interesting way when we ‘fall on our swords.’
What do you think?
What’s a decision in your life which you thought required courage, or in someone else’s life you’ve observed?
Footnotes:
I’m enjoying the new anthology Voice Matters by Gwen McKinney and her courageous community. The related ebook series just launched too featuring filmmaker Larry Adelman’s assertion: zip codes predict health outcomes more than any other factor.
And here’s the 3 point takedown with more context and examples in the 3 minute video:
1. Prepare a distinct point of view in a one-sentence assertion.
2. Use that one-sentence assertion as a way to standout and distinctly introduce yourself to the audience at the start (vs leaning on background info like professional title, business sector, and client list).
3. Suggest (3) questions to the panel’s moderator beforehand and then serve as the lead respondent for those questions. Other panelists may offer supportive commentary for these certainly; but secure the opportunity with the moderator to take the lead — and answer first to these selected questions.
Have you ever had that “hmmm” moment or moments where the idea of giving your TED talk plays out in your mind?
During the TED Full Spectrum live conference on Wednesday, 2/29th, many folks in the audience will ponder just that (me too!). People will gather to watch the Full Spectrum event via live stream in Washington, DC (thanks to the kind folks at TEDxPotomac). And I can’t wait for the tremendous exchange, conversation, and ideas.
A nudge toward self-reflection
Is some part of you waiting for a particular nudge or external deadline before preparing your TED-calibre story (sometimes that’s a productive block in my work or what clients confront too)? Which begs the question: what really keeps us from recognizing and shaping our prized ideas – and share with others whether it’s a TED community or other engaged, valued listener?
What really prevents us from preparing our ideas beautifully, honestly, and clearly for future yet-to-be named audiences?
A word about time & the talk of your lifetime:
From my TED/TEDx collaborations so far, a TED-calibre talk takes 30 to 200 hours of prep depending on the speaker’s starting point of clarity and available stage time for the talk itself.
So I vote we start.
Right now.
No matter what stage or type of audience you envision for this ‘talk of your lifetime,’ engaging your own preparation on your own time – right now without facing an immediate deadline – can be incredibly crystalizing. That type of initiative can bionically empower your ideas and self-expression — stimulating greater readiness for serving future audiences.
Great!
Also: Clarity puts the mind in a position of presence and ownership — two pillar qualities for guiding an audience through an irreplaceable experience.
So let’s start our own guerrilla prep work right now.
Are you in for 30 minutes?
The primary purpose at this point is to assert an idea and start.
That’s it.
As in the mission here is to make tangible progress on your TED “idea worth spreading” — plus ultimately get your TED / TEDx talk in draft form.
These (4) steps will guide our exercise with an emphasis on asserting perspective and escaping fear of imperfection.
Only criteria: get a first draft down in 30 minutes by continually producing and resisting self-criticism in this timeframe.
1. Set the timer for 8 minutes.
Then start putting notes on paper (please put electronics in another room; the pen and paper keep the mind in a stronger meditative state). Just start writing in response to this consideration: consider what motivates you – and how that motivation is teachable. And as it helps your brainstorming effort, let yourself consider these brainstorms in different types of context and impact: professional, personal, spiritual, analytical, and creative.
Task 1:
Then write down a one-sentence assertion about a belief which you hold true. If it helps, add the phrase “I believe” before your assertion – with an example as: “I believe public speaking is a timeless community builder.”
Please remember: encourage selection (and de-selection).
Perfection is not the end game. What is? getting on the board with your ideas. If you have more than one assertion (again just one sentence in length), certainly write them down. Then choose one to champion for the sake of this draft exercise and carving out your TED “idea worth spreading.”
Check-in:
Do you have a one-sentence, teachable assertion written down now about what motivates you? Great. That’s your potential TED talk’s main idea. That’s the journey you’re taking a future audience on. Nice!
2. Set the timer for another 8 minutes.
Now it’s time to think in story-based scenes. Ask yourself: what moments have shaped your one TED idea? What risk or discipline, what huge or subtle decision, what unforeseen experience, what trajectory, what observations, what research, what pivotal conversations, what gift, what anecdotes, what teachings – what is “the what” which influenced the teachable truth in your asserted idea? Reflect quickly but with permission. Write.
Task 2:
Then select (3) to (5) of these story-based scenes.
Please remember: storytelling relationships
View stories/scenes as the audience’s potential road map to understanding your asserted idea. Each story should exemplify and relate to your idea in some way. So your favorite memory of riding a sweet Shetland pony in the 5th grade should relate to your idea. If not, gently coach yourself to let it go. The Shetland pony will only distract your audience from your idea’s impact and merit.
Creating structural integrity with relatable content is key here.
Check-in:
As you continue beyond this exercise in the days ahead, there will be ample chances to further flesh out, critique, and change your course as needed. For now though, the goal is to start thinking in scenic terms and to build a story archive from which to draw from. Build, build, build this archive for your storytelling power. Storytelling is rich, compatible food for the human mind. Done with keen attention by the storyteller, it can give the audience a chance to absorb, engage, and punctuate thought right along with the speaker every step of the way.
3. Set the timer for the next 8 minutes.
Revisit the stories/scenes you just selected. Now consider them in the context of useful, teachable conflict. As in, do one or a few stories reflect difficulty in some way? Is challenge, risk, pain, or potential disappointment revealed or acknowledged? Or simply, is consequence of what could happen if your idea is rejected apart of your perspective?
Task 3:
Be as honest and willing as possible to disclose a story that is difficult to tell.
Please note: The goal is not to be falsely dramatic or emotionally manipulative. At the same time, framing a core idea and point of view with 100% happiness or sense of perfection can disengage. It can compel the audience toward boredom or mistrust.
If conflict or some layer of contrast can be shared with your audience — it can be an irreplaceable trust builder and clarifying agent for your TED-calibre idea.
Please remember: honesty and clarity
Always be asking yourself with these stories/scenes: are they shaping enough context for my idea to be understood?
Check-in: a word about inspiration
It may be temping to refer to favorite TED talks to observe their voice, their perspective or creativity. Resist this. This exercise is the chance for you (us!) to see our truest conviction clearly even when an audience does not exist. This process must be authentically owned by our own desire to express and to achieve clarity of expression. Lean on your own inner reservoir of clarity, drive, and desire to understand (and to be understood).
4. Set the timer for the final 6 minutes
Consider your main idea, the scenic stories, and the compounding impact of what they mean. How do they uniquely convey meaning literally? Does the structural framework create a sense of journey? Does the structural integrity frame or undermine your intended meaning? How can your ideas create a sense of arrival for your audience?
Task 4:
Write down a vision of impact for your audience. Resonate’s Nancy Duarte (Holy Smokes an incredible resource and philosophy) calls this ‘the new bliss.’ As in how do you envision the ideal result, the ideal benefit, the ideal hope, the ideal outcome of your adopted idea and supportive material?
A kinder, more empathetic world? An accessible education for every human being? A sustainable standard of living for the disenfranchised? Violence replaced by social entrepreneurship?
Please remember: warts are apart of creativity.
Throughout this creative digging, possibly inner voices may crop up i.e. “This is dumb, a waste of time, I’m no Al Gore on TED’s stage, who do I think I am, I hate this rough draft, where is my IQ?!”
Please consider those thoughts as mental warts — and a useful indicator.
They indicate a sense of ownership.
They exist as a knee-jerk reaction to imperfection or a lack of clarity or both. Roll with it and continue. These creative warts indicate a sense of ownership for being clear. It’s a rough gig, the clarity business (…neat phrase from Content Rules). But that’s the business we are in when it comes to recognizing, asserting, and carving out ideas. It’s not a surface exercise.
Let us dig deep and true.
Check-in: Our audiences owe us nothing.
Keep going with your reflections, uniqueness, and process — empathizing with the audience’s experience 150% of the time.
Always be asking: Is there enough context in my talk to frame my conviction and deliver meaning?
Are you delivering as unconditionally as possible? Or do you really, really want the audience to think you are smart and inspirational and brilliant and the new Steve Jobs?
Our audiences owe us nothing.
I invite you to consider:
We as speakers are here to serve audiences with our clearest, most original, most resonant, most integrity-rich best.
I invite us to share ideas in this light, for an unconditional offering of a cherished idea is a beautiful thing.
Congrats for diving in and realizing the talk of your lifetime (I’ll dive in too!).
Really, really exciting.
What would you add to get your ideas off the ground, and into talk-of-a-lifetime shape?
Today’s post is available via a 2 minute audio clip; or the written content follows too just below.
Frustration, frustration frustration.
A few colleagues and clients recently shared they were mentally caving to frustration. They were preparing for their next talk and realized: they didn’t know what to say.
They have deep funds of knowledge.
They have specific and creative expertise.
They’ve been speaking to public audiences on and off for years.
They are intelligent, driven people with plenty to offer a range of listeners.
Yet their ideas were stuck, as in really stuck…like an elephant caught in spandex. As in, no idea and no sense of permission were escaping the inner workings of their mind.
The ‘It’s Not Good Enough” syndrome: a common cause of blocked ideas
In each conversation with these great professionals one trait unified each person’s predicament: in every attempt to even casually brainstorm a point of view for their speech — each person immediately criticized themselves. Whatever idea they tossed out as a potential vantage point from which to develop their presentation – it wasn’t good enough to them.
Getting beyond cycles of criticism: a 20 minute exercise to help
Even with heaps of expertise to draw from and share, this often happens — that cycle of ideas/delete/ideas/delete.
This whirlwind of self-criticism builds off itself, making the self-perception of “my ideas aren’t good enough” as the only type of creative development possible.
This is a cycle to break.
For our ideas to progress as public speakers at this type of crossroads, the main goal (stat!) is to create a sense of permission with how we express (and assert) ideas.
Here’s a favorite exercise to get unstuck:
1. Set your timer for 20 minutes.
Your iPhone, Android, or old time tomato timer on the stove. Please grab it and set it for 20 minutes.
2. Commit to zero self-criticism.
Before diving into this exercise, dedicate your mind to a criticism-free zone. Grant full authority to your hand, the pen it is about to hold, and the paper it will write on.
2a. Which leads to: turn off your computer and find paper and a pen.
3. Start the timer.
4. Then write down at least (3) assertions in 20 minutes — one or two sentences each — about your expertise and related to the gist of your speech.
Keep writing until the timer rings.
Judge not, judge not, just write write write. And ideally: consider these assertions as points of view too. As in, write down what you hold true about your industry with your expertise in mind, again in one or two sentences per assertion.
Start each assertion with the words “I believe…” if that helps to dislodge thought.
Raw example:
“I believe public speaking is a self-assertion game and a clarity game…and it takes time to achieve both.”*
*Is that a run-on sentence? Yes. Is it perfect grammar? No. Is it an assertion that I hold true as a public speaking professional? Yes.
Does it satisfy the perimeters of this exercise? You bet.
Because the goal is to get unstuck, out of your mind, away from delete-every-idea-syndrome and onto the page before you.
Another raw example:
“I believe social content is an interactive and strong way to build community online.”
or… “I believe public relations means stimulating social voice around your company.”
How about you?
What tactical ways help you liberate creativity when preparing for a speech (and abandon self-criticism with ideas)?
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?
For years (YEARS!) an inner voice would critique how my approach to organizing material and thoughts for a speech excluded an official outline.
What would content prep for a speech look like instead?
ample sticky notes or
rainbow-colored index cards or
wall-sized adhesive note pads or
day dreams captured in swirly sketches and/or
favorite books at arm’s reach or
lots of magic-marked arrows meandering about on pages & pages of notes.
Then assembling and writing-like-a-bandit would begin.
But traditional, clearly structured outlines would not be a natural tool to organize ideas or research.
Have you ever resisted the outline when preparing for a presentation? Or is it a fluid, natural fit for your preparation style?
Even though desired content and intended meaning would come from this swirly process above, I would feel bad about the approach. Why? It’s unclear. But my theory is it felt like snubbing years of composition classwork.
In the last few years however, that inner concern has evaporated.
Replacing it has been a greater admiration for the creativity in speechmaking. And this creativity can take shape differently in people and in presentation styles.
Sure, precision of language and structure are core elements to the process too. Eventually it became clear that allocation of time influences the clarity and structural strength of a speech – more than any inherent magic of a ‘Formal Outline of Remarks.’
Can outlines be helpful in organizing material in general?
You bet, and for some of my colleagues – defined outlines support their process for preparing speeches consistently.
For my thinking/speech editing/teaching style however – outlines aren’t yet essential.
I wish I could write out an outline in linear form, with roman numerals and sub-points. But after the research [for a speech] I just start typing as fast as I can all of the things that are in my head—serious points and serious phrases.
Seeing this was strangely affirming, even after all these years.
Heck it’s not a contest between those that use or avoid outlines for presentations. Even still, Schiffren’s take resonated a lot.
What facilitates your creativity and sense of order, given this context?
The Friday Fiscal Tickle video experiment
A few years ago my husband and I really wanted to get our personal finances together. That commitment led to a renewed interest in world financial news. And at the time, I wondered if online video could make the whole approach to learning such subject matter more playful (and somehow digestible to my learning style). All this brought an informal (SILLY!) video project to life – called the Friday Fiscal Tickle series.
Over months of time, app. 22 mini video cuts shaped the ‘tickle’ series at roughly 90 seconds each. Each clip is a micro digest about global fiscal events where I play around on camera as a news anchor and multiple personalities.
It was an absolute blast.
The goal frankly was to somehow crack myself up with the camera on, to just have fun. I learned a lot. Strangely it was clear these videos were accessible online and public; but back then I don’t believe I fully internalized the fact folks would potentially watch.
Does that make a hill of sense?
Later as my business took shape, I re-allocated time toward that and away from this tickle-video playground. But eventually the series took on a whole new level of developmental impact, beyond the just-having-fun aspect.
What Friday Fiscal Tickle taught as a public speaker and speaker coach — is that loss of self-consciousness is a great, great liberator.
Every blue moon ‘tickle’ video would come to mind. Nice friends or colleagues would ask about it. Or (gulp…) sponsors at events where I’d be speaking would mention: “Hey that tickle series is fun.”
Then the mental games would begin in my head. And questions like these would swirl around in self-doubt:
-Is Fiscal Tickle video too goofy?
-Does the series send the absolute wrong image to prospects, partners, or heck – Mom and Dad?
Then the moment-of-clarity struck and this realization suppressed all other doubt:
“Holy Smokes, how liberating! Those videos were a blast. They were fun. And somehow, the fact that others were allowed to observe the goofiness was not a concern. Those cuts created a chance to not be so self-conscious, to storyboard concepts, to play, to create, to deliver.”
Is that not a vision of confidence for a pubic speaker?
…it is at least for this speaker and coach at this end of the netz.
It was a liberating realization!
So to celebrate this re-commitment to fun self expression, a Friday Fiscal Tickle episode will be re-published here at Live Your Talk intermittently.
What do you think?
What project or topic is so fun and stimulating that your paranoid sense of self slips away….and authentic expression takes over?
Have you ever been told your stage presence was “duller than a box of rocks?”
To clarify: it’s a special level of suck.
A straight-talking mentor gave that feedback years ago after seeing me deliver a speech. At the time my wounded ego just wanted to resign from public audiences altogether.
Studying stage presence and public speaking however became a fascination. And to this day, how to energize stage presence remains the most popular question from colleagues, students, or clients.
They are often bewildered at what to do.
…which is understandable. Causes could be rigid or feeble vocals, over accelerated pacing, anxiety management or a sundry of things. Or sometimes it’s purely a content issue where certain writing vehicles can add momentum to the presentation. But much of the time, the content is solid leaving stage presence as the item to tackle.
Energy, impromptu storytelling, & social apps
A colleague further framed this challenge so well and asked:
“How can I make my energy more consistent from a stage presence point of view?”
Presenting in front of a live audience and feedback community is stellar practice for stage presence – like Toastmasters or Ignite. But in lieu of those defined public scenarios, there’s another option.
An absolute favorite and results-inspiring solution is to practice a lot with social applications.
The goal?
Practice impromptu storytelling and externalizing your voice as often as possible with a few audio and video tools (smart phone apps included). Keep your recordings private if that’s preferred.
But just investing conscious energy in this exercise a few minutes a day can expand energetic capacity when facing live audiences.
Suggestions for social tools:
Audio apps: Audioboo.fmorcinchcast.fm are mobile and web platforms with reliable audio, a simple interface plus the ability to add other types of media to your audio casts. And both have apps for iPhone and Android;
Video and group apps:
Viddy is emerging as the Instagram of video: it enables 15 seconds of recording with visual filters. You talk about energizing your mind and vocabulary in a hurry! It’s a compelling tool with some major growth since its recent launch. And CloudTalk is a fascinating platform with both iPhone and Android apps – allowing you to share video, audio, text to public users or to a private group (this storytelling app, Blurb, looks fascinating but I’ve yet to toy with it.).
Perfection vs progress
When it comes to upping stage energy, nothing replaces the chance to practice in front of live audiences from a defined stage space. Yet waiting for perfect circumstances inhibits ultimate progress; so I vote for creating a stage-like dynamic with social tools like these. What do you think?!
Becoming your own best audience
Whether recording via audio or video, these tools (and you) become your own reliable audience. And the chance to practice impromptu storytelling or simply get your voice out of your head is an energetic exercise. From my personal work and through observing others too, this practice has fostered more fluid and energized presence from the stage.
Are you game to try these exercises?
What other ideas have helped you galvanize your own stage presence?
Have you ever seen an actor be completely silent, simply looking out in the distance or directly at the camera, and yet even without words – they are riveting?
Many of the faces in this TV show promo strike me this way – they exude energy without externalizing thought or words:
I’m reading Tony Barr’s Acting for the Camera where he covers how acting has changed since the silent film era; he gets into specific scene work and how actors should perceive stimulus.
What’s been fascinating are his perceptions about energy and actors.
A favorite quote in his book:
“I believe energy is a direct result of how much an actor cares about what is happening (in a scene). If the content is important enough to you – if what is happening in your performance life is important enough – you as an actor will be listening with sufficient intensity to create the necessary energy in the scene.” ~Tony Barr in Acting for the Camera
This expression of energy and ‘listening as caring’ bring the hopes of many public speakers to mind as well, myself included.
How can delivery of a particular presentation be authentically expressed and energized – with both articulated and unexpressed cues?
How can we as public speakers convey a sense of care – a sense of attentiveness – to the audience?
Tony Barr’s philosophy about energy and intentional care for what is happening in scenes address these answers too in my view. It’s a highly engaging, specific resource and I’m enjoying the crossover of relevance as a speaker coach.
Her prized, numero uno, #1 favorite speaking tip is…:
It’s been a tremendous week here at Blogworld Expo East. And this morning’s workshop was fantastically interactive, co-presented with @AlizaSherman about empowering women as public speakers. The attendees for our Speak Up workshop were so motivating; and people showed determination and progress on their speech topic ideas throughout the session. It’s been a great day.
Words from a witch
In the spirit of finding and asserting our voice as speakers, Nathalie Lussier talked shop about her favorite speaking tip. She presents often and really enjoys the dynamic.
It was energizing to talk with her from Blogworld’s expo floor
- and she blogs regularly at The Raw Foods Witch on lots of healthy stuff.
Nathalie’s #1 tip revealed in this fun, speedy talk:
