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:
Here’s a 90 second video … or a story summary follows below too.
It all started with (6) small business owners presenting at a conference’s lightning round.
Each speaker spoke for app. 5 or 10 minutes only. They all demonstrated their own unique qualities as speakers. And the same time, their approach to content & format had traits in common: they were informal yet still informative, engaging, and story-centric.
This speaker slate set the audience’s expectation for what the lightning round would be like.
Then something completely different took the stage.
A sales representative from one of the event’s sponsors started a 20 minute sales pitch. Yikes.
Certainly a sponsor has a right to work with conference planners on how they will engage with attendees. But this sponsor’s presenter disengaged the audience by coming across as a plastic salesperson wanting to validate product (vs really help listeners in the room).
It begs the question: was there a more effective way for the sponsor to promote their product?
Criticism was striking. And it changed my speaker preparation checklist forever.
The negative reaction from the in-person audience and also reactions on Twitter were significant. Overall the event was a great small business conference (the Grow Smart Biz Conference here in DC) with a diverse, strong speaker slate.
This experience however has added (3) questions to my speaker preparation checklist to always address: Is my presentation style and tone compatible with what the audience expects? And is that style going to compliment or contradict other speakers at the event? As in, does the audience expect a sales pitch or another type of approach to engagement?
Welcome!
Today’s post was originally submitted as a guest feature to the great community at Women Grow Business. These thoughts are offered in a few ways: (90) seconds of video embedded here or also a written summary follows too, whatever suits your preference.
What is going on?
What am I going to learn?
How is this relevant to me?
These are driving questions an audience immediately wants answered when you or any speaker takes the stage to give a speech. The first question is the biggie and represents the audience’s natural craving for orientation to the speaker’s purpose.
Lead ‘em to clarity
An audience wants a sense of partnership with us, trust that we the speaker will lead them to some level of understanding. This was really crystallized for me when collaborating with a colleague this week on her speech. She was exuberant about her story; her content was great too.
She was in the initial storyboarding and brainstorming phase. And she wanted to inspire specific reactions in her audience. We were writing ideas on a whiteboard together when…
She stopped, looked me in the face, and said:
“But I really love this particular story. I think the real thrust of my message is right here.”
That’s when I asked we stop for a minute and said: “You just answered the driving question for the audience of ‘what is going on with this speech!’ ”
It was the needed gravity and purpose that the audience would seek.
It caught us both off guard.
When we first started storyboarding, both of us assumed other stories and anecdotes would be priority for her content. But the storyboarding process led to a certain memory, a professional experience that was more conducive to her audience’s expectations. She became more alive when focusing on this perspective; and her clarity of mind heightened too.
That was a welcome surprise (pay dirt!) in preparing the rest of her content.
It was the driving momentum for this speech; in light of her expertise and her specific audience, it’s definitely the story her audience needs to hear.
What about you and your approach to speech prep? Does storyboarding ever produce unexpected surprises regarding content?
Hello!
Want today’s post via audio cast instead? Just click the embedded player immediately following or read on for the written post.
When growing up, my Mom and I would get matinee tickets for the movie Moonstruck and see it multiple times in a single afternoon. The personalities, the gritty-sweet family, love of opera, the pent up rage, & Italian heritage: the whole story is addictive. And there was the ever alluring test and triumph of love with Cher’s character Loretta.
Should she pursue the safe marriage? …& marry her fiance who she does not love but likes well enough?
Or should she marry her fiance’s brother? …a raging opera-loving fire ball who she loves somethin’ awful? Can she answer a call from her own sense of integrity and pursue an unconventional choice?
After first seeing the movie, Cher’s character Loretta annoyed me.
There were too many expectations she would have to break in order to be with her real love. She would have to break expectation of being betrothed to another. She would have to break expectations of what is generally accepted as ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ Even with loving the story and the full moons and hilarious romance, it was tough to reconcile Loretta’s crossroads when first seeing Moonstruck play out in my mid teens. When Cher’s Loretta chose to be true to her pining heart and defy expectation in the end, apart of me was happy.
Another part though thought she was too self-entitled. How dare she defy expectations of a commitment like being engaged?
These reflections changed after years of seeing more of the movie (& more of love and loss up close in life). Heck, sometimes love is messy as a hog pen at feed time. Sometimes choosing the unexpected love is the only way to fully live and fully express who we are.
It seems like this is getting into the super-sappy-blog-post-zone. It’s a fun Valentine’s Day reflection…
But Cher and her moonstruck Loretta
…put some recent collaborations in oddly clearer perspective.
In particular, it was with a few different folks preparing for speeches. Each of them (working on separate presentations), wanted to begin their speech by thanking the audience and event hosts. They wanted to be polite and extend gratitude for being invited to present.
They wanted to meet unspoken expectations of being gracious guest speakers. But I invited them to reconsider and show appreciation in other ways.
Life is short (and time with audiences is even shorter).
Thanking the audience is a well meaning gesture; it really is. It also is a familiar if not expected signal to the audience. Countless audiences have heard well meaning speakers launch their talks with ‘thank you.’ So intended or not, when one starts a speech by stating thanks, one immediately wins the perception of being generic. Because the phrase ‘thank you’ and phrases like ‘It’s a privilege to be here’ are what acres and acres of speakers have expressed before.
When opening our next speech, can we all pull a Loretta?
Can we defy expectations? Can we defy those safety phrases of appreciation and begin speeches with authentic expression? Can we show unique appreciation for our audiences by launching immediately into compelling stories and insight with the benefit of our audience at heart? Can we start with our unique purpose, our drive, our expertise, our inspired choices, our clear content arcs, our precise language – and appreciate audiences that way?
Let’s pull a Loretta(!)
Let’s define (plus pursue) our own expectation of what greeting an audience looks like.
Does this sound like a soap box moment?! It’s not meant to; it’s just an exciting thought to imagine all the levels of originality that could draw audiences closer in, beyond “it’s great to be here, thank you.”
What do you think?
What does starting a speech in the spirit of ‘pulling a Loretta’ look like?
