Google Alerts for Speech Research

Here’s a quick way to research your speech topic – use Google Alerts. While most people will use the Google Search engine when working on a speech, most of that information is old. It could be years old, months old or at least weeks old. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the very latest, hot off the press, what’s happening now news! Well you can if you use Google alerts. First, if you haven’t already setup an account with Google, you do have a Gmail account don’t you? Then just go the Google Alerts site and enter in the terms you want to search for on a once a day, as it happens, or once a week. Now the alerts will come to you email address automatically and your speech will almost write itself – NOT. At least now you’ll have some up to date information and stories you can use to backup your main speech topic. Give it a try. It’s FREE.

One of the Best Election Speeches I’ve Ever Heard

Three important qualities that speakers need to have in any speech are humor, logic, and the Wow! factor. The speech below is a masterpiece. It’s short, succinct and has all three qualities. I’m impressed.

“For the past two years I have asked the same simple request. Vote for the person you believe would be most suited for the position they are applying for. Obviously that tactic didn’t work since this entire election is a popularity contest. In that case I will always lose.

I’ve decided to change my offer. I am running for the Treasury position. Math is my favorite and my best subject. To face the facts; I am a nerd. Since I am good with numbers I am definitely qualified for the position I am running for.

Several students have mentioned they want a voice in deciding what happens during the next school year. If I am elected, feel free to talk to me with your ideas and comments. I will also set up a website with a forum and polls designed to gather student input in an orderly fashion so all ideas can be collected and analyzed. The website’s url will be released next year.

Now for the incentive. I know that very few people will vote for me so I decided to make a totally uncharacteristic and crazy proposal.

If I win the election, I will go to next year’s senior prom…with a tuxedo and pants I will make myself… out of ducktape.

So if you want to see me at prom looking like an idiot, vote for me as your 2009 Treasurer!

…and yes, I did win!”

Lecterns 101

Here are a few tips on using a lectern. No, it’s not a podium – see wikipedia.

1. If you’re the Toastmaster or Master of Ceremonies, you should try to sit right next to the lectern. This facilitates the transition from one speaker back to the Toastmaster and doesn’t waste everyone’s time waiting for the Toastmaster to walk back up to the lectern from the back of the room.

2. After the Toastmaster introduces a speaker, he/she should lead the applause, wait for the next speaker, shake hands and then let the speaker walk in front to take charge of the lectern.

3. In general, don’t leave the lectern unattended. If you are doing a presentation or an evaluation or any other job, when you are finished, wait until the Toastmaster comes back up to the lectern, shake hands and move on back to your seat.

4. If you’re a speaker and the lectern is cluttered with materials from the previous speaker, go ahead and remove them. On the other hand if you are a speaker and are leaving the lectern, remove your materials so that the lectern is free for the next speaker.

5. If you choose to use notes on the lectern, learn to slide them off to the side rather than turning them over page by page. It’s a bit less distracting.

6. If you are the main or only speaker, try and position the lectern where it will be best for you. You want to be as close to the audience as possible, but you also need to consider whether that position will give you enough lighting. Do you need to bring your own portable light? Are you using a projector and screen? Where is the best place for the lectern in that case?

7. Don’t grab the lectern. It’s not a security blanket and it will only inhibit your normal gestures if you get it in a death lock.

8. Don’t lean on the lectern. It makes you look too casual and a bit lazy. You want an energetic and energized performance, not one that will put people to sleep.

9. While it’s more intimate to get away from the lectern and closer to the audience, realize that by walking out front you may be turning your back on some members of the audience.

10. Ignore the lectern during the first 30 seconds. Memorize your opening , look at your audience and give them that first 30 seconds just like a pro. Then if you have to check your notes glance down at the lectern.

11. If your notes are complicated, you can leave on hand on the lectern to mark your place in the notes and then gesture with your other hand.

12. Don’t read your speech at the lectern. Nothing is more boring than watch a speaker read his/her speech while looking at the lectern.

KISS – Speaking and Health Care Reform

Keep It Simple Stupid

Winston Churchill has a great quote which most speakers and politicians need to remember.

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.”

Most speakers and politicians ramble and try to cover too many points in their speech or bills in Congress.

The recent Health Care Reform bill (text), according to my word processor has 454 pages and 170,000 words. That is one long and complicated bill.

Here’s one small paragraph:

“Parity in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorder Benefits- To the extent such provisions are not superceded by or inconsistent with subtitle C, the provisions of section 2705 (other than subsections (a)(1), (a)(2), and (c)) of section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act shall apply to a qualified health benefits plan, regardless of whether it is offered in the individual or group market, in the same manner as such provisions apply to health insurance coverage offered in the large group market.”

Possibly a combination “Doctor of Philosophy and Logic and Lawyer” combined might be able to figure out what this one small paragraph is trying to say, but I can’t.

I also read one page and it took about three minutes. 454 pages x 3 minutes = 1362 minutes . Divided by 60 = 22.7 hours. So if you read eight hours a day for 3 days you could read the entire bill.

Most people have trouble remembering 10% of a ten minute speech. How much are they going to remember of a 22.7 hour presentation?

To congress and speakers remember the KISS principle.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

Speaking Like They Sing – Ambassadors of Harmony

The Ambassadors of Harmony encapsulate a lot of things we would like to bring as a speaker. Energy, movement, hand gestures, facial expression and surprise.  The next time you find yourself scheduled as a speaker ask yourself the question, “How can I be more like the AOH?

(Note – they practice in St. Charles Mo., and it’s a “wow” experience to hear and see them practice.

Cali Lewis Speaking Tips

Cali Lewis shows us fun, energy and enthusiasm, plus preparation and knowledge all wrapped up into one polished performance.

Here are some of the great fundamentals she employs.

- She’s relaxed, smiling, and laughing and having a good time

-  Instead of being stuck behind the lectern she moves freely across the large stage.

- She’s got lots of great content which she knows well.

- She is the main focus of the presentation. Her screens are off to the side.

- She uses audience participation by having people raise their hand and repeat what she says.

- She uses her laptop for her notes and doesn’t have to look at the screens to see what is next.

A couple of negatives

1. She uses a gigantic clicker in her right hand which distracts a bit from the presentation.
2. If she used a lavaliere microphone she could gesture freely with her both hands.

In summation, if more presenters were like Cali we wouldn’t have bored audiences.

Say It Like Obama

There are very few “Advanced” speaking technique books available, but this one shows you most of the techniques of a masterful speaker. “Say It Like Obama,” shows us the art of speaking as  presented by our President. If you’re interested in becoming a great speaker, this book is a must.

Note – I wonder why the book doesn’t mention the President’s speech-writing team headed by Jon Favreau? Newsweek has a good article on this very young writer. It’s interesting to note that in one part of the article it mentions that it took three people, three weeks to finish one speech.(click here)

Vocal Variety by Dee M.

Dee shows us that we use vocal variety all day long.

Now, incorporate that same vocal variety in your next speech.

Don’t Compete With Your Background

One of the problems many speakers face is that they think that just because they have a gigiantic screen that they always need to be showing something. Wrong!  There are times when you want your audience focused on the screen and times when you want the audience looking at yourself.  When you want the audience focused on you and your message, go to a black slide so that the audience isn’t distracted by what is showing on the screen behind you.

Turning a Joke into a Great Story

Many times an inexperienced speaker will resort to reading a joke he found on the internet and it will usually flop. What they need to do instead is to take that joke and turn it into a believable story and then add the vocal variety of a story teller.

Here’s how to do it:

#1. Find a funny joke or story.
Is it funny to you? If not, don’t use it.
a. Personal experience. (This is the best source of humor.)
b. Research: TV, books, etc.

#2. Write it down, but KISS.
Ink it – don’t think it. Keep it short and simple.

#3. Put it into your own words.
Once you find a story you like, re-write it in your own words and vocabulary so it becomes your story.

#4. Make it realistic.
Tell it as if it were true. Your audience came to hear you and your experiences. Make them believe what you’re saying. If your story is built around a totally impossible situation, like a conversation you had with a little green man from Mars, then introduce it this way. “The other night, I had the strangest dream. I dreamed a UFO landed in my back yard.”

#5. Localize Your Humor
You know the audience, what they do, what they are interested in and where they are located. Make your story local.

#6, Practice, practice, practice.
A. Practice into a tape recorder, practice to your friends, practice going to and from work in your car. And when you think you’ve got a story pretty well perfected, give it the final test. Tell it to your family at the breakfast table. That’s the greatest challenge of all.

B. Master that punch line.
The climax, the dramatic ending must be carefully written and always delivered exactly the same way. Memorize it. Memorize it so well that if you wake up in the middle of the night you can shout it out without the slightest chance of error.

#7. If the joke works, put it in your “joke file.”
It’s easy to find humorous material if you’re looking for it, but it’s also just as easy to forget it. So, keep a file where you keep those funny stories. The computer is the ideal place to save these stories. You could also use a 3 x 5 card file or any other method you choose.