It’s Not About the Speech…

A former mentor of mine, Floyd Wickman, who commanded speaking fees in the tens of thousands of dollars, once shared with me how he was able to almost mystically captivate his audiences. Would you like to know his secret?

I’ll give you a hint: It’s not about the speech – it’s about the audience!

Floyd explained that, in any audience, there are only ever ten people. Wouldn’t it be great if you knew everything you needed to know about all ten of them before you ever stepped up to a podium or onto a stage? Well you can…

Classic speaking theory suggests that most speeches fall into one of three general purposes: to entertain, to educate, or to motivate. Floyd showed me, that in order to really connect with your audience, you need to do all three – every time.

Entertain

We all love to be entertained. For a speech to be entertaining, it doesn’t need to be uproariously funny; it only needs to be enjoyable and perhaps divert our attention for a few moments. As I write this, Shrek 3 is in theatres. Although I’ve not seen this one, it no doubt delivers a childlike storyline and moral for the kids, cleverly combined with more sophisticated diversions for mom and dad.

Educate

One of the most common purposes of a speech is to educate or inform. This involves helping people to learn about a new subject, develop a new skill, or learn more about a familiar subject. Many workplace speeches are intended to inform.

Motivate

To motivate or persuade requires changing an audience’s attitudes or behaviours. Change rarely comes easily, so this can be one of the hardest tasks of a speaker. However, if done effectively, it can also be one of the most rewarding. Sales presentations and high level vision talks are good examples of speeches intended to motivate.

Your Audience

But it’s not about the speech; it’s about the audience. So who are these ten people in your audience?

The first three only want to be entertained. These may be your toughest customers. They already know everything they need to know about your subject – in fact they may know more than you do. What’s worse, these are the people that are already out there doing it! They certainly don’t need to be motivated. They may be asking themselves why they’re even wasting their time listening to you. Ah, but if you can entertain them, they could become your biggest fans.

The second three people only want to be educated. These people are hungry. They come with notepads and poised pens. They want to learn. So if you merely entertain or motivate, they’ll go away feeling cheated. But if you leave them with memorable information that will help improve some part of their life, they will be very glad they came.

The third three people in your audience only want to be motivated. These people are having a bad day, week, month, or year. They’re thinking: “I already know everything I need to know – I’m just not doing it! So don’t try to teach me and don’t just entertain me!” However, if you can move them to finally take action, they’ll love you forever.

And what about that tenth guy? Well, for whatever reason, no matter what you do, you’re never going to get through to him. He’s probably in the wrong room. Maybe he meant to attend a session down the hall and is just waiting for an opportune time to get up and leave without drawing attention to himself. You will never be able to completely satisfy everyone in every audience.

Inspire

It’s not about the speech; it’s about the audience. Merely delivering a speech will get you only so far. Entertaining, educating, and motivating, combined with inspiration, will transform audiences. To inspire literally means ‘to breathe life into’.

Several months ago, Bruce Springsteen appeared with Elvis Costello on a wonderful show called Spectacle. Between powerful performances, Bruce described how he wants to write and perform in a way that connects with real people. There are loads of talented musicians, singers, and songwriters, but only a handful can do this. Bruce approaches his craft with a passion for transcendence by being “up in the heavens and connected to the earth” with “music that’s rooted, and at the same time, flying.” Arguably, Springsteen has succeeded.

Now breathe in. As you prepare your next speech, think about how to entertain, educate, and motivate every time, and begin to breathe life into your audiences.

Remember: It’s not about the speech; it’s about the audience!