Entrepreneurial Tightrope: Build a better speech
Recently while I was leading a workshop, one of the participants wanted to know if making speeches would help to build business. And if so, what is the best way to pull a good talk together?
Making public presentations can be beneficial to all sorts of businesses. On the other hand, it can also be the kiss of death if you are not properly prepared.
When you sit down to prepare your talk -- whether it's for one person or a stadium of thousands -- it's important to consider several things:
> What are the specific benefits that you have to offer to the listener? And I emphasize the word "specific." For example, if you make soap, don't list a benefit as "it moisturizes skin." Tell us specifically what your soap does. If it helps protect dry and itchy skin from winter dryness, say just that. If you are running for political election, don't tell me that you are the better candidate for the job. Tell me how it benefits me to support you. You are better off moving from general to specific benefits when you want to attract more people to your side.
> Ending your talk with a call to action. In other words, what do you want the listener to do? Buy your products or services? Vote for you? Sign a petition, become part of a boycott, etc.? You get my point!
> Don't waste your time or your listener's talking poorly about the competition. That will get you nowhere. When listeners give you their time and attention, use it to your advantage. Let your listeners know who you are and what you're about.
Recently a friend and I attended a seminar given by a health insurance company. Its purpose was to drum up business. Two very articulate women gave a two-hour presentation, including slides and videos. But when the talk ended, I knew more about their competition than I knew about them.
Also, in the end I had no idea what they wanted us to do. There was never a call to action in their talk. OK, you say; obviously they wanted us to patronize their business. Well, the fact is, when they got to that part of the presentation –which is the last thing that the audience hears -- they should have specifically asked for our business.
In addition to not hearing, in plain terms, what they wanted from us, many in the audience didn't appreciate listening to them beat up on their competition. Actually some of the listeners were satisfied customers of their competitors. You shouldn't have to discredit anyone in order to make yourself or your company look good.
Another important aspect of public speaking is how you begin your talk.
Be sure to plan your opening remarks carefully. Most speeches start with an "ice breaker," it can be a humorous story, a startling statement of fact or a thought-provoking question. I usually open my presentation with a humorous story that relates to the topic of the presentation or the theme of the event. And please don't mistake joke-telling with humor! Very few of us can tell a good joke. But we all have at least one humorous story.
The opening story or ice breaker gives you a chance to warm up, and it gives the audience a chance to get familiar and comfortable with your voice and your presence. When you first approach that podium your audience is taking in the physical aspect of you. What you're wearing, how you look,the sound of your voice; these things distract the listener's attention and they need time to get to "know" you.
Now begin to form the body of your talk. I usually identify three points that I want to make before moving to the conclusion. And I make certain that the three points -- in your outline, try writing a couple of paragraphs in support of each one -- are beneficial to my listener.
Through it all keep that vital ending in mind -- that call to action you want to issue to the listener.
Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh, is a private coach/consultant in business development and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, published by Viking. See an index of Edmunds' columns. Her website is www.gladysedmunds.com. You can e-mail her at gladys@gladysedmunds.com.