Yesterday I attended my first event with a local professional women’s networking group – lunch and a speaker. The food was delicious, the attendees friendly and interesting, and the speaker delightful. Because of the positive experience, I plan to join the group and/or attend future events.
The speaker was the head of the state commission for women. And just as suggested in my new favorite book, Give Your Speech, Change the World by Nick Morgan, she began her talk with a story related to her speech topic, “Are We There Yet?”
As she prepared her remarks, she said, she thought about the season and was reminded of the summer car trips she took as a young girl with her parents and siblings. She reminisced about traveling to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc.
As the youngest, she would invariably be urged by her brother and sister to ask the question dreaded by all drivers of young children, “Are we there yet?”
Then she neatly segued to apply this question to her speech topic – are women “there yet” in the business world.
The other nice thing she did, also suggested in Morgan’s book, was to take the temperature of the audience and involve them in the speech if possible.
This speaker did just that. I had the impression, for example, that she may have been expecting a larger audience than the 15 or so women in the room, but she quickly adapted to the situation. She stood at the side of the lectern in an accessible posture, more connected to her audience. She encouraged and took questions during the speech.
Because of this, her remarks became conversational, personal and honored the audience’s thoughts about the topic.
She did other things right too – in painting the picture of where women are today she used both national and state-specific statistics so we gained knowledge of both the limitations and opportunities for women right where we live.
Finally, she used no PowerPoint slides. Always a plus. After the talk, she told me she had just read Real Leaders Don’t Use PowerPoint by Chris Witt…and clearly took it to heart.
The only weakness of the speech, to my mind, was the ending call to action. It was a little short and a little vague.
So, things for us to remember as speechwriters – use an opening story that directly relates to your topic; involve the audience where possible; paint a picture that helps your audience care about the topic and its implications; and end with a strong call to action.
After all, as Nick Morgan says, the only reason to give a speech is to change the world.
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Cynthia,
It sounds like the speaker did a great job. You can do all the research possible and still be surprised…by the size (or lack of it) of the audience, by the room set-up, by the schedule. The sign of a masterful speaker (at least one of the sign) is their ability to roll with the punches, to take what comes their way and make the most of it.
For years, the weakest part of any speech I gave was the conclusion. Which was a shame, since it’s the most important part of the speech. Now I put much more energy into adding punch to it so that it leaves the audience with a very clear idea of what to do next.