Seven Ways to Become a Speaking Star

Imagine you have unlimited resources to design a speech that will make you the hottest commodity on the market, inspire your sales force, or close more sales. Where would you go to get the best writers and directors in the world?

Hollywood!

What makes a good Hollywood movie? The same principles that make a great keynote speech, executive presentation or sales conversation.

The good news is you don’t need to hire an Oscar-winning writer and director. Just learn to adapt seven basic Hollywood techniques to increase your impact.

• Embrace the creative process.

The late, great comedian George Carlin said, “Creating a great speech or comedy routine is more like going on a field trip than working in a laboratory.”

What he meant is the creative process is messy, more free-flowing, so just embrace it. Forget the PowerPoint. Just list what content – stories, quotes, statistics, your corporate message, and client successes – could go in your presentation. Then organize the structure of your presentation in a conversational and logical way and add the visuals.

• Consider collaborating.

Collaboration is the norm in Hollywood, and it can work for speakers and presenters no matter the audience or venue. If you are a corporate leader who wants to inspire your international sales force or a speaker whose keynote speech is setting the tone for a convention, you can get value from remembering it’s difficult to be creative in isolation. Do you have team members, a sales manager or professional speech coach who can help?

• Start with a great story.

We all love stories, and when we hear one, we subconsciously feel it’s a luxury. With your corporate stories, identify your main theme, premise or purpose – your plot – and any subplots.

I coached a recently promoted retail executive who found, a week after his promotion, he was invited to speak at the company sales meeting to 500 young store managers. His challenge was to inspire them to embrace a program to get their employees to contribute money-saving ideas.

I suggested he walk on stage and say, “We are here to talk about heroes.” In seven words, he proved this wouldn’t be a dull, corporate speech.

He then added some Hollywood drama with characters, dialogue and an everyday hero. He found a story about a young man in the shipping department who noticed he was sending seven newsletters to the same location in separate packets. The man asked about packaging them together with a note requesting distribution at the destination, and ultimately saved the company $200,000. Your audience remembers what they “see” while they hear.

• Begin with a flavor scene.

Good movies open with what is called a “flavor scene,” grabbing attention and positioning the audience for what is to come. A scientist grabbed his audience’s interest by saying, “Being a scientist is like doing a jigsaw puzzle, in a snow storm … at night … when you don’t have all the pieces … or the picture you are trying to create.”

Everyone sat up and paid attention. They realized they could understand and relate to the challenges and frustration of a scientist. He also avoided sounding the same as everyone else. Don’t be boring. Create the “flavor scene.”

• Create captivating characters and construct vivid dialogue.

“Gone with the Wind” doesn’t begin with historical background on the Civil War. Instead, we find Scarlett O’Hara sulking about the impending conflict that might interfere with her social life. Immediately, we observe her frivolous, shallow personality. The sooner the audience gets emotionally involved, the better.

So, add a backstory to your speeches. Always use the characters’ dialogue to talk about their situation. Tell the audience your solution in your words; the success needs to be in the characters’ words.

 • Remember scene changes.

Early in most movies, we’re introduced to a day in the life of our protagonist. Then something happens. The lead character overcomes one challenge and runs into another. This involves scene changes.

The biggest enemy of a speaker, no matter how good, is sameness. Each time you move from story to story, this is a scene change. Use that to keep your audience interested.

• Provide a lesson learned.

Legendary producer Sam Goldwyn said, “If I want to send a message, I’ll use a telegram.” Yet all great films – and speeches – have a message. However, when a compelling story with a message is capped with a heart-tugging or eye-opening conclusion, we have what makes an unforgettable movie or speech.

It’s also important the audience see the person behind the position. We’re all motivated when we see the life lessons beyond the corporate message.  w

Patricia Fripp is an author, keynote speaker, executive speech coach and sales presentation skills trainer. She can be reached via www.Fripp.com, by calling (415) 753-6556, or emailing [email protected].