加载中…HOW TO MAKE A GOOD SPEECH
(2009-05-20 17:08:57)
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杂谈 |
- Remember: an excellent speech does not require a brilliant
orator - you can do it. Winston Churchill is commonly
regarded as one of the greatest speakers in the English language,
yet he regretted the lack of practice in public speaking that he
would have gained had he gone to university and he suffered from a
slight lisp and a stammer. The key is preparation.
- You are probably making this speech at an event which has a
programme which has been published beforehand. So make sure that
the title of your speech is catchy and then people will be
looking forward to it even before the event.
- Making a good speech starts weeks before with thorough
preparation. You should have been thinking of themes and
points, noting down ideas and sources, crafting phrases and
sentences.
- The best speeches tell your audience things they didn't
know and/or give them insights they didn't have. So:
- In respect of the first, research some salient, accurate and up-date facts and figures.
- In respect of the second, look at the subject differently - think 'out of the box'.
- You should have finalised the notes or text or slides at
least the day before, so that you can concentrate on reading
through the material, becoming very familiar and comfortable with
it, and thinking about the actual delivery.
- Remember: expectation shapes reality. This means that,
to some extent you can have won or lost your audience even before
you are really into your speech. If people think you're going to be
good, that will help them to perceive you as good. So your
biographical details in the programme material and how the chair
introduces you are both important and you can influence them.
Conversely, if people think you're going to be poor, that will
condition them to seeing you as poor. So never begin by saying that
you were unsure why you were invited to speak or what you should
say and, unless it is obvious (for instance because you have a
terrible cold), never admit to feeling anxious, unsure or unwell.
- Once you are called upon to make your speech, pause for a
couple of moments before actually starting your delivery. If
you've had to walk up to a platform or over to a rostrum, this
gives you time to steady your breath. If you are nervous as a
speaker, it gives you time to take a few shallow breaths and calm
those nerves. In any event, it gives the audience an opportunity to
settle down and focus on you and your message. But the pause should
be a few seconds only.
- If you are not using a microphone, be aware of the need
to speak sufficiently loudly that the furthest member of your
audience can hear you clearly. Take the opportunity to move around
a little which will help to command attention.
- If you are using a microphone, speak at normal volume,
but a little more slowly and distinctly than if you were not using
amplification. Don't move around because you'll leave the
microphone behind (unless it is fixed to you).
- You should convey a sense of enthusiasm for the subject.
This will effect your delivery and how your speech is received.
- Occasionally alter the speed, volume and tone of your
delivery. Speaking slower or faster and quieter or louder and
being more cheerful or more serious all adds dramatic effect and
keeps the attention of your audience.
- Regularly sweep your eyes left-centre-right and back and
front-middle-rear and back, so that you engage all members of your
audience. The actor Tom Cruise once told an interviewer: "A lot
of the time, what acting is really about is meeting someone's
eye" - the same is true of public speaking.
- Don't make a rambling opening. There is nothing worse
than the speaker who starts with something like: "When I was
asked to speak on this subject, I wondered what to say .."
- Never apologise for your nervousness or your material.
You and your speech are probably better than you appreciate but, in
any event, if you don't advertise any weaknesses in your style or
content, they probably won't be noticed.
- Make a dramatic opening which seizes the attention with
the very first words. This might be a stirring statement: "This
year we are going to make a fundamental transformation of our whole
organisation". It might be a challenging question: "How can
we turn ourselves into an even more successful organisation?"
Whatever you do, don't ask a question that invites a cynical answer
from your audience: "Are we the best organisation in the
country?"
- Have a very clear structure. A good technique is to tell
your audience what you are going to say, tell them, and then tell
them what you have said. A good structure is for the core message
to be three linked points which can be sub-divided as necessary.
- If it is appropriate, use PowerPoint. It ensures that
you stick to your structure and that the structure is clear to your
audience. It looks professional and you can use images as well
text.
- PowerPoint slides should not consist of simply a few words or
conversely a mass of text. Three or four bullet points of four
or five words each is ideal.
- Put the main verb early in the sentence, especially if
it is a long sentence. So, not: "When we have all the facts and
we have considered all the options, we shall make our
decision". But instead: "We shall make our decision, when we
have all the facts and we have considered all the options" .
- Consider the use of short sentences or even short
phrases for dramatic effect. Examples of short sentences:
"Failure is not an option" or"The place is here. The time
is now. The prize is great". Examples of short phrases:
"Never again", "No excuses".
- Use striking adjectives and adverbs. Not simply: "We
face many challenges" but "We face many exciting
challenges". Not simply: "We will work on our problems"
but "We will work energetically on our problems".
- Consider the use of striking images in the form of
metaphors or similes. For example: "an iron curtain"
(Winston Churchill, 1946), "a paper tiger" (Mao Zedong,
1946),"the axis of evil" (George Bush, 2002).
- Make moderate use of alliteration in phrases or
sentences. For example, some phrases: "broadband Britain",
"the digital divide", "silver surfers". For example,
some sentences: "The ballot is stronger than the bullet"
(Abraham Lincoln, 1856) or "Now let us fulfil our mandate and
our mission" (Gordon Brown, Labour Party Conference 2002) or
"At our best when at our boldest" (Tony Blair, Labour Party
Conference 2002).
- Consider the use of rhyme. For example: "We will
fight to show that we are right".
- Use contrasts. For example: "Politics is war without
bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed" (Mao Zedong,
lecture, 1938) or "Never in the field of human conflict was so
much owed by so many to so few" (Winston Churchill, House of
Commons, 1940) or "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask
what you can do for your country" (John F Kennedy, inaugural
address, 1961) or "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere" (Martin Luther King, letter from jail, 1963).
- Make temporal comparisons. For example: "When the
company was first founded .." or "When we first moved to
this office .." and "Many challenges are still the same"
or "The situation now is so different".
- Make geographical comparisons. Compare and contrast your
situation with other companies or other organisations or with other
regions or other countries. What does this tell us?
- Use three-part lists. For example: "Government of the
people, by the people, and for the people" (Abraham Lincoln,
1863) or "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad,
ill-nourished" (Franklin D Roosevelt, second inaugural address,
1937) or "The ultimate case for the third way is that it works -
good values, good vision, good policies" (Bill Clinton, Labour
Party Conference 2002).
- Very occasionally, consider a longer list. For example,
a list of four: "We shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight
on the landing grounds; we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets; we shall fight in the hills" (Winston Churchill, House
of Commons, 1940). Another example, this time of five parts:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that
we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success
of liberty" (John F Kennedy, Inaugral Address, 20 January
1961).
- Repetition can be very effective. Martin Luther King was
the absolute master of judicious repetition. For example: in his
Washington speech of 28 August 1963, he used the phrases "I have
a dream .." and "Let freedom ring ..." again and again
(seven times and eight times respectively). The same technique was
used by Barack Obama in his speech following the 2008 New Hampshire
primary when he repeatedly used the phrase "Yes we can".
- Use short, pithy quotes. Clever people over the years
have created witty aphorisms, so you should borrow them when it is
appropriate. For many examples click here.
- Try humour - not by telling a story, but by using a
short, witticism. For example: "I don't mind how much my
ministers talk, as long as they do what I say" (Margaret
Thatcher, 1980)
- Self-deprecating humour often works well. For example:
President Ronald Reagan reassuring an audience: "I know you
fellows think I'm lazy, but this week I've really been burning the
midday oil" or former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher telling
a Conservative Party Conference that, on the way to the event, she
had seen a cinema advertising "The Mummy Returns".
- Try puns. For example: "Vodafone is now the largest
telephone company in the UK which makes its Chief Executive the
Lord of the Rings". Another example: TUC General Secretary Tony
Monks, when asking for the President of the European Commission
Jacques Santer to include a particular provision in a measure, said
it would be known as "the Santer clause".
- Sometimes you can use the same word but in a different
context. For example: "There can be no whitewash at the White
House" (Richard Nixon, Watergate broadcast, 1973).
- One way of commanding attention is to use a redundant, but
attention-seeking, short sentence. Tony Blair is very fond of
"I say this to you" or "Let me be clear".
- KISS (Keep it simple, stupid). Don't try to impress with
over-complicated terminology. For example: when he was Labour's
Shadow Chancellor, Gordon Brown famously praised "neoclassical
endogenous growth theory and a symbiotic relationship between
investment in people and infrastructure" (1996). In the
introduction to his compilation "Speeches That Changed The World",
Simon Sebag Montefiore states: "As a rule, simplicity of
language marks superb speeechmaking".
- Remember that 50% of statistics are meaningless (see what I
mean?). So, if you are intending to use statistics - and
some well-chosen figures can add credibility and authority to your
arguments - be sure that you understand them, that they are
meaningful, and that they are both reliable and up-to-date. Be
ready in the question and answer session, or if approached later,
to be able to source your statistics and supply the full context.
- Make clever use of the pause. If you expect laughter or
applause or you would like to create a sense of drama, pause for a
couple of seconds, before continuing your speech.
- Finish with a strong, affirmative statement, possibly
referring back to the opening sentence or question (note how many
film scripts end with a variation of a line from the beginning of
the movie).
- Only use the techniques appropriate to the occasion. A
speech in the mode of "We will fight them on the beaches" is
not ideal for opening a church bazaar. An after-dinner speech needs
lots of jokes, whereas an academic lecture needs lots of facts. In
many respects, the most difficult speeches are family occasions
like weddings and funerals - there are many sensitivities here, so
think carefully about what you're going to say.
- If you are speaking to an international audience
(especially if your words are being translated into other
languages), don't use any of the language-specific tips such as
alliteration, rhyme or puns and be careful not to use
culturally-specific allusions or organisational jargon. I once gave
a lecture on British industrial relations to a group of Russian
trade union officials and they were baffled by my apparent
reference to a department store which never closed. I had mentioned
the "closed shop"!
- Beware of speaking for too long. The British aristocrat
Lord Brabazon once said: "If you cannot say what you have to say
in twenty minutes, you should go away and write a book about
it". Abraham Lincoln's address at Gettysburg in 1863 lasted a
mere two minutes, but it is one of the most memorable speeches ever
delivered. Nobody ever complains that a speech is too short - and
there's usually a question and answer session to use up the rest of
the time and to make further points.
- When it's all over, consider creating an on-line version of the speech. If you put the text on a web site, you can add hyperlinks to more detailed information and provide up-dates to keep the material topical and relevant. In this way, you have a 'live' document and you reach a much wider audience.
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