![]() As an interested human being, you want to hear them make that case live and in their own spontaneously-generated words, not read something created apart from you and without you in mind. Should that person look you in the eye and explain what makes the film compelling, or should they go home, write and edit a review, come back, and then read the finished review to you? Now imagine that person recommending not a movie, but a brilliant new marketing strategy, a breakthrough vaccine delivery system, or a campaign to save the earth. Imagine someone recommending a movie to you. “If you maintain an audience-centered approach, your listeners will reward you with appreciation.” Cohen, an author and professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. “The key to delivering a successful speech is showing your audience members that you care about them,” says Steve D. This concept is critical, because humans are more apt to give attention to speakers who seem to, or actually do, demonstrate a sincere interest in them. These words and transitions should come naturally and sound human, but when read word-for-word, they can come across like the voice on a robocall - friendly but noticeably stilted and artificial.Ī presentation audience doesn’t even have time to process - much less remember - specific words and phrases, so time spent conceiving and writing “the perfect words” is largely wasted on them, even if it brings comfort or pride to the speaker.įinally, writing a full speech is a process that excludes the audience, whereas delivering a speech with limited notes involves and incorporates the audience into the experience. For every important concept you raise, you’re crafting many extra lines to set up and contextualize those ideas. In most cases, writing a full speech is also pointlessly time-consuming. This mindset has nothing to do with getting your point across or doing your job, and sends you down a path of performance (“I want to impress you”), not presentation (“I want to convince you”). ![]() While a speaker’s primary goal is to engage and inspire, many communicators are inclined to write out their speeches because they mistakenly believe their goal is to be perceived as a fantastic speaker or writer. In those typical settings, writing, reading, and certainly memorizing a word-for-word speech is actually one of the most destructive and counterproductive tactics you can take as a presenter.īelow are some of the biggest pitfalls of fully writing, reading, and memorizing speeches, as well as what you should be doing instead to accomplish what should be your main goal - engaging and inspiring your audience. Most of us give presentations more frequently in business meetings, online conferences, and a wide range of small- to mid-size internal and external events. If you have a team of speechwriters working for you, you should certainly have them work their magic and then take your position behind glassy teleprompters to serve it up. Others inferred it from seeing stirring, perfect speeches from politicians, award recipients, and fictional television characters. Like many people, she thought a “good speech” is something you write out word-for-word and read aloud - perhaps even memorize. ![]() To my trained ears, she might as well have been saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll make my task pointlessly hard and ensure a distant connection with my audience!” ![]() “I’ll have it completely written and memorized by next week!” ![]() “Don’t worry,” a coaching client once told me shortly after I saw her rehearse her presentation. ![]()
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