Good Morning,
My current read is "The Sir Winston Method: The five Secrets of Speaking the Language of Leadership" by James C. Humes (http://www.amazon.com/Sir-Winston-Method-Speaking-Leadership/dp/0688102247) which covers how Leaders effectively communicate through public speaking.
This book gives a treasure trove of speaking tips, as well as speech writing tips to help better communicate. Filled throughout the book are examples from actual speeches of business leaders, presidents, and of course, Sir Winston Churchill.
The five secrets are:
1. Strong Beginning
By strong beginning, James Humes suggests starting off with a quote or fact which grabs the audience, and strongly suggests to avoid starting with a joke or humor as this often weakens the audience's perception of the speaker. If you need to do a joke, place it in the middle of the speech and use an anecdote (story) rather than a joke. The opening is your chance to grab the audience.
Churchill started off one of his speeches with: "I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
2. One Theme
Keep the speech on one theme. If you have multiple topics to cover, then work to fuse them together to fit into one theme. For example, if you need to speak to your group or organization about budget, production, incentives and recent staffing concerns, then find a common denominator and link these subjects back to this ONE theme. In this case, the theme could be 'Improving the Organization by following the budget, improving production, giving incentives, and addressing staffing concerns'.
3. Simple Language
This is where I have failed often. I have grown accustomed to using the jargon words, or business-eze. Churchill used simple words. Instead of 'Maximize' he would say 'make the most of'. It may be more words, but it is simpler. Simpler is easier to understand.
4. Pictures
Give mental pictures, or use visual aides. In other words, give people examples to compare your subject matter to. If you want to talk about a product, or service, describe it, give mental images for the audience to grasp onto. If you are talking about improving quality of phone analysts, then give the picture of happy customers getting their issues resolved correctly the first time and what that would mean to them. Describe the end result you are looking to achieve.
5. Emotional Ending
This is the ending of the speech, where you build up to the finale. This is your chance to get the audience emotionally invested in your message.
Churchill once ended with: "You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory -- victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net
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