Remembering the Challenger, and One of History’s Greatest Speeches. Yesterday marked 27 years since the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Ronald Regan’s subsequent address to the nation is still one of the most well-crafted pieces of communication I’ve ever witnessed. Michel E. Eidenmuller, in his book Great Speeches described the situation: “In addressing the American people on an event of national scope, Reagan would play the role of national eulogist. In that role, he would need to imbue the event with life-affirming meaning, praise the deceased, and manage a gamut of emotions accompanying this unforeseen and yet unaccounted-for disaster. As national eulogist, Reagan would have to offer redemptive hope to his audiences, and particularly to those most directly affected by the disaster.” The speech succeeded in meeting the emotional requirements of five audiences by carefully addressing each segment.
The speech lasted only four short minutes, but it resonated on many many levels. Stage Time: Storytelling ~ Eye-motional Connection : Darren LaCroix | World Champion of Public Speaking. Email this article to a friend Ever watch a cartoon and get caught up in the story? How did the animators do that? How did they get you to connect to a two dimensional image on a screen? It is not easy.
Hollywood has an advantage of decades of experience that they build upon. You and I can use techniques they use to connect to our audiences. When most presenters tell their stories they are focused on the words, yet the emotions of the characters are the important part of the story. So, what are eye-motions? Well, while sitting in the hospital in Singapore suffering from seventy-two bug bites, I was thinking of you.
A smile is not just a mouth only expression. That’s how they bring emotions to annotated characters. Our internal thoughts come out through our eyes, just like Hollywood actors. This begs the question: How do you do that? Do you identify the emotions of your characters in your stories? Here is a test. Share your comments below! Stage time, P.S. P.P.S. I get emails . . . 7 Don’ts for Speakers | Craig Valentine. The following mistakes will keep you from making the impact you should have and from being the speaker you should be. Be honest in evaluating whether you make the mistakes or not.
Then, and only then, can you change them. 1. Don’t use too much set-up before you get into your story. This is a very common mistake I see most speakers make. 2. Another one I heard recently was, “I shared the stage with him before he passed away.” 3. 4. Even if the next step is simply to visit your main website, make sure they have a good reason for doing so. A confused mind says no but a clear mind says go Keep it simple and clear. My Bad Mistake – Just this weekend I had a speech to 500 salespeople at a national conference. Lesson? 5. Plus, many event coordinators underestimate how much time is needed to go from one segment of the event to the other. 6.
A great story that doesn’t fit is worse than a good story that does 7. The Rhythm of Speaking | Craig Valentine. Years ago, one of my coaching said to me, “Craig, you have a rhythm when you speak. How can I get a rhythm into my speeches?” I have to admit, at the time, I was stumped for an answer. I really hadn’t thought much about it. However, a few months later, it hit me. Speaking is certainly a lot like music and there is a rhythm to it. The Advantage to Having Rhythm in your Speech? There is also a major benefit to having a rhythm in your speech.
It makes the speech more memorable! Think about it. Proof of the Power of the Rhythm Just the other day I received a phone call from a prospect who said, “Craig, I saw you speak 10 years ago and I remember when you said, ‘People buy-into what they help create.’ Wow, 10 years! Let’s look at how you can have Rhythm in your Speaking When I was in middle school, I remember our music teacher showing us how to put a song together. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a musician nor do I pretend to be. Speaking of Singing Verse A Chorus Bridge Speaking of Speaking Silence! 4 Mistakes that Make You Lose Your Audience | Craig Valentine. Mistake #1: They Tell the audience about themselves Have you ever heard a speaker say something like, “We all have problems and challenges that we need to overcome.”? What’s wrong with that statement? Here it is. Your audience members do not want to be told about themselves. A statement like that makes them think, “You don’t know me! How are you going to tell me I have a problem or a challenge?
Now here’s the key. Ask, don’t tell So instead of saying, “We all have problems and challenges that we need to overcome,” say, “Have you ever had a problem or challenge that was difficult to overcome?” Mistake #2: Taking too long to get to the story Another reason we lose our audience is by rambling on too much before we get to our stories. Mistake #3: Taking to long to get to the conflict What if the Titanic never hit the iceberg? As soon as you introduce your characters, make sure to immediately throw them into a conflict. Mistake #4: They Don’t Tease “There is actually one final R.
Final thoughts: 25 Phrases to Guide you to Greatness in Speaking | Craig Valentine. There I was, driving down Interstate 95, listening to Charlie “Tremendous” Jones on audio CD the day after I shared the stage with him years ago. Suddenly, he gave the advice that changed my life as a speaker. It can change yours too. He said, Don’t get your audience to listen and memorize; get them to think and realize That statement changed the way I speak because it made me focus on getting my audience to reflect more. In this spirit, instead of giving you a lesson to listen to, you get the opportunity to reflect.
At the risk of making them sound too important, I do strongly make the following 3 suggestions: Print out these 25 Phrases and tack them up where you can see them on a daily basis. Pick a couple of the phrases now and comment on them in the blog. Discuss the list with another speaker/presenter. . • Speak to one but look to all • When you lift yourself up you let your audience down • What gets recorded gets rewarded • Don’t add humor to a speech; uncover humor within it. 2 Delivery Tools to Uncover Humor in Your Speech | Craig Valentine. Obviously content and structure are important for uncovering humor. However, so is delivery. Here are 2 delivery tools you can use to make your speeches more humorous. Humorous Delivery Tool #1: The Look before the Line As you probably know, you should never add humor to a speech, you should uncover humor within it.
It’s already there. Where? It’s in your story. Many speakers spend so much time trying to create humorous content when, in reality, a change in delivery can make their already-existing content funny. I have a story where I go to a KFC drive-through and place an order. I drove up to the intercom and the lady said, “Welcome to KFC, may I help you?” In this case, I was thinking, “What? Unfortunately far too often speakers just give the lines. The Key to tool #1 The key to tool #1 is to always ask yourself, “What am I thinking or feeling after that line of dialogue?”
Humorous Delivery Tool #2: Stop on a Dime Write down your perfect day. It’s at that moment that I stop on a dime. Blog | Craig Valentine. With an amazing group of students at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan Workshops and seminars are often longer than keynote speeches and this means you have to find innovative ways to keep your audience’s energy high. Below are 10 ways. However, in order to raise their energy, it’s important to also have a workshop environment that’s conducive to a successful learning process.
Therefore, before you read about the 10 ways to master the energy, take a look at 11 ways to master the environment. Mastering the Environment How to set the stage and the mind for Optimal Learning 1. For example, you can have it say on your visual (PowerPoint, chalk board, or even on a flip chart) to “Choose a partner and turn to page 3 in your workbook.” 2. Having products in the front of the room will put them in a defensive mode before you even begin. 3. The beginning flavors what they feel the rest of the workshop will be like. 4. For example, I used to say, “What happens in this room, stays in this room.” 5. 6. 7.
The #1 Storytelling Mistake Speakers Make (and 3 ways to fix it) | Craig Valentine. The Most Common Storytelling Mistake By far the most common mistake speakers make with their stories is having too much narration and not enough dialogue. For example, they’ll say something like the following: “And the principal threw me out of the school and told me never to come back.” Now that’s narration. However, dialogue would go something like this: “And the principal looked me directly in the eyes and said, ‘Mr. FYI – this is only an example, I was never actually expelled from anything The Necessary Adjustment If speakers would make the simple adjustment of replacing much of their narration with dialogue, they would automatically and immediately do one of the most powerful things in public speaking. Three Types of Dialogue you can use to Bring your audience into your Scenes Most speakers at least know about using dialogue but they might not know there are three major types of dialogue they can use.
Dialogue between charactersInner dialogueAudience dialogue Dialogue between Characters.