..I’ll ask for it.

From Seth Godin:

When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it

As a student of public speaking, I was definitely looking forward to reading Confessions of a Public Speaker.  An opinionated portrayal of public speaking, containing practical advice, and humorous and illuminating stories that will also improve my public speaking.

What more could I want?  After reading the book I actually found myself wanting less.  Like a food buffet with so many competing choices, more isn’t always better when they are presented together.

Let me explain…

Before opening this book I assumed it would consist of eye opening candid stories of adventures in public speaking as a way to pass on lessons learned.  There is some of this.  But there is more other stuff.  There is a discussion of various myths (seeing people naked, fees, and scarier than death).  Many tips for public speakers throughout the book (density theory, pauses, when things go wrong).  A fascinating discussion of why evaluation forms are less than useful.  A chapter on appearing on TV which I felt was out of place.  A fantastic recommendation section listing many books.  And a section of short confessions from other public speakers.

It felt like a brain dump of everything Scott knows about public speaking.

To add insult to injury, a chapter on storytelling was not included.  I also found it interesting that Scott’s “best advice” is to recommend Toastmasters, but he didn’t include any discussion of his experiences.

Despite the inclusion of some confessions, I don’t feel I know Scott very well after reading this book.  I know he doesn’t like mornings and has appeared on TV.  I know he cares about public speaking and has done a lot of research.  I know little more.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have to force myself to read this book.  It was interesting and I learned a few useful things from it.  The pointers to other resources are worth the price of the book in my opinion.  My only issue is its cohesiveness.  I have a hard time recommending this book to anyone unless all they want is an approachable introduction to public speaking.

I know I am guilty of this. Putting something into a speech because I loved it rather than it fitting the speech.  It seems especially true with contest speeches.  We want to impress.

Have you ever done this?

Can you recognize when another speaker is doing this?  Can you tell them?

John Kinde has an excellent newsletter where he wrote:

Too often, we’re tempted to force fit something into a talk that really doesn’t fit…the square peg in the round hole.  This applies not only to magic, but also to other things we love; stories, humor, a song.  A speaker who opens a talk with a joke, for the sake of the joke, is taking the same risks as a speaker who opens with a magic trick.  Anything we add to a professional talk needs to organically fit into the speech.  It needs to blend naturally into the content of the speech.  Adding something to a speech just because “we like it” is a critical mistake.

It really is a critical mistake.  I have seen evaluators focus on commending the square peg instead of calling it out for what it is.

Do the speaker a real favor, let them know if they are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.