7 Public Speaking Tools to Make Your Stories More Visual

May 03

The following is a fantastic article by Craig Valentine on making your stories visual:

Legendary speech coach, Patricia Fripp, once told me that audiences will not remember what you say as much as they will remember what they see in their minds when you say it. Fripp is absolutely correct and below are seven tools you can use to make your stories more visual for your audience.

  1. Put your audience members somewhere inside of the scenes you create. For example, I say, “I wish you were in the passenger’s seat as I drove up to the KFC.” In other words, I put you in the passenger’s seat inside of my scene.
  2. Check the VAKS (Visuals, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Smell). For example, I might say, “If you had been sitting beside my wife and me on our old beat up black leather sofa (visual and kinesthetic), with the chocolate chip cookies baking in the background (smell), you would have heard my wife say (auditory). Do this quickly as you set your scene so that all the different types of learners will be brought into it.
  3. Set your scene and remember where you mentally put everybody and everything on the stage. Do not be like the one guy we had in a bootcamp who buried his uncle on one part of the stage and then proceeded to have lunch on that very same spot during the same story.
  4. Create and walk your timeline. You should turn the stage into a timeline that the audience reads from left to right. That means, if the story is chronological, the first events take place on the your right side of the stage (the left side from your audience’s point of view) and then you can walk to your left as you relate the later events of that story. Remember you must be the aerobics instructor and do everything in the opposite direction so it is the correct direction for your audience.
  5. Give your characters a hint for how they look. For example, I might say, “This big burly guy in the front row yelled out to me.” Doing a visual gesture here to show is size also helps.
  6. Attach a visual to all of your verbal foundational phrases. For example, when I say, “Don’t get ready, stay ready,” I have a gesture I use with my arms at the same time I give the phrase. When I do this a few times during my speech, the visual begins to have the ability to stand on its own. When I give my 4 Rs to Remarkable Results speeches, I can give the four gestures (one for each point) without speaking and my audience will know exactly what I am saying.
  7. I have saved the best for last. Here it is. Show the visual before the verbal. This means, don’t just give the lines of dialog. Instead, give the lines and then show the visual reaction of the other character before that character gives the verbal response. For example, one character might say, “Craig, I admire you for having a dream but you can’t leave the organization.” At that point my other character (who happens to be me) shows the visual of confusion on my face before giving the verbal response of, “What do you mean I can’t leave?”

Too many speakers are simply delivering lines of dialog back and forth without showing the reactions. As the 2001 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix, says, “Reactions tell the story.” Show the visual reaction before you give the verbal response.

Final Thoughts:

When you use these seven tools in your stories, not only will your speeches be more visual, but you as a speaker will become more visible. This is because great storytellers that have profound and practical points are always in high-demand.

Craig Valentine is the author of two books entitled World Class Speaking and The Nuts and Bolts of Public Speaking. He is the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking and an internationally-known professional speaker. To get your FREE Masterful Speaking Toolkit, visit http://www.craigvalentine.com/

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Creativity in isolation

Apr 17

A few days ago I posted 20 things I learned from Patricia Fripp.  I decided to put a few of them into practice:

#1: Dialogue is key to making stories come alive. & #4:You must record your presentations AND watch them.

I recorded a speech I did on Tuesday.  In addition I used dialogue more than I ever have.  I haven’t yet watched my speech, but I will do so.  I know I will hate it, but I have heard that after a few times I will get over it.

#15: You cannot be creative in isolation & #16: Create a mastermind group

I organized a meeting with 3 other speakers present on Monday and also 1 other speaker that wanted to be there.  We met for 2 hours and the synergy is evident.  The creativity was definitely flowing in this group of 5 people.

We have one other person that is interested in joining, making a group of 6 speakers ready to propel their speaking to the next level.  We are going to meet every other week for 2 hours where we can practice and get feedback.  We think 6 people will be our limit although we may change that once we have our first meeting.

Thank you Patricia for bringing us together and for providing excellent ideas to start our group with.

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0 comments Public Speaking

How do you improve a speech?

Apr 15

I received the following article yesterday in my email from JA Gamache.  It was very timely as Patricia said Monday night that recording your speech is necessary to be a better speaker.  So, between Fripp and JA I decided to record my speech yesterday.  Not only did I record it, but I also plan to watch it!!!

How do you Improve a Speech?

by J.A. Gamache: Third place Champion at the 2001 Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking

When you have to deliver the same speech several times, I suggest you record every one of your live performances. You will improve your text by working from the recording. Here’s why I record all my speeches:

1- To Capture the Inspiration of the Moment

During a performance, I often have some really good ideas. Sometimes a participant says something that makes me think of something relevant that I spontaneously add to my speech. This new idea often turns into a real gem of a text. If I don’t record my performance, there’s a good chance that I won’t remember that specific moment of inspiration.

2-To Keep the BestWording

I often express myself better when I am on stage. Small improvements to my text naturally come to mind. And the recording helps me remember them. These changes are precious especially when you want to include humor. A joke works best when it is delivered in the right way with the right use of words.

3- To Unveil the Potential for Humor in Your Speech

A recording helps you seize every reaction of your audience, no matter how small. When I hear someone giggle, it shows me there is potential for humor in what I have just said. A sentence or the context in which I said it was funny for a few people. By reworking my text and my delivery, there’s a good chance I’ll find the RIGHT combination which next time will make the whole audience laugh.

I hope the reasons mentioned above will inspire you to record each one of your live presentations. It’s a great way to improve your speeches. You won’t loose the gems you come up with spontaneously during a speech. You will be able to listen to the audience’s reaction to uncover the humorous potential of your talk.

©MMIX J.A. Gamache www.jagamache.com. All rights reserved.

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PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE in whole or in part if a copy of the reproduced text is sent to J.A. Gamache at info@jagamache.com after publication and also provided that this byline, including  the following paragraph, appears along with the reproduced text:

This article was reproduced from “Speaking in Public with J.A.”, a FREE electronic magazine authored by J.A. Gamache, International Inspirational Speaker. To subscribe to his FREE e-zine or to find out more about his presentations, visit: http://www.jagamache.com.

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20 Lessons from Patricia Fripp

Apr 14

Patricia Fripp came to town last night!  What a treat!  I learned a lot from her 2.5 hour presentation.  Here are some of the highlights:

  1. Dialogue is key to making stories come alive.
  2. Having a good I/You ratio is an excellent technique for connecting with the audience.
  3. Your dialogue does not have to come from people.
  4. You must record your presentations AND watch them.
  5. We need to fall in love with our own content.
  6. Have someone else transcribe your speeches if possible.
  7. Move with purpose using movement specific phrases.
  8. Stand still at the start of your presentation.
  9. You can connect intellectually or emotionally.
  10. If you don’t know what questions your audience has, you don’t know your audience.
  11. Storytelling for speeches also works for blogs.
  12. Lead your audience from what they can do to how you can provide it.
  13. Use the words of your clients in your presentations.
  14. You can make eye contact on silence too.
  15. You cannot be creative in isolation.
  16. Create a mastermind group.
  17. Make the people in the audience the heroes.
  18. Use phrasing to punctuate your speeches.
  19. Punch words need to go at the end of a phrase.
  20. Take your audience along with you in your presentation.

This really only scratches the surface of what I learned.  I will come back to many of these comments on this blog.

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5 comments Public Speaking

Writing out your speech

Apr 11

In You should write your speeches and presentations, Frank Adamo tells us that we should write out our speeches so that we can refine, massage, and condense them.  He quotes David Brooks, the 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking:

It is absolutely necessary to write a speech and refine the speech as many times as necessary.

It is important to have a speech written down so that you CAN edit it.  This does not mean that you have to write it first.  To keep your speech conversational, many experts suggest that you use a voice recorder to capture the speech and then transcribe it.

I agree with this advice when it relates to a 7:30 Toastmasters contest speech.  Every second counts.  When it comes to an hour long speech, I think being genuine and conversational is much more important than culling a few words here and there.

Packing more into a speech may not be what the audience really needs.  They may need to feel a connection with a real human being who isn’t concentrating on giving a highly optimzed speech.

My recommendation is to record your speech.  Transcribe your speech.  Then, take key areas of that speech and edit those.  Internalize, but don’t memorize.  Don’t edit the whole thing – unless it is for the World Championship of Public Speaking contest.  Even if it is for the contest, determine if highly edited speech is your style.

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