How To Create A Great Speech Fast – In 5 Steps | Public Words | Nick Morgan

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How To Create A Great Speech Fast – In 5 Steps

Nick Morgan

Video 2:52 min

January 26, 2011

How To Create A Great Speech Fast - In 5 Steps

The other day Harvard asked me to boil down the creation of a great speech into 5 quick steps for busy executives. Here's the result in a short video. Enjoy!

Excerpts:

Strategy:

- Shape the content to meet the needs and respect of your audience.

- Provide great content that you’re passionate about.

- Take the audience on a decision making journey.

- Focus on the audience’s perspective. Make it about them.

- Engage their emotions as well as their intellect.

The 5 Steps:

1. Tell a human story. There are at lease five themes to draw from. These include:
1. “Stranger In A Strange Land” – For facing a new competitive landscape.
2. “Revenge” – For let’s beat the competition.
3. “A Love Story” - For M&A or product launches.
4. “Rags to Riches” – For Entrepreneurs.
5. “The Quest” – For we’re in search for something important.
2. Draw them in quickly. In 1 to 3 minutes, pull them in and engage them. Don’t make the classic mistake of providing a self-introduction or using an agenda slide. Instead do one of the following:
1. Use a factoid that grabs them.
2. Ask them a powerful rhetorical question.
3. Start telling them a story that you’ve chosen, in a compelling way.
3. Explain a threat that confronts them:
1. Something that will stop their own distracting, internal dialogue regarding unrelated matters.
2. Point out a problem that only you can solve.
3. Spend as much time describing the problem as you do about how to fix it.
4. Engage the audiences emotions as well as their intellect.
4. Outline the solution.
1. In 5 or less steps, outline the solution in simple terms.
2. Show them your expertise and knowledge without overwhelming with too much information.
5. Give them an action step.
1. Get your audience to do something right now. Now that you’ve identified the problem and solutions, the audience is itching to do something about them.
2. Ask them to commit to something, to a project, or to 3 action steps.

About Nick Morgan: Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, Nick is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas—and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear on the Today Show, and to take on the investment community. He has worked widely with political and educational leaders. And he has helped design conferences and prepare keynote speeches around the world.

Nick served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter from 1998 — 2003. He has written hundreds of articles for local and national publications. Nick is a former Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

After earning his Ph.D. in literature and rhetoric, Nick spent a number of years teaching Shakespeare and Public Speaking at the University of Virginia and Princeton University. He first started writing speeches for Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb and went on to found his own communications consulting organization, Public Words, in 1997.

Access Content Source And Other Great Stuff: http://publicwords.typepad.com/nickmorgan/2011/01/how-to-create-a-great-speech-fast-in-5-steps.html

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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.