Carnegie Language Breakthroughs and the Art of Communication

Chapter 12 Speech Speakers and Audiences (1)
how to prepare for a speech
Does preparing a speech mean writing down or memorizing some beautiful words and then blurting out the put together words?No, far from it!Is it a collection of thoughts that come up by chance but have no real meaning to you personally?Absolutely not!The so-called "preparation" is to gather your thoughts, your ideas, your ideas, and your driving force together, and you really have this thinking and driving force.As long as your mind is clear, you will not lack them every day, and they even appear in your dreams in groups.Throughout your life, there are moments of different feelings and experiences.These things are buried deep in the back of your mind, accumulating over time. "Preparation" is thought, contemplation, recollection, and selection of those things which most attract your attention, and then embellish them, and arrange them into a shape which becomes the finely crafted work of your own thoughts.Does this sound like a difficult plan to implement?It's actually not that difficult.For a specific goal, as long as you concentrate, think well, and put it into action.

Here are a few ways you can organize your presentation material that can be very effective.If you follow these steps in preparing your speech, you'll be on the right track and gain the eager attention of your audience.

1. Concrete speech content

Years ago, a Doctor of Philosophy attended one of our training courses in New York, along with a bold and rude fellow who had served in the British Navy as a young man.This gentle and refined scholar is a university professor, while his classmate who once sailed the seven seas is just a street vendor.But what is strange is that during the training process of this speech training class, the speech of the itinerant vendor was far more attractive than that of the university professor.Why?The university professor delivered a speech with beautiful words, gentleness, orderliness and clarity, but his talk was missing an essential element: specificity.His talk was too vague, too general.And that itinerant vendor was just the opposite.After he opened his mouth, he immediately touched on the core of the topic. The content of his speech was clear, specific, and practical, so that people could understand what he meant when he heard it. In addition, his manly energy and fresh words and sentences made his speech very interesting. attractive.

The reason why I use this example is not to compare the high and low between a university professor and a mobile street vendor, but to illustrate one point: a person who speaks concretely and clearly—no matter what his formal education level is, what he says Content is what arouses others' interest.

This principle is so important that we will list a few examples below to drive it deep into your mind.I hope you will always remember this principle and never forget it.

For example, we can say that Martin Luther was "stubborn and naughty" when he was a child, but if we say that Martin Luther admitted that his teacher often slapped him on the palms, and sometimes "as many as 15 times in one morning", Wouldn't it be more interesting and catch the viewer's attention?
Words like "stubborn and mischievous" are hard to get people's attention.But wouldn't it sound much more specific to say how many hits were made?
The ancient method of biographical writing, which often refers to many general expressions with unclear meanings, what Aristotle called "the refuge of cowardly thoughts" is really sharp and correct.The new writing method cites clear facts, and the semantics are natural and clear.John Doe had "poor but honest parents," says old-fashioned biographers.The new biographical rules say, "John Dee's father could not afford shoe covers, so when it snowed he had to wrap them in sacks to keep his feet dry and warm. But, in spite of his poverty, He never added water to the milk, and he never sold a sick horse as if it were healthy." Obviously, the latter statement definitely makes it clear that his parents were "poor but honest," no?Wouldn't that be more vivid and interesting than saying "poor but honest"?

As helpful as this approach is to the modern biographer, it should be equally valid to the modern orator and each of us who speak.

2. Focus on the theme as much as possible
Once the topic is selected, the first step is to determine the scope of your speech, and always limit it to this scope. Don't try to cover an endless field.A young man wanted to speak for 2 minutes, but the topic he was talking about was "From Athens in 500 BC to the Korean War".It's an absolute futility!He had just finished speaking about the building of the city of Athens, and it was time to sit down.He packs so much into a conversation that nothing gets understood.Of course this is an extreme example.I have heard many speeches where the topic was not clear, and the result was that the audience failed to hold the attention of the audience for the same reason - covering too many points.Why is there such an ending?For the human mind cannot keep its attention on a monotonous series of facts.You won't be able to hold your audience's attention if your speech sounds like a world almanac.Choose a simple topic, such as "Journey to Yellowstone Park", etc. Most of the speakers will be very enthusiastic about it, and they will not miss a little bit of scenery and talk about every scene in the park, so the audience will be attracted by you and feel dizzy. Speed, swim from one scenic spot to another scenic spot.When you have finished speaking, all that remains in the minds of your audience are vague waterfalls, mountains, and fountains.If the speaker were limited to one aspect of the park, such as wildlife or hot springs, the presentation would be memorable!In this way, the speaker can have time to show the audience some vivid details, making Yellowstone Park come alive to the audience with bright colors and endless changes.Even if the audience has never been there, they can have a sense of being there from the speaker's moving words.

This principle applies equally to any topic, whether you're talking about salesmanship, baking cakes, tax breaks, or missiles.Before you start your speech, you must first limit and select the selected materials, narrow the topic to a certain range, and ensure that you complete it within the specified time.

In a short speech of no more than five minutes, the speaker can only hope to make one or two points.For longer talks, such as a 5-minute talk, speakers rarely succeed if they try to cover four or five main topics.

3. Develop readiness

It is much easier to give superficial, superficial speeches than to dig up facts.If you choose this easy method, the audience will only get few and shallow impressions, or even no impressions.Once the topic has been narrowed down, the next step is to ask yourself questions to deepen your understanding, prepare yourself, and speak authoritatively about your chosen topic, such as:
Why do I believe this?
When in real life have I seen this and verified it?

What am I really trying to prove?How did it happen?
Answering questions like this will prepare you well.It is said that Luther Burbank, the geek of the plant world, cultivated a million species of plants, but he only cultivated one or two superlative varieties from them.The same should be true for speeches.Gather 100 ideas around a topic of your choice and discard 100 of them.

"I always collect ten times more material than I actually use, sometimes even a hundred times more." John Gander said not long ago.He is the author of a best-selling book, and what he says is also the way to prepare your writing or speaking.

On one occasion, his actions in particular confirmed his words.

One year he embarked on a series of articles about mental institutions.He went to various hospitals and talked with the deans, nurses and patients respectively.I had a friend with him who helped him a little in his studies.He told me that they walked up and down stairs, along corridors, from building to building, day after day, in countless ways.And Mr. Gander filled many notebooks.In his office are piles of government and state reports, hospital reports and stacks of committee statistics.

"In the end," my friend told me, "he wrote 4 short essays, simple and interesting, which are good lecture subjects. The paper on which the essays are written may only weigh a few hundred grams. And the dense notebooks and other things I remember— —What he used as a basis for these hundreds of grams of products must have weighed tens of kilograms.”

Mr. Gander knew that what he was digging was valuable ore.He knew he couldn't ignore any part of it.He's an old hand at what he does, and he puts his mind on it and sifts out the gold.

A surgeon friend of mine said it well: "I can teach you how to remove a cecum in 10 minutes, but it would take me four years to teach you how to deal with it when things go wrong." Emergency change.For example, you may have to change the focus of your presentation because of the tone of a previous speaker, or you may have to answer audience concerns during the post-speak discussion time.

If you can choose the topic as soon as possible and make full preparations, you will gain a kind of success power.Don't procrastinate until a day or two before the presentation.If you decide on the topic early on, your subconscious mind can do a great job for you.In the odd moments after the end of the day you can delve into your subject, refining and refining the ideas you want to convey to your audience.You might as well spend that time thinking about the subject of your speech while driving home, waiting for the bus, or riding the subway.Most of the flashes of inspiration come from this gestation period.If you choose the topic early, your brain will be able to refine it subconsciously.

Norman Thomas was a top speaker, commanding the attention and admiration of audiences who strongly opposed his political views.He put it this way:
"If a speech is really important, the speaker should integrate its theme or content, and run it over in his mind. He will be surprised to find himself walking down the street, reading the newspaper, getting ready for bed or waking up in the morning Many useful examples, many ways of expressing one's own speech will come to him naturally. Mediocre speeches are often mere mediocre thoughts. The inevitable normal reflexes are the result of incomplete knowledge of the subject. "

When you're caught up in this process, you feel a strong temptation to write your speech out in sequence.But you must not do this, because once you set a frame, you are likely to be satisfied with it.That way you may not be able to think more constructively about it.Another danger is that of memorizing lectures.Mark Twain said this about memorizing lecture notes:

Written things are not for speech; their form is literary, stiff and inflexible, unable to convey itself pleasantly and effectively through the tongue.If the purpose of speeches is to amuse, not to preach, they must be softened, broken up, colloquialized, and changed into ways of speaking that are usually spoken without forethought.Otherwise, they'll annoy a room instead of entertaining them.

Charles F. Gitlin's genius invention led to the growth of General Motors.He is one of America's best-known and most earnest speakers.When asked if he ever wrote part or all of his speech, he replied:
I believe that what I have to say is too important to put on paper.I would rather write every penny in the audience's mind, in their emotions.There is no place between me and what I want to impress my audience with a mere speech.

4. Make your speech rich with descriptions and examples
In The Art of Literacy, Rudolf Fritsch begins a chapter by saying, "Only a story can be truly readable." He goes on to use Time and Reader's Digest to illustrate How to use this rule.Nearly every article in these two influential magazines, he said, was written as pure narrative or generously peppered with anecdotes.Undeniably, stories have the same power to command the attention of audiences in public speaking as they do in writing for magazines.

Norman Vincent Peale's speeches have been heard by millions on radio and television.In speeches, he says, he likes best to cite examples to support his arguments.He once told an interviewer for Speech Quarterly: "Using real examples is the best method I know. It makes an idea clear, interesting, and persuasive. Usually I always use Several examples are given to support each major point."

Readers of my books will also quickly notice that I like to use anecdotes to deduce the main points of my ideas.For example, the principles in "Human Fragility" are listed on only one and a half pages, and the remaining hundreds of pages are filled with stories and examples to guide readers how to use these principles effectively.

How can we get the trick of using examples?There are five methods to choose from: Humanize, Personalize, Inform, Dramatize, and Visualize.Let's talk about these five methods in detail.

A. Humanize the speech

If you're talking about theory or conceptual issues, it can be annoying, but when you're talking about people, you can definitely grab people's attention.When the new day comes, across the country, across the backyard fence, at coffee tables and dining tables, there will be millions of conversations going on, and what will be the main content of most of the conversations?people.They'd talk about, Mrs. So-and-so did it, I saw what she did, he made a "windfall," and so on.

I've spoken at student gatherings across the United States and Canada, and I quickly learned from experience that if you want them to be interested, you have to tell stories about people.The kids fidgeted whenever I touched on broad and abstract ideas: John seemed impatient and shifted in his seat; Tom made faces at his neighbor; Billy threw something in the other row seat.

Once, I asked a group of American businessmen in Paris to give a talk on "The Way to Success."Most of them just list a long list of abstract characteristics and talk about the value of hard work, perseverance and high ambition.

So I broke off the class and said the following:

None of us want to be preached to, no one likes that.Remember, it has to be entertaining and interesting for us, otherwise we won't pay attention to anything you say.Remember, too, that one of the funniest things in the world is a neat, witty celebrity anecdote.So please tell us the story of two people you know and why one succeeded and the other failed.We'd be happy to hear it.Also keep in mind that we might as well benefit a lot from this example.

There was a student in this class who always found it difficult to raise his own interest or interest his audience.But this night, he understood the suggestion of "Story of Human Nature" and told us the story of two classmates in the university.

One of them, with the utmost prudence, bought shirts at various shops in the city, and made charts showing which ones would last the longest, would last the longest, and would get the most use out of every dollar invested. .His mind is always on the pennies.After he graduated, he considered himself very high, and he did not want to start from the grassroots and gradually climb up like other graduates.So, when the third-year reunion came, he was still drawing his shirt-washing table, still waiting for a particularly good errand to come to him.

It turned out that it didn't come at all.A quarter of a century has passed since then, and the man has lived his life resentful, dissatisfied, and still holds a small office.

The speaker then compared this failure to the story of another classmate who had exceeded all expectations.This friend was extremely easy to get along with, and everyone liked him.Although he was ambitious and set out to achieve great things, he started as a draftsman.However, he is always looking for opportunities.At that time, the New York World's Fair was in the planning stage, and he inquired that there was a need for engineering talents, so he resigned from his post in Philadelphia and moved to New York.There he partnered and started a contracting business.They contracted many telephone companies' business, and finally he was hired by the fair with a high salary.

What I have said here is only a generalization of what the speaker said.He included many amusing and human details that made his lectures entertaining.He continued talking, talking... This person usually couldn't find materials to give a 3-minute speech. When he stopped talking, he was surprised to find that this time he gave a full 10-minute speech.Because the speech was so exciting, everyone seemed to think it was too short, and there was still more to say.This is his first real victory.

Everyone can learn something from this event.If a plain speech can contain a story with human interest, it will definitely be more fascinating.The speaker should cover only a few important points and then cite specific examples.This way of structuring your speech is sure to grab the attention of your audience.

(End of this chapter)