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Kill the Babies

Posted By Ellen Hermens On 04/15/2011 @ 6:28 pm In Goals,In general,Preparation,Story telling | No Comments

Of course not real ones, but the ones in speeches. Babies still are being loved, cared for and cuddled. I talk about stories a speaker loves when they disturb a speech. But how is it possible personal stories disturb a speech? I myself train people to use personal stories.

Baby disturbing the smooth "flow" of dominos [1]Recently I listened to a speech in which the speaker presented the motto: “Change for the better – not for fun!” His presentation started excitingly and he led us to the Massai who promoted that motto. But then he changed to the subject of misusing english words in german (in german it´s called “Denglish”) and ranted a bit before changing again to “Change for the better…”. The audience was confused as he didn´t connect these topics in any way.

Later the speaker confirmed that “Denglish” is one of his emotional topics about which he could rant endlessly, but he also perceived the confusion of the audience. But: how can we prevent ourselves from such?

Babies = favorite stories

Stories and topics which arise strong emotions within the speaker are very often protected, loved and cared for. Watch others (before you watch yourself) to detect such stories and topics. They are disguised traumas or personal problems, or rise emotions in another way, as well as hilarious stories or humorous anecdotes. The emotions with them are always strong and the speaker tries to integrate them no matter what. This expression comes from Denise Magyar who is an excellent speaker herself and used to coach several European champions of Int. Speech.

When you prepare a speech check your speech for stories for which you feel like: “This story definitely has to be in my speech – it is so wonderful!” Very often such stories turn out to be “Babies”. It hurts removing them from the speech. Ask yourself with each topic, story or anecdote: “Does it support and underline my intent?” – If not then remove it. Another approach is: “Would my speech work without this story?” If yes then remove it.

Flow of a speech

A great speech and presentation has a flow. It is as if you positioned a chain of dominos, the dominos representing your reasoning which goes smoothly from one supportive idea to the other. You lead the audience to your conclusion. As speaker we build a line of arguments and only when we reach the end of the line the audience will see the bigger picture. Have you ever watched a Domino Day? When you look at the mass of dominos they set up you can see vaguely what they set up, but only when they let the dominos run the true picture will show completely.

Surely you know what I am after: when a baby like in the photo above sits in between the dominos then it disturbs the smooth falling of the dominos. Of course it is possible like the speaker above to get back to your line of argument and re-start the rest of the domino line falling, but sometimes the speaker abandons the line and thus the audience only can see vaguely his message.

Kill the Babies in your speech

So remove such babies from your speech. Ask yourself if your story, example or visual aid supports your message or the point you are about to make. If it doesn´t, then remove it. Sometimes that´s difficult, but your audience will be grateful.

In the end you are in the lead to show your audience with your line of arguments clearly. From beginning to end, connected, then your audience can easily follow you and come to your conclusion.

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