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International Paper asked George Plimpton, who writes books about facing the sports pros (like Paper Lion and Shadow Box), and who's in demand to speak about it, to tell you how to face the fear of making a speech.
One of life's terrors for the uninitiated is to be asked to make a speech.
"Why me?" will probably be your first reaction. "I don't have anything to say." It should be reassuring (though it rarely is) that since you were asked, somebody must think you do. The fact is that each one of us has a store of material which should be of interest to others. There is no reason why it should not be adapted to a speech.
Scary as it is, it's important for anyone to be able to speak in front of others, whether twenty around a conference table or a hall filled with a thousand faces.
Being able to speak can mean better grades in any class. It can mean talking the town council out of increasing your property taxes. It can mean talking top management into buying your plan.
You were probably asked to speak in the first place in the hope that you would be able to articulate a topic that you know something about. Still, it helps to find out about your audience first. Who are they? Why are they there? What are they interested in? How much do they already know about your subject? One kind of talk would be appropriate for the Women's club of Columbus, Ohio, and quite another for the guests at the Vince Lombardi dinner.
Here is where you must do your homework
The more you sweat in advance, the less you'll have to sweat once you appear on stage. Research your topic thoroughly. Check the library for facts, quotes, books, and timely magazine and newspaper articles on your subject. Get in touch with experts. Write to them, make phone calls, get interviews to help round out your material.
In short, gather-and learn-far more than you'll ever use. You can't imagine how much confidence that knowledge will inspire.
Now start organizing and writing. Most authorities suggest that a good speech breaks down into three basic parts-an introduction, the body of the speech, and the summation.
An audience makes up its mind very quickly. Once the mood of an audience is set, it is difficult to change it, which is why introductions are important. If the speech is to be lighthearted in tone, the speaker can start off by telling a good-natured story about the subject of himself or herself.
But be careful of jokes, especially the shaggy-dog variety. For some reason, the joke that convulses guests in a living room tends to suffer as it emerges through the amplifying system into a public gathering place.
[picture of Plimpton……"What am I doing wrong? Taking refuge behind the lectern, looking scared to death, shuffling pages, and reading my speech. Relax. Come out in the open, gesture, talk to your audience."
There a four main intents in the body of the well-made speech. There are 1) to entertain, which is probably the hardest; 2) to instruct, which is the easiest if the speaker has done the research and knows the subject; 3) to persuade, which one does at a sales presentation, a political rally, of a town meeting; and, finally 4) to inspire, which is what the speaker emphasizes at a sales meeting, in a sermon, or at a pep rally. (Hurry-up Yost, the onetime Michigan football coach, gave such an inspiration-filled half-time talk that he got carried away an at the final exhortation led his team on the run through the wrong locker room door into the swimming pool.)
This is where you should "ask for the order." An ending should probably incorporate a sentence or two that sounds like an ending-a short summary of the main points of the speech, perhaps, of the repeat of a phrase that most embodies what the speaker had hoped to convey. It is valuable to think of the last sentence or two as something which might produce applause. Phrases that are perfectly appropriate to signal this are: "In closing……" or "I have one last thing to say….".
Once done-fully written, or the main points set down on 3" by 5" index cards, the next problem is the actual presentation of the speech. Ideally, a speech should not be read. At least it should never appear or sound as if you are reading it. An audience is dismayed to see a speaker peering down at a thick sheaf of papers on the lectern, wetting his thumb to turn to the next page.
The best speakers are those who make their words sound spontaneous even if memorized. I've found out its best to learn a speech point by point, not word for word. Careful preparation and a great deal of practicing are required to make it come together smoothly and easily. Mark Twain once said, "it takes three weeks to prepare a good ad-lib speech".
Don't be fooled when you rehearse. It takes longer to deliver a speech than to read it. Most speakers peg along at about 100 words a minute.
A sensible plan, if you have been asked to speak to an exact limit, is to talk your speech into a mirror and stop at your allotted time, then cut the speech accordingly. The more familiar you become with your speech, the more confidently you can deliver it.
As anyone who listens to speeches knows, brevity is an asset. Twenty minutes are ideal. An hour is the limit an audience can listen comfortably.
In mentioning brevity, it is worth mentioning that the shortest inaugural address was George Washington's-just 135 words! The longest was William Henry Harrison's in 1841. He delivered a two hour, 9,000 word speech into a teeth of a freezing northeast wind. He came down with a cold the following day, and a month later he died of pneumonia.
Consult a dictionary for proper meanings and pronunciations. Your audience won't know if you're a bad speller, but they will know if you use or pronounce a word improperly. In my first remarks on the dais, I used to thank people for their "fulsome introduction", until I discovered to my dismay that "fulsome" means offensive and insincere.
["Why should you make a speech?" There are four reasons (left to right) to inspire, to persuade, to entertain, to instruct. I'll tell you how to organize what you say.]
It helps one's nerves to pick out three or four people in the audience-preferably in different sectors so that the speaker is apparently giving his attention to the entire room-on whom to focus. Pick out people who seem to be having a good time.
A question period at the end of a speech is a good notion. One would not ask questions following a tribute to the company treasurer on his retirement, say, but a technical talk or an informative speech can be enlivened with a question period.
The larger the crowd, the easier it is to speak, because the response is multiplied and increased. Most people do not believe this. They peek out from behind the curtain and if the auditorium is filled to the rafters they begin to moan softly in the back of their throats.
Very few speakers escape the so-called "butterflies". There does not seem to be any cure for them, except to realize that they are beneficial, rather than harmful, and never fatal. The tension usually means that the speaker, being keyed up, will do a better job. Edward R. Murrow called stage fright the "sweat of perfection". Mark Twain once comforted a fright-frozen friend about to speak: "Just remember they do not expect much." My own feeling is that with thought, preparation, and faith in your ideas, you can go out there and expect a pleasant surprise.
And what a sensation it is-to hear applause. Invariably after it dies away, the speaker searches out the program chairman-just to make it known that he's available for next month's meeting.
George Plimpton.
From
"Power of the Printed Word"
International Paper Company
Dept. 9, P.O. Box 954
Madison Square Station
New York, NY 10160
1983
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