How You Can Create a Great Story with a Message Every Time

Captivate every audience with a great story with a message.

What makes a Hollywood movie great?

Exactly the same principles that will make a good keynote speech great. A great story with a message.

Screenwriter Robert McKee says, “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience.” We all love stories because when told well,  have larger-than-life characters, sparkling dialogue, and an emotional reaction from the audience.

Imagine that you have unlimited resources to design a keynote that will make you the hottest commodity on the market.

Where would you go to get the best, highest-priced writers and directors in the world? Hollywood. In Hollywood, you’ll find hundreds of talented people, both in front of and behind the camera, all working together to create one money-making movie. The bad news is that you probably don’t have unlimited resources to hire all those people. The good news is you can still use seven basic Hollywood techniques to increase the impact of your presentation.

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Success: One Frippicism at a Time – Opportunity Does Not Knock Once

It Knocks All the Time, We Do Not Always Recognize the Sound.

I have had the good fortune to be successful in three careers: as a hairstylist, a professional speaker, and now as an executive speech coach. Although they may seem dissimilar, they have many aspects in common. For one, I have had the opportunity to develop relationships with fascinating and often brilliant individuals whom I would otherwise never have met in my everyday circle of acquaintances. The best and most memorable education comes from having absorbing conversations with interesting people.

In 1971, Werner Erhard, who founded EST training, was sitting in my hairstyling chair. I asked him what business he was in. “The motivation business,” he said. (At that point, he was motivating people to go out and sell encyclopedias.)

A few months later, again while I was cutting his hair, he told me, “I have just attended a course called Mind Dynamics. It was so exciting that I am learning how to teach it.”

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How You Can Maximize the Power of Collaboration: Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech – Part Ten

In 2001, I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. 10 of 10.

“This is your homework assignment. (Now I would call it a Frippercize.) I want you to sit down with some of your other Toastmaster friends and tape-record all the stories you’ve never told in speeches. Take an incident in your life, start at the beginning, and go all the way through. I have two ‘hanging-around buddies’ in San Francisco: John Cantu, comedy legend, and David Garfinkel, genius copywriter. David would also love to write film scripts. I like to think of myself as a charismatic keynoter.

“We call ourselves the ‘Three Musketeers’ of speech writing. A couple of years ago, on December 26th, the three of us got together for our annual holiday morning coffee and lunch. This was the first social event that John Cantu had had since his recent operation to have a large cancerous tumor removed. And three minutes into his talking about the symptoms of the cancer and how it got started, I said, ‘John, hang on. This is going to be a speech one day. Let me get the tape recorder.’”

Yes, I know, we no longer use tape recorders.  

Lesson: Record conversations with interesting friends, especially when they are telling stories of life-changing experiences. You never know what may happen.

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Where Great Stories Come Alive: Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech – Part Nine

I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention in 2001. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation.

“I’ve mentioned my brother, Robert Fripp, a couple of times. You may have heard of Robert Fripp. He has a group called King Crimson, and he travels all over the world teaching his guitar techniques.”

Lesson: Not all your stories are about you. Just have a connection.

“King Crimson was born in 1969. A couple of years ago, Robert had a one-man show series on the east coast. I went to spend some time with him, and after his performance on the first night, he got up and gave an impromptu speech. I think it was because I was there, and a lot of his fans knew me. He started with a very interesting approach that you might want to consider one day. For his first remarks he read a bad review from one of his performances, and he evaluated that review. Then he read a positive critique of one of his performances and evaluated that as well. Finally, he conducted Q&A with the audience.”

Lesson: This unique approach endears you to your audience.

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Honor Your Everyday Heroes: Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech Part Eight

Look for everyday heroes.

I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention in 2001. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. 8 of 10

“All right, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been talking to you for about, I don’t know, 44 minutes, give or take. For the first people in the front rows, what have you heard that can help you in preparing and presenting your powerful programs? Remember the rules: one sentence, learn to edit your words. Any hands, any takers? Good. I can see someone giving me the finger here. I’m sure it was several fingers, but in the dark, it’s difficult to see.”

‘Life is a series of sales situations.’

“Wonderful. You’ll notice on your speech structure sheet that it says repetitive reframes. If you want your audiences to say, ‘Every speaker on the conference quoted you afterwards,’ it’s because you reinforced your ideas in soundbites, and the key points of your speech are repetitive reframes. You repeat them. Good. What else have I said to you that might be useful?”

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Want to Write Great Speeches? Enjoy The Anatomy of a Speech Part Seven

Want to Write Great Speeches? 

I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention in 2001. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. 7 of 10


“I was working with a company in Petaluma that had hired me to work with all its marketing managers, helping them design the talks for company meetings. The project went very well, and I was asked, ‘Can you work with our president? He’s an engineer, not a good speaker, and he hardly ever speaks. He’s been here for 10 years, but he’s only been president for eight months. They see him as a supportive guy, but they don’t see him as presidential. Also, although business was quite good last year, sales were flat. This is a sales meeting. Many of the salespeople are new. Can you help him write a speech and make him look presidential? And you’ve got three hours.’

“Well, I like a challenge as much as anyone else. I asked the president’s secretary a few questions about his background. Remember, a key to connection is conversation. The secret of conversation is to ask questions, and the quality of the information you receive depends on the quality of your questions.

Lesson One: Bring back a key idea introduced earlier in your presentation.

“When I met the gentleman, Barry, I said, ‘I know you don’t know me, but you have to trust me. You’re not very experienced, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve been going to conferences where I’ve seen presidents and CEOs give good speeches and inspire the troops, and I’ve seen them do pitifully and demotivate everyone. Now we don’t have very much time, so you need to do exactly what I tell you. I am your new best friend.’

“My brother says, ‘I’m not surprised my sister gets paid to tell people what to do. She was a very bossy little girl.’”

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Does Your Audience Like You? Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech Part Six

This Episode Includes a Lesson from Great Comedians

“In 2001, I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention. In this 10-segment series, you will view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. Enjoy segment 6.

“Now, think about that. That was a speech called ‘Opportunity Does Not Knock Once.’

“I also maintain that taking advantage of opportunities is what has gotten me everything I wanted in my life. One of the ways I took advantage of opportunities was by asking questions.

“You are an intelligent group. I saw it when I came down here. Let’s see if I can spot the distinguished Toastmaster in the front row. Just about everyone. Okay, sir, you have gray hair. You look like an intelligent person. Based on what I just did and based on my formula, what do you think the premise of my speech might be? Remember, the title was ‘Opportunity Does Not Knock Once.’ What would you think the premise might be? ‘You can create opportunities by asking good questions.’”

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Want to Write Great Speeches? Enjoy “The Anatomy of a Speech” – Part Five

In 2001 I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention. In this 10-segment series, you will view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. This is 5 of 10.

“The premise of your speech is not necessarily the title. The title of my speech was ‘Million Dollar Words: Speaking for Results.’ That’s PR. You often write the title of your speech for copy months before you write the speech.

“My premise really is, ‘Even dedicated Toastmasters can be more effective at preparing and presenting powerful programs.’ That leads to the question, ‘How?’

“The answer? By understanding the three necessary ingredients in depth. What I encourage you to do is write down your premise, your one sentence, as you are working on your speech. You might have it on the table next to you so you can clearly know your message.

“Not long ago, I delivered a speech for treasury professionals, and the title of the speech was ‘Selling Yourself and Your Ideas to Upper Management.’ The objective of the speech, the premise that I stated, was, ‘Treasury professionals can sell themselves and their ideas to upper management.’ How? By using Fripp’s tips and success strategies.

“It was success strategies, one, two, and three. Quite easy to remember. Not long ago, my speech for the Continental Breakfast Club, which is a group I speak to every year. I have given 17 different talks for them. This talk was called, ‘My Love Affair with the Movies: Life Lessons from Movie Stars in Hollywood.’

“I didn’t state it outright, but my premise was, ‘We can learn life and business lessons from movie stars.’ After my opening, I restated the title, because not everyone reads the program.

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How to Involve Your Audience? Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech Part Four

Back in 2001, at the Toastmasters International Convention, I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech. In this 10-segment series, you will view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. Segment 4 of 10.

You will notice I have made comments on how I would give advice to the 2001 speaker, me!

“You’re Toastmasters; you like to be involved. I’ve been speaking for about 18 minutes. In the first 18 minutes, what have you learned that can help you prepare and present your programs? I’m going to walk down into the audience, and although I can only walk back four rows, it doesn’t mean that the back of the room can’t think.

“So, think about what you have learned that might be helpful to you. All comments need to be edited to less than one sentence because the most difficult thing we all must do is edit our remarks. As Jerry Seinfeld says, ‘I will spend an hour taking an eight-word sentence and edit it to five.’ In one sentence, tell me what I have already said that might be helpful to you? Do we have someone here?”

Lesson: I would now change “. . . the most difficult thing we all have to do . . .” to “. . . the most difficult task we all have to do . . .”

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Want More Options to Open Each Presentation? Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech Part Three

Back in 2001, at the Toastmasters International Convention, I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech. In this 10-segment series, you will view the anatomy of a keynote presentation.

You will notice I have made comments on how I would give advice to the 2001 speaker, me! This is segment 3 of 10.


“Just because I gave you a structure and a formula, please do not think for one moment that every speech is the same. There are many theatrical choices within this outline.

“How about four different ways you can open the speech? What I opened with was a statement: ‘It never ceases to amaze me.’

One of the most dramatic statements I ever heard was five years ago. I was speaking for the Young Presidents’ Organization. One of the other speakers, Newt Gingrich, walked out. Forget politics. It was a heck of an opening. Five years later, I remember exactly what he said without having written it down. He walked out and said, ‘If you were born today, you already owe $186,000 to pay your share of the national debt.’

Lesson: Open with a statement or interesting statistic.

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