The speech was called “Everything Begins with a Love Story.” I told the audience of how our parents met and fell in love and about our joy of hearing this story when we were young, and now as adults. The brilliant Robert Fripp said “Sister, do you know why you are so moved by this? It is because by reliving the story while told the event itself continues to live in the experience of the storyteller and the audience. We grew up in our parent’s history and it became part of the living present.”
Now you realize Robert Fripp is a very brilliant and thoughtful rock musician! The speech went down amazingly well.
Make Every Word Count: Be a Memorable Speaker
By Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
In sales, what would happen if your prospects could vividly remember why others choose to do business with you? Would it be profitable for you if they felt that you were more focused on their needs than your competitors? You can have that impact with a memorable pitch, or speech. If people are making hiring decisions for consulting contracts or a large investment, they are probably going to be discussing with a team or committee what they heard from various vendors, consultants, or sales professionals. Your goal is to have them remembering and repeating your key ideas and benefits: you need to be a memorable speaker.
Executive speech coach Patricia Fripp
Your goal should be always to say something that will be remembered and repeated. If we ask audience members, “Who was the hit of last year’s convention?” usually they can recall the topic and that it was entertaining and dynamic, but if they can recite your key points, profound statements, or even that you appeared to know exactly what their lives are like, you’ve made yourself memorable. To be remembered and repeated, you need a simple structure for your speech. The following tips will help you construct your speech so that you and it will not be forgotten.
1. Organize. Is your presentation content organized in a logical way? Is it easy for you and your listeners to follow? The creative process is messy: brainstorming what ideas, stories, and concepts will go into your presentation. However, you or your audience will not remember your key ideas unless your presentation is arranged around a central theme or premise and the talking points that make that case. Think of them as your points of wisdom. Each point can be illustrated with your examples, case histories, and statistics. Even if you have short sentences, visual words, and great stories, if it’s difficult to keep track of exactly where you’re going, your audience isn’t going to remember and repeat your ideas.
At the beginning of a three-hour seminar, an expert said, “I will be addressing twenty talking points.” That is a lot for an audience to try to remember, but his content was amazing and his stories were wonderful. However, fifteen minutes before closing, he introduced key point three. Do you think the audience was able to remember and quote his key points? Because of no strong structure, no one could remember his points without looking at their notes.
In sales, what would happen if your prospects could vividly remember why others choose to do business with you? Would it be profitable for you if they felt that you were more focused on their needs than your competitors? You can have that impact with a memorable pitch, or speech. If people are making hiring decisions for consulting contracts or a large investment, they are probably going to be discussing with a team or committee what they heard from various vendors, consultants, or sales professionals. Your goal is to have them remembering and repeating your key ideas and benefits: you need to be a memorable speaker.
Your goal should be always to say something that will be remembered and repeated. If we ask audience members, “Who was the hit of last year’s convention?” usually they can recall the topic and that it was entertaining and dynamic, but if they can recite your key points, profound statements, or even that you appeared to know exactly what their lives are like, you’ve made yourself memorable. To be remembered and repeated, you need a simple structure for your speech. The following tips will help you construct your speech so that you and it will not be forgotten.
1. Organize. Is your presentation content organized in a logical way? Is it easy for you and your listeners to follow? The creative process is messy: brainstorming what ideas, stories, and concepts will go into your presentation. However, you or your audience will not remember your key ideas unless your presentation is arranged around a central theme or premise and the talking points that make that case. Think of them as your points of wisdom. Each point can be illustrated with your examples, case histories, and statistics. Even if you have short sentences, visual words, and great stories, if it’s difficult to keep track of exactly where you’re going, your audience isn’t going to remember and repeat your ideas.
Patricia Fripp delivery a speech on sales presentation
At the beginning of a three-hour seminar, an expert said, “I will be addressing twenty talking points.” That is a lot for an audience to try to remember, but his content was amazing and his stories were wonderful. However, fifteen minutes before closing, he introduced key point three. Do you think the audience was able to remember and quote his key points? Because of no strong structure, no one could remember his points without looking at their notes.
2. Analyze. Listen to a recording of yourself, and even consider having a transcription of your presentation. Look for ways to be clearer, sharper, and more eloquent. What about sentence length? Do you run on and on, that may be considered natural in casual speech? Can you use shorter, more memorable sentences?
My friend Diane Parente is a certified Image and Wardrobe Professional with over twenty years experience in all areas of image development and management. She is also co-author of Mastering Your Professional Image-Dressing to Enhance Your Credibility. Do not overlook your image as part of your overall communications strategy. Enjoy these helpful insights from Diane:
Your Image, What Is It Saying About You? by Diane Parente
As a professional, you can come in contact with hundreds of people every day — in meetings, at lunch, or traveling from place to place. Your image is talking even when you’re not. You and your business may have all the substance in the world, but if you don’t project a strong, professional image to go with it, people aren’t going to respond the way you want them to.
To back up your image, you also need a good product, extensive knowledge, and strong communications skills. Your image creates the expectation. Your substance confirms it.
If you want your marketing to make money for you, focus on your customers’ feelings and beliefs. Unless you can convince them that you understand them and their problems — that you’re empathetic — they’re probably not going to buy from you.
The headline on one of my marketing pieces says, “Hiring a Speaker is an Awesome Responsibility.” It is. These days, if you hire the wrong speaker in a corporate job, you could end up in severe trouble. Many professional speakers focus their marketing on themselves — how good they are, how successful. It works, but readers don’t get the message that the speaker really knows who they are and can fill their needs. Your customers need to believe that you know, understand, and care about them.
There’s a good way to do this when you’re writing or creating your marketing piece.
Interact with the waves of change to create the outcome you desire.
The triple whammy hit me in 2008. For one thing, speaking engagements—my primary source of income—had dropped by about 20 percent. For another, my financial investments tanked. And last but certainly not least in the Sanborn Triad of Trials, doctors diagnosed me with prostate cancer.
Mark Sanborn, CPAE is one of the most in demand keynote speakers and popular authors. His latest book Up, Down, Or Sideways and he has given me permission to share Chapter One with my readers. Enjoy the first segment!
Here is some trivia that you will have to print out and take with you as I doubt if you can learn these words and meaning. As a public speaker you may think English is a hard language. However here is a list of words that are difficult to translate into English:
This post is really only of interest to Robert Fripp fans!
As my readers and Robert Fripp fans may know I have been known to help King Crimson and the California Guitar Trio with introductions to get them onto the stage in style and help the fans with their merchantizing opportunities.
Every year I tell dozens of San Francisco executives and Silicon Valley speech coaching clients “Your first thirty seconds of your executive communications are like the first page of a book or first seconds of a TV show or film. If you don’t make an impact and hint at more to come, you lose your audience.”
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How to Present and Teach in the Virtual World…and More
Receive free, on-going Fripp webinar invitations, sales and presentation skills information, and special discounts from Executive Speech Coach, Sales Presentation Trainer, and Professional Keynote Speaker, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE. As an added bonus, sign up now and receive a free copy of Patricia Fripp’s How to Present and Teach in the Virtual World.
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