Campaign Speech Writing Tips

Students preparing campaign speeches for leadership positions this season should take heed the following advice:

1. Tell stories. Let us get to know you. Not just your plans for the office/organization, but who you are as a person.
2. Use cards for an outline, but don't read them word for word. If you memorize your speech, make sure you can recall it under pressure. Practice to perform, don't practice just to memorize.
3. Only use 90% of your time.
4. Look audience members in the eye. Maintain. Pick a new person. Repeat.
5. Have a clearly defined outline.
6. Be specific. Instead of saying "I have done many things", tell us specifically what you have done.
7. Show us your personality and your professionalism.
8. Say a version of the word "you" more than you say a version of the word "I". Talk about the audience's real needs that are being served by involvement in the organization and speak to how you will help further serve those needs.
9. Be specific with your ideas for the future, but don't give too much information.
10. Build on current successes. Don't knock down the way it is.

Good luck!



- Posted from the road using my iPhone.

Measuring the Seemingly Immeasurable

One of the challenges of a lifetime of leadership teaching, training and coaching is the giant task of answering this question:

How do you know if they learned anything?

Leadership skills fall under both the very concrete and very intangible categories. I can tell if you can stand up and clearly communicate a message. I can't necessarily tell if you have a deep empathy for those around you.

This is why we (the creators of the PLI leadership curriculum) developed the TRAX system. It is a simple, yet profound mechanism for measuring the seemingly immeasurable. Try this on the next time you are teaching/training/coaching leadership. You can use it at the first for you to determine how deep you plan on taking your group. It was built specifically for use at the end of a learning session to grade their leadership development.


The TRAX Grading System

T - Entry Level - The student demonstrates she has heard of the topic. Proof is a written description of the leadership skill using her own words.

R - Emerging Level - This level is reached when a student understands the content. He provides written positive and negative examples of the leadership trait in the real world. What would someone look/sound/feel like if she mastered this skill and if she were totally ineffective?

A - Engaged Level - This grade is given when a student demonstrates he actively lives the skill. He must provide written evidence of application.

X - Expert Level - Mastery level is shown when the student teaches the skill to someone else. The proof here is a written testimony from someone the student taught and/or actively led.

The beauty of the TRAX system is the journey it places in front of both the teacher and student of leadership: awareness leading to understanding leading to application leading to teaching.

Good luck!

20 Tips from My Mentor

My mentor in the speaking business is Mr. Bill Cordes (www.billcordes.com). Bill is not only a great friend of mine (he asked me to be the Godfather of one of his sons), he is also a phenomenal speaker, trainer and teacher.

Here are 20 tools Bill has employed throughout his almost 30-year career:

Bill Cordes' Strategies for Effective Speaking
(I have seen him speak many times, but I compiled this list from just one program I watched him do.)

1. Brings energy to the room
2. Knows his stuff in and out
3. Lets the audience decipher the lessons
4. Makes direct "mid-activity" lessons
5. Uses a mobile headset and music so he can be active
6. Doesn't let them give too many simple, basic answers
7. Does some activities that are non-competitive at first and then competitive
8. Thanks them even for small contributions
9. After many activities he has them turn to a partner and have a short discussion about what this activity was designed to teach us
10. Has set chunks: 15 to 60 minutes in length
11. Uses real examples from his life
12. Uses the full range of vocal emotions: loud/forceful to soft/personal
13. Willing to share deep
14. Invests a good amount of time enrolling them in the experience
15. Allows his inner kid to emerge
16. Makes the most of teachable moments
17. Challenges them to step up and dig deeper for answers
18. Gets them moving right away
19. Encourages everyone to participate by celebrating those that did
20. Is continually challenging himself to get better because it matters



- Posted from the road on an iPad

When Delivering a Keynote...

Spend more time entertaining and inspiring and less time informing and educating.

A keynote is supposed to move people to get the "why" inside ideas, beliefs and concepts not the "how" of strategies, techniques or processes.


- Posted from the road using my iPhone.

Slide Show Upgrades

Using PowerPoint or Keynote to improve the audience's learning and engagement experience is an art form.  View this PowerPoint to read and see a few key strategies...

(View in SlideShare to view full screen.)

YourNextSpeake Slide Show Upgrade Example

View more presentations from Rhett Laubach.

To learn more, read Nancy Duarte's Slide:ology and Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen books.

Enjoy!

The Best of Both Worlds

I just spent a great week traveling the state of Oregon with Sara Nilles, Program Director of the Oregon Association of Student Councils.  They have over 190 member schools in Oregon and do a great job teaching, guiding and motivating middle school and high school student leaders in the ways of leadership excellence.  She invited me in to present three hours of leadership lessons each day at their Winter Regional Conferences. 

It was a powerful week for many reasons.  Engaged students, committed teachers/staff/advisers, the beautiful Oregon landscape, focused application of content, etc.  The feedback from the advisers and students was overwhelmingly positive.  One of the reasons was because of my training/speaking style.  They loved that I employ a teaching technique that I encourage you to try on if you don't already.  Its called BBW - the Best of Both Worlds.

BBW is when you take your audience to both extremes of engagement - intellectual and emotional.  This means you stir up their emotions (laughter, sadness, excitement, etc.) in a big way and then lead, guide and direct their thoughts with application points. 

If you engage the emotional side only, you aren't teaching - you are a cartoon.  If you engage the intellectual side only, you aren't teaching - you are a thesis paper.

Following is an example outline of one way I employed the BBW technique last week in Oregon:

1. I led them through an activity called Name That Tune.  As a team of 8-10, they have to guess what movie or TV show each theme song is associated with.  It is competitive, fast-paced and filled with fun songs.  My body language and verbal tones reflect excitement, engagement and humor.
2. After the activity I ask them a simple question to discuss as a team, "Why were you able to remember these songs?"  The key lesson is repetition.
3. Then I pull everyone close together near me (close proximity to you and each other creates attention and focus) and elaborate on this statement, "The most effective leaders repeat the right habits on a daily basis."  I give them a few specific, concrete, simple habits that will help them be a positive influence on their peers.  My body language and verbal tones reflect sincerity and importance of message.  Not preachy though.  The connection between the audience and me isn't parent-child, but coach-player.

Good luck rocking this skill. 

Only when you go to positive extremes with your techniques and words do you fully cut through the clutter and distractions in each audience member's life.

OSU Graduate Student Questions

Recently I presented my Presenters in Gear program on campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma to the Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business graduate students.  Following are a few questions they asked after the program and my answers.

How do you combat being nervous?

 

The most important thing to know about nervousness is that it is perfectly normal and actually necessary. The secret isn't to get rid of nervousness (that results in a blanching of emotion) - the goal is to control your nerves. You do this by knowing your content top to bottom, putting your full attention on the audience before and during the presentation and getting as much experience as possible.

 

How do you handle audience members who walk out in the middle of a presentation?

 

Do not worry about them. Don't bring any attention to them. Forget them the second you see them leave.

 

How do I recover my composure to successfully conclude my presentation?

 

If you ever need to recover because you mess up, forget something, etc., just move on quickly to the next portion of your presentation. Don't linger in the moment. The conclusion of your presentation should include one of the following elements:

 

• A call to action.  What do you want them to do with the information you just gave them?
• A re-cap of your main points.
• The most important/critical point/data/fact supporting your presentation.
• A brief Q&A (ONLY if you facilitate a creation of questions from the audience during your presentation.)
• A multimedia tool (video, self-running slide show, etc.) that puts an exclamation point on your presentation.

 

How to keep a flow going, connecting two slides?

 

Slides should follow the natural flow of your presentation. Transitions connect your main points (i.e. - slides), so as long as your transitions are tight, you should be fine with moving from slide to slide. The best transitions tie together a key element of two points. I.e. - So, as you can see, our global population's energy needs will be overwhelming over the next 20-50 years. This brings us to needing to understand why we must act now on mining the rich resources that exist below the ocean floor.

 

What are some great ways to get as many people as possible to make lasting behavioral change based on your communication?

 

Lasting behavioral change is a very personal issue and the motivations behind it changes from person to person. Even the most powerful communicator can hope to only effect change in people for a short period of time. Beyond that it is up to the individual. So, a better question is - what are some great ways to get as many people as possible to begin walking down the path of lasting behavioral change? The answer to that question is the core elements of all great orators:

 

• An intense passion for your content and for your audience doing something with it.
• A trust from the audience in your expertise, authenticity and likability.
• A message that is clear, specific, action-oriented, simple in nature and resolves a problem/challenge/question that is relevant and urgent to the audience.

 

Where do speakers get professional training? Who is the best individual or company to get training?

 

We train many speakers every year - professionals, students, pastors, etc. Let me know if you want to chat about working together (rhett@yournextspeaker.com). Beyond that there are many options. Dale Carnegie Training and Toastmasters are the first two that come to mind.

 

If I have a tendency to speak too fast during a presentation, how do I train myself to keep a slower pace and speak more clearly?

 

Speed, like tone and volume, should be laced with variety throughout a presentation. Therefore, it is perfectly fine to have bursts of "too fast" during your presentation as long as it is balanced with a slower pace. You need to be conscience about including these slower pace times the first couple of times you begin working on it. Eventually, this will become the way you speak naturally.

 

How do I learn to speak loud and with energy? Are there any books, classes, something you can recommend?

 

This is a process of modeling, practicing, adjusting, modeling, practicing, adjusting, etc. You have the ability to be loud, you just haven't become comfortable doing it. The energy portion is where you need to watch someone present who you consider an energetic presenter and model what they do.

Mike Rowe Knows

"I guess it comes down to this. The world is desperate for authenticity. In business and in real life. In work and play. We crave it I think, because it’s in such short supply. Consequently, when we see it, we’ll wait for it. We’ll watch it on TV. We’ll stand in line for a chance to be near it. Fans, fishermen, CEO’s – we know authenticity when we see it, even if we’re not looking for it."

Mike Rowe, host of the TV hit Dirty Jobs

The Ultimate Leadership Activity Resource

The largest, searchable database out there!

http://www.thesource4ym.com/games

Or if you prefer your fresh, new activities in book form, The Activator is for you!

Building Presentations with F.O.R.C.E.

Next time you are developing a presentation, build it with F.O.R.C.E...

Focused - Keep your presentation's deliverable simple and focused.  Do not try to cover too much ground on one topic or a few things about many topics.  A famous trial lawyer once said, "If I give the jury ten great reasons to vote for my client, I might as well have given them none.  One or two compelling reasons is the best approach."

Organized - I recently spoke at a high-powered leadership event in San Diego and the biggest gripe by the conference organizers of one of the other presenters was that they were all over the place.  There was no clear structure or order to their message or flow.  Having a clear and concise organized plan for your presentation helps the audience remember what just happened, understand what is happening and look forward to what is getting ready to happen.

Rememorable - If you don't want your words acted upon, then a presentation is not the best delivery method for your message.  Send an email, letter or fax instead.  If you do require or desire action to be taken after your presentation, then you must make it rememorable.  Use props, stories, acronyms, interaction, emotional anchors, discussion, note taking, etc.  Unless your message is overtly or inherently compelling, these tools and skills are a must in today's busy, noisy world.

Connected - So many components of effective "speaker to audience" moments are driven by this concept of connecting.  The audience must trust, respect, admire, believe, listen to, want to learn more, ask questions of and like the speaker for the exchange of ideas to happen.  All of these things come down to the speaker making a connection with the audience - emotionally, intellectually, socially and even physically.  They all make a difference.

Engaging - You can spend hours preparing what you are going to say based on learning objectives, program metrics, audience expectations, your expertise, meeting goals, etc., but if you aren't able to deliver this excellent material in an engaging way, you are missing the point.  And so will they.  Your body and verbal language needs to be passionate and energetic.  It is amazing how many presenters forget this and therefore all their hours of thinking about what to say are wasted because they didn't spend any time thinking about how to say.

(Download an awesome poster version)