It's Time for the Expert in You to Start Thinking Deeply About What You Feel, Know and Say.

“Learn as though you would never be able to master it;
Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it”
Confucius

I recently had a gentleman ask me, “What does The Speech Wiz do?”
He asked me if I can help with body language, gestures, vocal variety and a host of other nonverbal speaking skills all of which I answered in the affirmative. Then he looked at me, paused and asked me a question that betrayed a deeper understanding of the most difficult aspect of a speaker’s skill.
“Do you coach people on what they should say?”
“Ah,” I said, “that’s a really insightful question. Why do you ask?”
“Because,” he responded, “I seem to hear a lot of people speak with great style and flair, but they don’t really say much of value. I guess that’s the hardest part.”
Kudos to him! His observation is spot on.

LEARNING TO SPEAK

When you learn to play an instrument, you begin by learning the basic skills long before you begin to refine the style and type of music you will one day play. And, just because you master one style doesn’t mean you will excel at all styles. Rudolph Nureyev was a master ballet dancer and a so-so tap dancer. Fred Astaire was a master tap dancer and a fairly good ballet dancer. The trick in becoming a Speaking Master is to find your theme and keep at it. It is rare when a thought leading speaker excels at more than one vein of thought.
Like any skill you practice, speaking is a multi-faceted skillset that can take years to master. In the process of learning how to say it well, the true master speaker spends enormous time and energy on what they want to say as well. They become masters of Content Creation within their core line of thought. Through this lengthy process of deep thinking, they aggregate a massive amount of existing knowledge and generate innovative new perspectives on their theme or passion.

THE MASTER’S VOICE

The goal of a Master Speaker or Thought Leader is to sprinkle their audience with a few concepts and suggestions that will allow the seeds of their message to take root. Most thought leaders begin as a Subject Matter Expert (SME). Their subject areas are incredibly diverse ranging from arts to science to philosophy to self-help and more. The toughest challenge for many SME speakers is controlling the amount of content they share with their audiences on each speaking occasion.
Unfortunately, for some audiences, some SME speakers rush to the speaking stage and in the process skip the lengthy deep thinking on their topic that is needed. This results with the SME speaker hitting their audience with a “firehose” of content overwhelming their processing ability and drowning out their unique message.
While what we say (verbal content) represents only 7% of the communicated message it is one of those rare times when the math of 7% and 93% are of equal value.
No matter how you run the numbers, what you say is just as important as how you say it. So, while all of the nonverbal skills (body movement, vocal variety, and personal presentation) are critical to being well received by your audience, having your message remembered and repeated by your audience because it has taken root is priceless. A Master Speaker’s Voice is that unique message they bring to their audience’s and the ease with which it takes root and grows its impact.

THE DEEPER THE THOUGHT, THE HIGHER THE MESSAGE

Deep thinking is a solitary experience. No Cliff® notes available. It is a self-occupying, constantly-curious, and never-ending experience. A speaker will never suffer a loss for the time invested in deeply thinking about their core topic. The journey is always exhilarating, liberating and profoundly beyond the intended destination.
If you’re a speaker and curious about how to craft your core message, deep thinking on your primary topic area is where you need to begin. Pick up your shovel and pick axe and get ready to begin exploring the mine of your mind. The nuggets of insight and gems of clarity you’ll be looking to find will be found among 3 Veins of Thought within your mind:

1. What you know

2. What you’re passionate about

3. The experiences you have had.

Together, these three veins will supply you with the relevant stories you need to support your profound observations, foundational phrase, and unique massage that create your speaking value.

THE RIVER OF DEEP THOUGHT

Ultimately, a speaker should desire to achieve a facility of topic knowledge and expression that makes them “at one” with their topic. Deep thinking speakers do not speak in a stream of consciousness. Instead they speak from a deep river of thought. From within this river, a speaker will exhibit two qualities of their knowledge, fluency and spontaneity, they use to create a genuine bond with their topic and their audience.

In the deep river of thought fluency means you speaker’s knowledge, insights and recommendations are endless. They flow without restriction or hesitation. This fluency has been derived from your process of extreme self-occupying, constantly-curious, and never-ending examination of the topic that is integral to you.

Spontaneity imbues you with all the qualities of a master river pilot. It enables you to see the hidden perils you might encounter in any part of your journey down your river of thought. With spontaneity you have the knowledge on where the deepest water is. You easily know how and where to cross the river to touch upon an adjoining shore of thought. With spontaneity, you can ride the swiftest or the choppiest water with the same level of confidence because you have deeply thought about the journey more than the destination.

DEEP THOUGHTS EQUAL DEEPER ROOTS

Your deep-thinking efforts will serve you well as you approach your speaking life. Read everything you can find about your area of expertise. Listen to other speakers who populate your topic space. Become a real student, a willing teacher and a giving master.

From your garden of deep thoughts, be the giver of your unique seeds others will eagerly plant, nurture, harvest and share. The more seeds you plant, the wider your crop will grow. The deeper your thoughts, the deeper the roots of the seeds you share will grow. In the end, your true value as an SME speaker will be realized when you can see the impact of your thoughts.

Above all, as a Subject Matter Expert speaker, remember to head the words of Confucius, “Learn as though you would never be able to master it; Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it”. And, never stop the process of mining the 3 Veins of Thought within your mind.

I am delighted to share this Content Creation deep thought with you from my experiences as an Executive Speech Coach and a Success Speaker. I am grateful for your support as a reader of my blog and I welcome any comment on this post or suggestions you might have in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Why you must avoid the hidden pit falls of group think when leading and speaking.

One of the greatest dangers for a leader or speaker is to grow increasingly numb to the pit falls of group think within their organization and the speeches they deliver.

Today, the whole world is listening and the things you may think you are saying in confidence might easily show up on YouTube, Twitter or SnapChat. This does not mean you should be disingenuous when you speak, but it does mean you must consider the larger audience who might hear what you are saying.

Sometimes, when we’re in a like-minded group it is easy for us to become comfortable saying the things we’d like to say instead of the things we ought to be saying. This is a lesson learned painfully by many politicians, athletes and celebrities. Some professional speakers and business leaders are guilty of this as well.

UNDERSTANDING GROUP THINK

Groupthink is a term coined by social physiologist Irving Janis in 1972 to classify a negative feature of people in groups. Group think is defined as a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.

Recently, while coaching a candidate for state legislative office we talked about speaking to audiences. My caution was to avoid the pit falls of group think by continually remembering that even people in your own party reserve the right to change their mind or to differ in opinion.

Group think has not only snared the famous and infamous, it also has a tendency to stifle open and honest dialogue between well intentioned people and among well-meaning groups.

Group-think is a paralyzing phenomenon predominately practiced from the halls of academia to the corridors of legislatures to conference rooms throughout the world.

In my own experience, while teaching Public Speaking at a college, I challenged my colleagues who were classifying Vocal Variety as verbal communication on the course’s rubric. When I pointed it out to them that even the text we were using classified Vocal Variety as nonverbal communication because it is paralanguage their response was, “Well perhaps we’ll call it Voice on the rubric instead.”

If ever there was a case of making a deviant decision, this is one. Instead of being concerned they had misinformed their students, they were more concerned with not being proved wrong. They were lock-step in the group think.

The Titanic struck an iceberg, but it was group think (this ship is unsinkable) that sunk it.

New Orleans was hit by hurricane Katrina, but it was group think (the levees will protect us) that cost the lives of so many people.

Enron may have been led by greedy dishonest executives, but it was group think (the belief that dissent is disloyalty or stupidity) that caused it to crumble.

AVOIDING THE PIT FALLS OF GROUP THINK

There are a variety of techniques you can engage to help avoid group think. An article from Expert Program Management suggests the following:

• The Nominal Group Technique: this gives group members the opportunity to contribute individually before group discussion begins.

• The Delphi Method: this allows group members to contribute individually without the group ever having to come together. The individual may not even be aware of who the other members of the team are.

• The Stepladder Technique: this starts with a group of two, and adds one member at a time to the group, allowing each new team member to express their opinion on the solution each time, before group discussion begins.

• ·The Six Thinking Hats Technique: forces the team to look at a problem from different perspectives.

The clearest solution to avoiding group think may be found in a simple two-word slogan from Apple, “Think Different”. Regardless of how popular a solution or objective may be,  challenge yourself and your group to seek a different perspective on the idea. Examine it as if you are seeing it for the first time. Give it the old “water test”. If it doesn’t hold water, it probably will sink.

THE NON-GROUP THINK LEADER AND SPEAKER

When you create a speech, you are your own group. You develop content out of your own passion, knowledge and experiences. You believe what you have to say is really, really important. While you have great, awesome and inspiring vision, what you may lack is perspective. And this can lead to group think.

A good many speakers get ensnarled in their own little group think. They have a passion for a topic, craft a speech with lots of real neato ideas, stories and witty phrases and then send it on its way. They forget to take the time to listen to what they are saying from their audience’s perspective. They forget to “eat their speech” and end up serving something that is totally indigestible. They hit their listeners with a fire hose when a sprinkler is what is they need to nurture the seeds they have sown.

The best way for a leader or speaker to avoid encouraging group think is to listen to what is being said. Measure it against what situation it is intended to solve. Before coming to the final decision, seek the input of a trusted, impartial outside source. Ask open questions designed to expand on the range of existing thinking. Be open to change and embrace it.

As Albert Einstein said, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.”

As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. The best way for me to avoid falling into group think within this post is for my readers to chime in with their comments, opinions and suggestions. Please feel free to share your comments on this post or suggestions for future posts in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Build your persuasive speeches around the huge power of What, Why and How and you'll never go wrong.

Persuasion.

Have you ever considered the human predisposition toward persuading is most likely encoded in our DNA?

How else can you explain how children learn how to negotiate while building logical arguments long before they learn to tie their shoes. You might even get some negotiation and argument around “why do I gotta tie my shoes” as well.

The proclivity to persuade probably dates back to the first person to step up with an idea for organizing a tribe or convincing people to try something new.

“Hey everybody, instead of wrestling the sabre tooth tiger, maybe we could try poking it with a really sharp stick. A lot. All of us at the same time. I know Stumpy thinks it’s a good idea.” Not that I was there, but I’ve heard rumors.

For leaders and speakers, the ability to persuade through language is a fundamental aspect of their job. Persuasive speaking is a skill that, depending on the speaker’s objective, may use one of several distinct organizational patterns. But at its fundamental level, persuasion requires connection. Connection of the speaker to the needs of their audience, their current mindset and their exhibited behavior.

People can be moved to change by three influencers; what inspires them, why it motivates them, and how it can transform them. The surest way for you to connect your audience to your ideas is to build a pathway for them and share the What, Why, and How of your objective.

Let’s look at each of these influencers.

WHAT

When a speaker or leader desires to persuade, they must first detail a clear vision of the reason for the change they seek.

When you concentrate your initial comments on the What, you have opportunities to identify a host of conditions such as current state, short falls, expectations, disappointments, promise lost, etc.

This is where you can “shake up” your audience and begin to get them thinking about the ideas or solutions you will share. Taking the opportunity to tell your audience what is “broken” is the first step that inspires them to seek change.

The What section of your speech sets the stage for the Why and How sections that will follow by clearly aligning the expectations of your content with your audiences’ connection to your supporting points.

WHY

Lots of people hear lots of good advice every day, but never act on it. Why is that?

Most likely it happens because the good advice is not connected to a compelling reason to follow it. People need to feel there is a compelling reason to take action, to embrace change.

It is not enough to tell your audience they should follow your advice, you must detail for them the benefits your advice will deliver to them. Telling your audience about the best way to lose weight because it worked for you is a start. But telling them how it will change their lives by sharing with them how it will feel, how they will look, how their self-image will increase, etc.

Using a story or example that motivates is an effective way to visualize what your desired change can bring. Essentially, this is a great time to use imagination language. Phrases like What if or Imagine you are… can help you begin to guide your audience towards the shifts you are seeking.

Watch most any infomercial and you will see this strategy deftly delivered.

HOW

I have listened to a lot of motivational talks in my life. In many cases I am left with the same feeling. Emptiness.

While the speakers have been passionate, energetic, insightful and a host of other adjectives, many of them fall short of having the one thing I believe makes persuasive speaking effective - connection.

Many speakers simply forget to connect the What and Why to an executable How.

Advice is great, but without a strategy for implementation the receiver is left with trying to figure out the “How” by themselves.

Persuasive speaking is done to bring about change. Change is the pathway to a destination. The destination is Transformation.

Transformation is the object of every persuasive speaker whether they know it or not. And, if your goal is to lead or influence others, you’d be well served to master the transformative elements of any persuasive speech you plan to give.

POWERFUL PERSUASION

If you’re skeptical about this, all you need do is look at two of history’s greatest persuasive speeches, Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death and Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream.

Both speakers clearly detail for their audience the What (current state of things), the Why (a compelling reason for change) and the How (next steps to follow).

Perhaps this is why these two speeches are held in such high esteem by historians, educators and the public.

THE APPEAL TO INTEREST

A few blogs ago (Mar. 12 ’18) I wrote about WIIFM – What’s In It For Me?

Every audience member has a reason for being there. As a speaker and leader, it would serve you well to understand what these interests are before you start speaking. No matter how clever your idea is or how revolutionary your strategy may be, if you fail to connect to your audiences’ interests you will struggle bringing about the change and momentum you desire.

Follow the simple formula of the three influencers:

1. Tell them What the current state is to inspire them to change.

2. Help them to see Why this appeals to their interest with a compelling reason

3. Share with them the next step on How they can achieve your desired change and transformation.

The next time you need to energize your “tribe” remember interest trumps intellect. Connecting to your audience’s interest is the key to getting them to embrace yours.

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. As always, share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Eagerly Explaining How to Become Less Anxious When Choosing the Words You Say.

Batter Up!
It’s baseball season. At this time every year, I get excited for two reasons. I love baseball and it means, the weather gods permitting, Spring is just around the corner.
It also means that while batters may be slugging the ball around the outfield, they are regularly clubbing the heck out of the English language.
Here are just three instances for your enlightenment.

• Anxious vs. Eager

• The Future Ahead

• Masterful Malapropisms

Ready or Not, Here I come?

At the start of every baseball season, I can predict with an absolute degree of certainty that before any team breaks Spring Training, some player, during some random interview will confidently say the following, “We have a great team with a great bunch of talented guys. I think this team has what it takes to win. I am anxious to get the season started.”

Everything that player is saying is all real positive, right up until the end. Every sentiment expressed about his team, its members and their prospect for the season is all positive. And, if that is the case, then why is he “anxious” to start the season.

Most likely he speaks this way because he just does not know the difference between the words “anxious” and “eager”. He is not alone. Unfortunately, in the battle of Anxious v. Eager, anxious almost always wins. This is simply because most people don’t know how to, or even more sadly don’t care to, correctly use these two words. Here’s why this is important.

In his book, “Leadership Is an Art”, Max De Pree puts it this way, that a leader must have “…a respect for the English language, an acknowledgement that muddy language usually means muddy thinking and that our audience may need something special from us.”

In the speaking world we characterize this as “saying what you mean and meaning what you say”.

In her fantastic grammar reference book “Woe Is I”, Patricia T. O’Conner explains that “you can be eager to do something” or you can be “anxious about doing something” but you cannot be both. I use this rule: use “eager” when you are feeling positive or looking forward to the experience and use “anxious” when you are uncertain or have anxiety about the experience.

For instance, “I am eager to go on vacation, but anxious about flying.”

The difference may appear to be subtle to you, but to the listener it clearly indicates a specific state of mind. One of the primary functions of language is to create higher levels of understanding.

As a leader and speaker this is your primary goal.

Meanwhile Back in the Booth

Baseball has a rich tradition of colorful language from Dizzy Dean to Yogi Berra. Who cannot help but chuckle at Yogi’s comment about a popular nightspot when he said, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” Whether Yogi intended to solicit a laugh or not, his unique way of speaking made him an adept practitioner of the fine balance between humor and accurate language. Here’s another, “It gets late, early there.” It causes us to think a bit and then “get it” after we parse the sentence.

But, unlike Yogi, today’s sportscasters (impromptu speakers) are required to banter back and forth hurling random superlatives in a verbal game of “pepper”. Sometimes what comes out of their mouths is verbally redundant chatter. Among my favorites is, “He’s a really fantastic player whose future is right in front of him.” Where else would it be? Certainly not right behind him. We call that the past. And, while “past may be prologue”, it can never be the future. Or as Yogi once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be”.

Masterful Malapropisms

It’s been said, “You are what you eat.” In truth, you are what you say or what people think they heard you say. Sometimes we mean to say one word and another similar sounding word comes out in its place. This is called a malapropism. The term 'Malapropism' is derived from the French term mal a propos, which translates as 'ill to purpose'.

Once, Danny Ozark, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies was asked about one of his outfielders and he replied, “His limitations are limitless”.

Back in the 80’s, the TV character Archie Bunker from All in the Family, would utter malapropisms at an alarming rate. Here are a few. "Buy one of them battery operated transvestite radios." And, "A woman doctor is only good for women’s problems…like your groinocology." Or my favorite, "A witness shall not bear falsies against thy neighbor."

If humor is your intent, a good malapropism can go a long way as long as you’re willing to have your audience laugh at your self-deprecating use of language.

But if your goal is to lead and inspire people by delivering precisely chosen words of high impact and value, you would do well to head Mark Twains’ advice (from the top of this blog) about the difference between the right word and the almost right word.

Lightning rarely strikes the same place twice and a speaker who confuses their audience with incorrect word selection will rarely get a chance to do it more than once as well.

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. As always, share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

How to know what your audience wants from you.

"The success of your presentation will be judged
not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.”
Lilly Walters

The single biggest sin any speaker can commit is to forget about their audience.

That’s why the quote accompanying this blog from Lily Walters, executive director of Walters International Speakers Bureau and author of Speak & Grow Rich, offers aspiring speaker her cautionary advice.

• Stay audience-centric.

• Don’t get lost in your moment on stage by thinking the event is all about you.

• Every speaking opportunity begins and ends with giving the audience what they expect.

“How is it possible to know what my audience expects from me, without being able to ask everyone in my audience?”

For so many speakers, the answer to this question is a major concern.

Is it possible to know what every member of your audience is expecting from you before your speak?

Absolutely!

The Audience’s Expectation Hierarchy

Several years ago, I developed The Audience’s Expectation Hierarchy (you can download a copy from the link below) to assist my clients in learning how they should develop audience-centric content for their speeches. Every audience, regardless of demographic composition, has specific expectations. The most expedient a speaker is in fulfilling these expectations the higher the level of integration an audience will have with the speaker’s content and objective. The Audience’s Expectation Hierarchy offers a very comprehensive, easy to follow strategy for making the fastest and most complete connection with your audience.

WIIFM – The world’s most popular station

The base level of The Audience’s Expectation Hierarchy addresses the most primal need of an audience; their “skin in the game” value.

Imagine how confident you would be if you know, even before you speak, what every audience member is thinking. Well you can. It’s simple. “What’s in it for me!?”

It’s not that audience members are ego-centric, but they do want their needs satisfied. So, from a listener’s perspective they need to know what they might gain from listening to you in return for their time and attention investment. I call it “getting a bang for their butt”. Many speakers think the more you hold out the drama of your main point, the more the audience will stay engaged. You can do this to a point, but whatever you do it had better impart some indication of the promise to come. Otherwise, you’ll lose them.

So, answer the WIIFM question by telling them what they will have to gain as an audience member. You might say something like this, “Before we finish here today, you will have a strategy for living your life with more purpose, persistence and fulfilling promise than when you came in the room.” This will let them know “what’s in it for them” if they make the commitment to stay with you.

Follow the Blueprint

Each succeeding level of the hierarchy fulfills another need the audience has thereby increasing their engagement with your content and you as a speaker.

• Level 1: What is this all about?
  Here’s your chance to set the stage for the point you want to make by clearly stating it. “Today I am going to share with you a fundamental strategy for increasing your success potential through intention.”

• Level 2: Why should I listen to you?
  Here’s the right time to establish your credentials and authority on your content. No matter who you are, you need to make them feel you are worthy of their attention and energy.

• Level 3: How will this affect my life or livelihood?
  In speaking circles we call this proximity and impact. If it doesn’t affect them, there will be no urgency behind their engaging with you or your content.

• Level 4: Is this information the most current; quoted and cited accurately?
  It is your responsibility as a thought leader and speaker to make sure your content is well researched, quoted and cited accurately and absolutely up to date. To misinform is to mistreat your audience. Nothing will destroy your credibility faster.

• Level 5: Is there an action I can take now?
  So many speakers get their audiences all worked up and rearing to go, but then just leave them hanging there with no actionable steps to take. Communication is all about information exchanged to create changes of knowledge, mindset and behavior. Telling them what they can do with your content to improve their lives will endear them to you.

• Level 6: What result can I expect?
  It’s OK to establish an expectation for your audience based on the content you have provided and the recommended actions you have offered. Helping them see real possibilities at the end of their journey is a big part of getting them to take the first step.

Becoming an audience-centric speaker requires a lot of discipline and intention. Remember Lily Walters advice and follow the steps I’ve laid out in The Audience Expectation Hierarchy. If you do you will be an engaging speaker every time while enjoying the thrill of Speaking Success will bring.

Now that you know what your audience wants from you please share this blog with a friend or colleague. As always, your comments and suggestions are delightfully welcome in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer