Smaller Components Help Refine Your Message

As 2026 approaches, I’m developing a 40-minute presentation usable with several audiences on the topic of taking action and not being a spectator. To prepare, I’ve developed and delivered several shorter components of the larger presentation.

Photo by Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis on Unsplash

Shorter, reusable components are valuable for several reasons, including for simple practice. I want to be sure each component is complete on its own.

Delivering shorter components helps to refine and better understand my overall message, and to manage transitions in the material.

I’ve found this approach helpful in the past, and a similar approach may be helpful to you.

Practice Assists Discovery

Although this shouldn’t be a surprise to me, I’ve learned over the years that as a result of these iterations my core content can serve several purposes and support several messages.

Sometimes I learn this after I speak with people who were in the audience. The material I’m currently refining touches on risk, ambition, courage, confidence, experimentation, team coherence and more.

Core Material

The core material I use in this presentation begins with my experience as a one-time recreational skeleton racer.  Skeleton racing in the Olympic sport where athletes race head first down an icy track.  It is one of three sliding sports, along with bobsled and luge racing, in which racers slide head first down the hill.  More information is available from the sport’s governing body The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (https://www.ibsf.org/en/)

Personal Experience Drives Content

Often people will underestimate the lessons and instructional value of their personal experiences.  My odd little experience as a recreational skeleton racer is ultimately about risk and unique experiences, but most importantly about not needing to justify a choice or an action to others. 

 

My Presentation - Section 1 – Set The Stage

To set the stage for my core message, I describe my experience that day racing down the icy skeleton and bobsled track. Audiences have found the material quite engaging as the activity involves some risk, and it’s not a common pursuit for many people.  However, I do recommend it.

I wrote about my experience at The Whistler Sliding Center in British  Columbia  here https://substack.com/home/post/p-167638383

 

Section 2 – Describe Obvious Opportunities

Because the first organization that I will present with is a Toastmasters audience, I spend about 10 minutes describing developmental roles within Toastmasters. This is an obvious path those audience members.

Section 3 – Discuss Stretch Opportunities

The final section encourages audience members to personally note their stretch ambitions, whether inside their organization or outside their organization.  Sometimes I invite attendees to share a stretch ambition, but I won’t put anyone on the spot and potentially embarrass them.

Section 4 – The Power of Simply Starting

Once members have noted and acknowledged an opportunity then I walk them through a process to begin and then generate momentum that leads to achievement.  This may be a team ambition or an individual pursuit.

Conclusion

When developing material, it’s important to start. Experiment. Deliver shorter versions. Deliver several versions.  Discover the value and key messages surrounding your core material.

Usually sharing your message to an audience of one, or an audience of many, will help you refine and often discover additional purpose.

 

A Speech Is Not An Essay

I see quite a number of developing speakers prepare excellent content, in the style of an essay, and then stand and read it to their audience with perfunctory attempts to make eye contact with attendees. Members in the audience will work hard to follow along, and organize what they hear from the speaker, however, if a speech is mostly read to an audience, the speaker’s opportunity to truly connect with attendees and clarify content is lost.  If the audience doesn’t receive the message, what was the point of speaking?

A speech isn’t an essay. Occasionally it is important to write precise content and then deliver the material exactly as written. But audience members will feel that they’re being read to. Ideally, a speaker will make frequent eye contact, observe how audience members react assessing message receipt, and then modify their approach if needed.  

Source: https://assets.ltkcontent.com/images/34093/male-student-giving-speech_2516ce170a.jpg)

Contrast: Essay Versus Speech

An essay provides the opportunity to write, rewrite, and rephrase until you’ve documented precisely what you wish to communicate. Readers can consume the essay at their leisure, and re-read sections, underline, and take other steps to process the content.

A speech is an interaction with an audience, and often a distracted audience. A speech provides abundant opportunity for the speaker to clarify content and test for message receipt. In my experience, it is helpful to repeat key points in a speech. While listening to a speech, a listener’s attention will likely drift. While reading an essay, a reader can return to content they’ve not absorbed, or want to consider again.

Organizing Your Speech

First, when developing your speech, I advise to capture all possible content, all your ideas, all the possible speech elements, related to your topic including your key lessons, research, and especially illustrative stories. I use the bubble technique or fishbone technique to capture this.

As a rule of thumb, I expect any speech element to require two to three minutes to deliver to an audience.  For me, this is a helpful planning tool to estimate potential speech duration.

Second, define the key message you wish to leave with this precise audience, based on their interests and experience with your topic. This key message is your speech purpose.

Third, select enough speech elements to consume your time allowance and support your key message. Sometimes speakers will try to share everything they know about a topic, or offer too much background to an already well-informed audience. Select only the speech elements that support your speech purpose and specific audience.

Now that these steps are complete, you’re ready to go. You can practice the brief speech elements independently, assess their sequencing and fit, and polish your delivery.

Your Delivery

When delivering your speech, I advise;

1.     Offer brief introductory remarks if necessary

2.   State your speech purpose

3.   State the speech elements you’ll share with the audience

4.   Speak to each element

5.    Test for comprehension if you’re comfortable doing so

6.   Conclude by restating your speech purpose, and briefly summarizing your speech elements.  (Some members of your audience were distracted)

Conclusion

A speech is different from an essay. You can prepare an essay, and stand and read it to an audience, however, you’ve wasted the opportunity to interact with your audience, and supplement content in response to audience reception.

Here are some more thoughts on this subject https://gycz.blogspot.com/2023/05/my-process-preparing-keynote.html

GYCZ – Progressives Fail To Communicate

I saw this post on Twitter/X earlier this year and loved the opinion expressed. @PeterHRatcliffe stated that ‘Progressives’ believe their ideas make perfect sense and then fail to communicate their ideas well.

Driving Change & Agreement on Issues

It’s a fair comment, however I’ll add that, not only Progressives, but every speaker, every communicator, has a responsibility to communicate their ideas well.  It’s especially important when you wish to encourage, promote, or drive change.

 Here’s a link to the tweet https://x.com/PeterHRatcliffe/status/1805900850709004459

 

A Simple Model for Driving Change

Here’s a model for driving change that can be used if you’re delivering a single presentation, or delivering a series of presentations over a longer period for a more complicated issue.

1.   Define the Problem or Issue

The primary purpose of a speech is to inform, persuade, or entertain. When exploring change or introducing a new concept to an audience, it will be difficult to persuade. First, you need to inform about the problem or issue, and to get concurrence that the problem exists and is significant. If the audience doesn’t accept that there is a problem or issue, then they will never be persuaded to think differently or act differently.

With a new concept, your goal must be to get concurrence that there is an issue and have the audience eager to pursue solutions.

Problem definitions should be short, simple and clear. I’m confident that everyone reading this post has heard a speaker explain with passion what he perceives as an issue, but you remain unclear of the exact issue.  The problem ideally should be reduced to one simple sentence.

2.   Develop Alternatives

Once your audience agrees there is an issue, and is willing to invest time, energy, and money, it’s time to describe or develop possible solutions.  Ideas could be developed during a team exercise, or you might present a series of options and invite other ideas from the audience. In my opinion, it’s always advisable to engage the audience and let them voice their ideas.

3.   Select a Solution

There are many methods to assist a team in selecting an alternative once the alternatives have been thoroughly discussed.  People need to be heard, and to feel that they’ve been heard. 

Approaches include SWOT analysis, Nominal Group Technique with ranking, listing of pros and cons, and dot voting Dot Voting

 

Conclusion

The primary purpose of a speech is to inform, persuade, or entertain. If you’re planning to speak with an ultimate goal to enable a group decision, you better be very clear.  If you’re not clear it will be very difficult to get your audience on board, and you’re likely to become frustrated with your lack of progress.

Every speaker, every communicator, has a responsibility to communicate their ideas well.  Public speaking is a skill.  Skills require practice.

 

 

The Wolf of Wall Street & Audience Analysis

Selecting the right message for a given audience can save much discomfort for a speaker.  There is a scene in The Wolf of Wall Street that illustrates this well.

The Book and Movie

A few months ago, I was walking through my library and saw a display of books. Prominently displayed was The Wolf of Wall Street, which is a memoir from Jordan Belfort, a former stockbroker, a convicted financial criminal, and now speaker and author. I checked the book out from the library, read it, and later watched the movie.

Both the book and movie are too long in my opinion, and there are some significant differences between the movie and book. Both are entertaining, but at times credibility is stretched significantly. To test if my skepticism was reasonable, I searched other reviews and opinions and many support my disbelief of some details.  

For example, in the book, there is a scene where Belfort’s rented yacht is sinking in Italy, and as he, his wife and others are about to be rescued by helicopter, he and his wife lightheartedly joke about needing to shop for clothes later. It’s hard to imagine that dialogue, and any levity, taking place in such a moment. There are many more examples of exaggeration and embellishment.  

Further Details

Belfort’s story is amazing for many reasons. More detail is available here if you have more interest.

https://www.looper.com/866224/everything-the-wolf-of-wall-street-doesnt-tell-you-about-the-true-story/

 

Public Speaking Examples

I was entertained and very interested in the public speaking scenes. Belfort was, and I’m sure remains, a very persuasive speaker. His style isn’t my style, but his approach is undoubtedly effective with his audiences.

In one scene entrepreneur Steve Madden addresses Belfort’s brokers, Belfort’s sales staff, and the scene is fascinating in its illustration of audience analysis and engagement. It’s a great example of poor audience analysis and lack of readiness.

In the scene, Belfort’s firm is about to take Madden’s self-named shoe company public, in an IPO offering, selling Madden shares to their clients. Belfort brings Madden to the office to pump up the sales team and get them ready to promote and sell the shares that are about to be released to the public. Big money is at stake.

Madden begins meekly with a self-introduction, but the audience already knew his name and that he was the founder of the company. Somebody in the impatient audience shouts “we already know your name!” Not a strong start.

Madden then delves into trivialities of shoe design and manufacture. The audience starts throwing wads of paper at him.  Belfort steps forward, gracefully moves Madden aside, acknowledges his comments and his work, and then takes over the presentation building the sales team into a greed-inspired frenzy. He understands his audience and speaks about how much money the members of the sales team are about to earn.

We might not agree on the motivations, but this remains a great example of understanding an audience, meeting their energy level, and delivering an appropriate message.

 

Three Questions For Audience Analysis  

Here are some questions for any speaker to consider before any engagement;

1.   Why am I invited to address this group?

2.   What is my sponsor’s desired outcome with this specific audience?

3.   How do I assess the audience energy level and meet them where they’re at? Immediately before speaking, assess the energy level of the audience and work to be compatible. You can then take the energy level elsewhere, but try to avoid a mismatch of energy.

 

More On Audience Analysis

I wrote previously about audience analysis here https://gycz.blogspot.com/2023/11/short-cut-to-audience-analysis.html

 

Conclusion

Choosing the appropriate message for a specific audience will save a speaker from an uncomfortable interaction.  This requires some time before finalizing any remarks, but is well worth this effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Middle East magazine - Anyone Can Become An Effective Public Speaker

Anyone can become an effective public speaker, as this article states. I’m quoted extensively in this article published in 2016. The content remains relevant

https://www.ceo-middleeast.com/ceo/ten-steps-become-better-public-speaker-652066-html

Short Cut To Audience Analysis

Recently I was working with a speaker who was scheduled to deliver a keynote-style speech at a regional event. To practice for the big event, she planned a trial run of her content with a smaller audience.

When she and I talked, I asked her to clarify the relevance of her speech for the smaller audience.  She said that she simply had a prepared text she needed to deliver to the larger audience, so this was a chance to practice the material before this smaller audience. I encouraged her to spend some time considering the attendees at the smaller audience, and then plan some small adjustments to shape her content for that audience. 

She later told me her trial run went exceptionally well, as did her presentation to the regional group.

To improve the relevance of your topic with an audience, some audience analysis can be very useful.

Enable The Audience To See Relevance of Your Topic

Any speech delivered to any audience must have meaning for the attendees. Why would anybody speak about a topic that has no meaning for the members of the audience?

A speaker and/or introducer should make the relevance of the topic very clear as the presentation begins. This enables the audience to organize and process the speech content. Please invest some time to empower your audience to process your message.

You can invest a great deal of time on audience analysis considering age, demographics, psychographics, and many other factors. Or you can take this short cut with the event organizer or person who invited you to speak.

Audience Analysis Short-Cut

To better understand your expected audience, simply have a conversation with the person responsible for the quality of the event.  For example, I’m often asked to speak on topics of leadership and public speaking. A common discussion I have with event organizers sounds similar to this;

“So, you’ve asked me to speak about leadership. Are there any particular areas you’d like to see covered?”

“Just basic leadership.”

“Ok, do the attendees lead people now?”

“Some do, but most are high potential employees developing into possible leadership positions.”

“OK, so what sort of jobs do your attendees perform in your company?”

“It’s a mix, but there is a large contingent from IT and accounting.”

“I see. What sorts of attributes or behavior shows that one of your developing employees shows potential?”

“That’s mostly based on feedback from other leaders. As well, we invest a lot in community development, and often employees who take part in planning and running these events show potential.”

“Interesting.  Do these events have significant budgets?”

“Not usually, but sometimes.”

“Should I touch on financial management?”

“Maybe a little.”

“OK based on this is there anything you’d like me to emphasize about leadership?”

“I suppose I’d like to see more people get involved in the early planning of these events. That shares the workload, and provides an opportunity to showcase their talents.”

“Perfect. Thanks. Anything else?”

Conversation Analysis

A brief conversation such as this helps the organizer focus on her objectives, enables me to better understand those objectives, and enables me to review my notes later and then direct some of my content for better value to the organizer. As the event draws near, I like to review my plan with the organizers.

In preparing such a presentation I’d draw on my experience, and theoretical concepts to quickly draft an outline. Here’s an example;

1.    Set the stage – Clearly introduce the topic and objectives

2.    Round table introductions (small group)

3.    My background;

a.    Toastmasters International, L’Arche, other volunteer work, family endowment fund, corporate background

b.    Emphasize professionally presenting one’s credentials

4.    Contrast management versus leadership – Blanchard

5.    Discuss Situational Leadership – Hersey-Blanchard

6.    Comment on financial measures and reporting

7.    Introduce a Model for a Basic Leadership Speech

8.    Etc

 

Summary

You can spend a great deal of time on audience analysis. Or you can simply have a brief, well-focused conversation with your event organizers. Our world needs more and more simple, direct conversations.

An event organizer, or whoever invited you to speak, wants you to do well, because then she’ll get great feedback and be praised for her wisdom in inviting you.  Engage with the event organizer.

A few simple questions as I’ve illustrated will help you better understand the audience the host expects to have in the room.  It might also help him or her clarify what they hope to see as an outcome from your speech.

Additional Viewpoint On Audience Analysis

Here is another point of view on audience analysis

https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/audience-analysis

How To Introduce A Speaker – Set The Stage

 

When a speaker prepares a presentation, her introduction is sometimes an afterthought. However, a great introduction sets the stage for a speaker. A quality introduction can be very focused and succinct. When left to chance introductions can be too brief, and sometimes overly long offering detail that may be intriguing, but not relevant to the presentation. 

A Simple Formula For Speaker Introductions

A simple formula for speaker introductions answers two questions for the audience;

1.    Why this topic (for this specific audience)?

2.    Why this speaker?

A host can quickly and easily craft an introduction by asking and paraphrasing these questions to the speaker, and then shaping the answers for presentation to the audience.

Speaker Perspective

After a solid introduction, a speaker can quickly start into her presentation without needing to offer more detail about her credentials.  An audience needs to be sold on a speaker’s credibility, and if the host can set the stage in this manner, that’s a huge assist for the speaker.  Without such an introduction, the speaker will need to professionally introduce her credentials and credibility.

Biographies

Some speakers will share a long biography or list of achievements with an event host. Usually then the host will feel compelled to read the biography to the audience in its entirety.  Some speakers want that, but certainly not all, and not me.  I prefer a brief, pertinent introduction that sets the stage for me, and enables me to quickly get on with my work with the audience.

To that objective, I prefer that an introducer either conduct a brief interview with me, or choose relevant points from my biography and then offer some personal reflection on interactions we’ve had.

Ideally, a host who invited you to speak delivers your introduction, and conveys some of his excitement about your credibility on the topic.

Host Perspective

If you are hosting, and introducing, a speaker, you can very quickly craft an excellent introduction. Some speakers will want any introduction provided to be read as is. Others will want their introduction personalized.

 To prepare;

1.    Read any introduction provided, and/or do some research on the speaker. Speakers love to hear that you performed some research on their background.

2.    Ask the speaker if she wants an introduction she provided to be read as it is written. If yes, your approach is clear. If no, proceed with the following queries.

3.    Say something like “Your talk seems very interesting to me. What components do you think will be most interesting for this audience?”  Make notes.

4.    Then say something like “I read your background. Tell me more about how you became interested in this topic?” Make notes. 

5.    When you review your notes, shape the details for your audience. Answer the questions "Why this topic, why this speaker." Think about the audience perspective. Some in the audience will have the view of “why should I care about this topic, and just who is this speaker?”  Your job is to inform them, and engage their interest.

6.    You may choose to offer brief comments about how you enjoyed your short interview with the speaker before the event.

Variations Of The Questions

As host, it’s obviously not advisable to bluntly ask the speaker “Why this topic for my audience and why are you credible on the topic?” However, that is what you wish to discover. Here are some variations of the questions.

1.    Why this topic (for this specific audience)?

-         How did you first become interested in this subject?

-         How does your talk relate to the people in the audience?

-         What do you expect the audience will think or do differently as a result of your presentation?

 

2.    Why this speaker?

-         How did you first become interested in this subject?

-         What did you find most surprising as your knowledge developed?

-         Are there related areas you plan to explore further?

Conclusion

A great introduction sets the stage for a speaker by engaging an audience to become eager to listen. A poor introduction places additional requirement on the speaker to engage the audience.

A gracious host can prepare a tremendous introduction by asking just a couple of well-considered questions, and crafting the responses to stimulate audience interest, thereby setting the stage for the presenter. 

Postscript – A Personal Example

At a marketing conference in 2006, I was asked to introduce a speaker. The speaker, Adam Van Koeverden, was a competitive rower, and the only material I had been provided was a long, sequential list of competitions, results and achievements, as pictured below. This was a six-page list of great results, but I couldn’t just read these out.

    Aug.     Canadian Sprint CanoeKayak Championships - Ottawa, Ontario - K-2 200M 2nd

    Aug.     Canadian Sprint CanoeKayak Championships - Ottawa, Ontario - K-2 1000M 1st

    Aug.     Senior World Championships - Duisburg, Germany - K-1 500m 1st

    Aug.     Senior World Championships - Duisburg, Germany - K-1 1000m 2nd

    Jun.     ICF World Cup # 3 - Gerardmer, France - K-1 200m 3rd

    Jun.     ICF World Cup # 3 - Gerardmer, France - K-1 500m 1st

    Jun.     ICF World Cup # 3 - Gerardmer, France - K-1 1000m 1st

    May.     ICF World Cup # 2 - Szeged, Hungary - K-1 200m 7th

    May.     ICF World Cup # 2 - Szeged, Hungary - Medley 4 x 100m 5th

 

As I read the list, I was considering what I could do with the material. Deep into the list, on the fourth page, I saw the Lou Marsh award, now known as the Northern Star award. This is an annual award presented to Canada’s top athlete of the year who is chosen by a panel of journalists.  Van Koeverden won the award in 2004 and this was buried in the list I was provided.

I’m a sports fan, but had not been aware Van Koeverden had won the award. I’ve not paid much attention to the award before or since, but past and recent winners have included Steve Nash, Terry Fox, Sydney Crosby, Masters Champion Mike Weir, Wayne Gretzky, U.S. Open Champion Bianca Andreescu, Jacques Villeneuve and more. Van Koeverden shared very prestigious company as an awardee.

My introduction became easy to assemble. As I recall, it went something like this;

1.    We’re at this conference to celebrate achievements by marketing professionals from across the country. Our speaker has also achieved a long list of successes. I’ll acknowledge just a few of his achievements.

2.    Our speaker was recently Canada’s flag bearer at the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens where he won a gold medal for rowing in the 500 metre and a bronze medal in the 1000 metre. He is a two-time world champion in the 500 metre and 1000 metre, winning four Olympic medals and eight world champion medals.  In 2004 he was recognized as the winner of the Lou Marsh Award, as Canada’s top athlete.  Previous winners include Terry Fox, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Weir, and Mario Lemieux.

3.    Please help me welcome Adam Van Koeverden.

I also recall from that day that Adam arrived about 20 minutes before he was to speak as a result of flight delays.  We were relieved to see him.  He was quickly seated next to me and I clarified his name pronunciation (VERY important).  He then asked how I planned to introduce him.  I expect that because of the list I was provided, and others must have been provided, that some of his introductions had been less than stellar in the past.  So, I quickly walked him through my approach and he nodded and said ok.

As I delivered his introduction, I could tell I had set the stage well. In particular, I noticed audience engagement as I listed other winners of the Lou Marsh award.  

An introduction is a speech, albeit a short speech. Such a speech is worthy of some planning and preparation.

How To Get Your Distracted Team Focused

Some of your team members are unaware of your team's goals. You likely told them. You likely told them more than once. But people are busy, and often distracted.  Regardless, your team members need to understand team goals and how each of them can influence results. 

Some years ago, I discovered, or devised, a simple, repeatable structure that enables leaders to deliver concise, powerful speeches that remind teammates of team goals, and inspire teammates to direct their energy towards these goals.

I like structure and models that I can use for speech development, decision making, and more. I suppose most of us like structure and helpful models. Here is my model for an instinctive speech that most leaders can deliver spontaneously.

 

An Instinctive Leadership Speech Model

1. These are our goals and why

2.  This is our progress

3. These are behaviors I’ve observed that will lead to team achievement

4. Next steps

Explained - These Are Our Goals and Why

Some teams have their goals assigned by higher levels of management. Some teams have some discretion setting team goals. Either way, it is important for team members to understand team goals and why they were assigned or selected.

Sometimes team members might want to debate why one goal is included, and other ambitions excluded. For example, perhaps a company might plan to soon open a branch office in another city, and some employees look forward to possibly staffing the office. If that ambition is delayed, team members deserve to understand the rationale, and perhaps voice their disappointment.

A leader should usually let disappointed team members voice any concerns during a team meeting, because if that doesn’t happen publicly, it will certainly happen privately thereby distracting the team from healthy behavior and progress.

For my friends in Toastmasters, every club leadership team is assigned the same ten goals, and asked to achieve five or more. As an organization, operated by volunteer leaders, that has prospered for 100 years, these ten goals are understood to direct the team behavior that enables long term success.

Early in the year with your team, you need to spend quite a lot of time on this section of explaining goals and why. As the year progresses, you don’t need to spend as much time on this section, but it is important to always remind the team of these targets.

 

Explained – This Is Our Progress

Most leaders are intensely focused on accomplishing team goals, and are very attuned to progress. Your organization likely has a dashboard available for each team, which any team member can access at his or her leisure.

It’s very easy, and very valuable, for a leader to display a dashboard, reiterate the series of goals, and acknowledge where progress has been achieved, and which team members contributed.

 

Explained – These Are Behaviors I’ve Observed

This section is by far the most valuable section in this speech structure. Before delivering, or as delivering, the leader should assess which team members are behaving in a manner that will lead to goal achievement, and recognize that member and the behavior.

For example, early in the year, the team may have achieved zero goals on their dashboard. It’s fine to acknowledge that but also identify helpful behaviors that will lead to achievement. Perhaps a team member completed a series of cold calls that added some prospects to the organization’s sales funnel.  Or an employee identified an inefficiency that has been corrected and will help the team meet an expense goal.

For my friends in Toastmaster clubs, perhaps a member invited a guest, who might join and become a member, or at least will speak positively of her experience with her friends. Or perhaps a member completed a speech that will soon result in an educational achievement.

This section is most important because, as a leader, you will call attention to helpful behaviors you wish to see other team members emulate.  Most team members desire recognition in some manner, and want to understand, at some level, how to be recognized.

Explained – Next Steps

This section is for you to briefly summarize and inspire.

 

How Teams Fail To Achieve

In his book The Winner Within, basketball coach and executive Pat Riley quotes his friend, Dr. Lew Richardson, a psychologist.  I love the quote and wish Dr. Lew had written further on this topic. Unfortunately, this is the only reference I have seen for the gentleman.

 

“Teams break when they don’t have a goal or the goals aren’t clearly defined by the leaders. Goals have to be firmly entrenched, otherwise people begin to operate as independent entrepreneurs in a system that really needs cooperative work.”

 

Conclusion

Goals need to be well defined, and well understood. As leaders, we need to do all we can to remind team members of what the team is expected to achieve. As a society, we’re more distracted than ever.  Your team members are distracted.

I hope you find this simple model for a repeatable leadership speech helpful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Process Preparing a Keynote

On Saturday, May 13^th, 2023, I delivered a 40-minute keynote with 15 minutes of Q&A.  The event was organized around three keynote presentations.   I will share my development process here.

Defining My Keynote Purpose

Purpose drives content. My process began with a conversation with the organizers to understand their requirements and what they hoped to achieve with the audience.  I'm generally familiar with the types of volunteer leaders who would be in attendance, and we discussed and settled on a relevant theme.  

I chose a theme around recognizing their successes in general, helping them realize the immense opportunity they have for skill development in their volunteer roles, and a description of the value of the Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model to help their efforts.  The organizers needed a title and I chose Situational Leadership Every Time.

 

Exploring the Theme

Often people don't understand how they are being shaped during their experiences.  We are all shaped by our experiences. A goal with my talk was to help the audience members enable increased intentional focus on finishing their year well, and their skill development. A key component would be some research I discovered which indicates that most leaders receive their first ever leadership training at age 42 on average, about 10 years after they were promoted! These volunteer leaders in my audience are gifted an opportunity to receive training, exercise leadership skills, and develop further.

Within the theme, I took the audience through the situational leadership model, which is always relevant to any group of leaders, and the work of any leader. I also included material on managing team dysfunction and then offered a simple speech structure that any leader can use at anytime, even spontaneously.

 

Planning

To begin designing my speech, I usually create a draft presentation drawing on existing slides and material, and I did so in this instance.  As a result of many years of presentations, I have a quantity of stories and assets I can use to speak about leadership and communication.   

 

Refining

After reviewing the draft presentation, I scanned the draft to consider what was missing and what new material I can find that is pertinent and interesting.  In this case I found some recent material on the future of work from McKinsey, which is excellent, and is now a new asset for my future presentations.   Here is a link https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-world-of-work

 

A subsequent review of the draft helped me realize I could remove some material that I believe is too basic for this audience, and spend more time on the most pertinent material.   

 As the date of the presentation grew closer, I continued to scan and review, consider and write down key points for reminders during the presentation, and think about flow and transitions from major point to major point.  I never know precisely what I will say, but I know precisely what I’ll speak about, and the mental rehearsal embeds transitions and key points. I always print a 9-sllde horizontal view of my PowerPoint where I can jot notes on key points and sometimes transitions, and so I can glance and preview what is next.

 

Managing Chat Function

I decided to add a couple of skill testing questions to engage the audience. In doing so I recognized that I would ask those offering answers to type them in the chat, as this presentation was online only.  I usually avoid watching the chat as I find it distracting to my thought process, so I usually ask someone to monitor and advise me if need be.  So, I engaged a chat master in advance and armed her with the answers to my skill testing questions.   The two winners were mailed a copy of one of my books, of their choice.  

 

Result

The keynote proceeded swimmingly, and was well received.  Most of the questions were submitted in advance with time for a couple more from the assembly.

I hope you find value in this description of my approach to developing this keynote.