The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

How do I know what messages and topics will be most interesting to my audience?

Director of Marketing Research: “We will conduct a market survey and get back to you in three weeks.”

Director of Public Relations: “Let’s give a brief history of our organization, outline our core strengths, and then cover all of our major accomplishments from the last 6-12 months.”

You: “I want to cover all my bases. I’d rather err on the side of being too thorough. That way, no one can criticize me for leaving anything out. I’ll cover every major accomplishment I can think of from the last 2 years.”

***

Your Audience: “Why don’t you just ask us? Pick up the phone and call a few of us a week or two before the speech. Tell us your topic and then ask us what we’d like to hear if we could have a one-on-one conversation with you for an hour. Ask us what questions we would toss your way. Throw out a dozen ideas and see which ones we like. After about 10 minutes, we will help you come up with literally a handful (that means 5) ideas and messages you should cover in your speech.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

If my allotted time is cut, what should I eliminate from my speech?

Your Marketing Director: “Unfortunately, you’ll have to drop the stories and examples and the jokes and humor. Just get the facts out as quickly as possible.”

Your Boss: “Get the facts out. Get in. Get out. Sit down and shut up.”

You: “I’ll just cut out the examples and stories and talk faster. That way I’ll still cover all of my points.”

***

Your audience: “The faster you talk, the faster we zone out, forget or fail to process in the first place. Since it is highly unlikely that we will remember more than a couple of points from your speech anyway, why don’t you figure out what the couple of points of greatest importance are from your speech? Then, without rushing, give us examples and stories to make those one or two points come alive. Far better to communicate one point with one story memorably then to quickly dump lots of data that is quickly forgotten. Plus, you can always give us handouts or direct us to a website for more information. If you have said anything remotely interesting and useful, we will seek out more information from you.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I use stories in my presentation?

Your Speech Writer: “Yes, you should open and close your speech with a heart-warming story.”

Your Public Relations Director: “Yes, if there is time, let’s put in a few stories to flesh out our points.”

You: “Of course I’d like to put some stories into the presentation, but unfortunately, there’s no time because of all of the data points I must cover.”

***

Your Audience: “It is highly unlikely that we will remember anything from your speech other than your interesting and relevant stories (if you doubt this, just ask us five minutes after your speech is over to tell you what you said during your presentation and you will be greeted with a blank look). If you have an important point or message you want us to remember, you’d b e an absolute fool or imbecile not to tell us a story involving a conversation you had with a real colleague, client, customer or friend that makes this message come alive in a tangible way. If you don’t want us to remember anything from your speech, then by all means, leave out the stories.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

What should I do with my hands?

Your Speech Coach: “Keep one hand in your pocket at all times and you will be less distracting.”

Your Public Relations Chief: “Place both hands on the lectern in front of you. That way they won’t be distracting.”

Your Webcast Technical Adviser: “Hold your hands together in front of you. That way they won’t be distracting.”

You: “Maybe I’ll hold a pen in my hands to keep myself calm. This will make ME feel better.”

***

Your Audience: “Your hands? What? All we know is that it’s more interesting to listen to speakers who are conversational and don’t look and sound like stiffs. Our favorite speakers sound and look like they are talking to their best friend at a bar. Have you ever seen yourself talking to friends at a bar? Guess what, you move your hands a lot.”

Because of all the types of speaking, motivational speaking, in the classic sense, is the easiest to devolve into meaningless clichés and useless abstractions. Personally, whenever I hear most motivational speakers, all I hear is Chris Farley’s absurd satire of a motivational speaker in his Matt Foley skit on Saturday Night Live. If you want three minutes of pure joy and a lifetime of future chuckles at other motivational speakers, then watch this Chris Farley video on youtube here.