Joanne’s Blog of Sudden Inspiration

I Speak for Thee: Give through Public Speaking

It was ten minutes before curtain time. I gobbled up my sandwich and hastened into the auditorium … and ran smack! into the star of the show: a celebrity author and former host of a radio show. I couldn’t believe it! After our awkward physical encounter, I found myself a seat in the second row, next to an older woman. She was even more excited to meet the speaker than I was. There were quite a few people like us who had come from all over San Diego to hear him speak that day.

At the front of the room, in the center, were two long tables filled with piles of the speaker’s books. Five minutes before start time, he positioned himself behind one of the tables and started collecting money from those lining up to view the book selections. “I even take credit cards,” he said. 

Ten minutes into the hour, the book selling finally stopped, and the program began. While he was being introduced, we heard the speaker whispering into the ears of the event planner. It was a little bit distracting because he was on mic. 

Although the speaker inserted more than a few ah’s and ahm’s in his speech, the presentation was quite entertaining. 

Then we heard … a big THUD! The event planner came in pushing a cart stacked with four boxes, one of which fell to the ground. My guess is that the speaker had asked her to go out and get more books to restock the tables. She pushed the cart to the front of the room and proceeded to open the boxes.

The speaker looked in her direction, stopped in middle of his speech, walked over to the tables, and began to instruct her on how to stack the books correctly! In fact, this happened a few more times during the rest of the lecture. Every time the event planner would say to him: “Don’t worry. I will take care of it.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. At one point, my neighbor and I looked at one another and shrugged.

I was feeling really uncomfortable with the way that this speaker repeatedly broke his character during his lecture. My impression was that he worried so much about selling his books that he didn’t care about hiding that fact. Engaging the audience was not his main focus. Frankly I was embarrassed for him.

In the beginning of my own journey as a speaker, I was worried about learning to better express who I am. Now I am preoccupied with questions, such as: “What are some of the ways that I can share what I know so that my audience can reap the most rewards from hearing me talk?” “What do they want to know?” “How do I empower them?” Whether you are paid to speak, invited to speak for free, or perhaps you’ve managed to obtain a guest speaking spot at Toastmasters club, somebody has said “yes” to you; somebody has granted you permission to enter in his space.  I learned that public speaking is a service-oriented profession. 

Just thinking about this makes me fill with gratitude. You see, without an audience, I would not be a public speaker; I would just be another weird person who likes to talk to herself!

Think about what you can uniquely offer to your audience.   Think about the purpose of your speech.  Is it to educate, entertain, inspire, a combination, or _____? Instead of coming in with the attitude of “I am an expert.  Listen to me!” you come in ready to connect with your audience on a human level, in your own personal style. “Hey, I have some information that I would like to share with you, because I really think that you will benefit from my experience.” 

Whether you are a celebrity speaker who’s concerned about making a profit or a budding speaker who’s trying to make a name for himself, following this approach will help you become more audience-focused, and keep me-centered thinking at bay.