People often ask me: “How do I speak with power?” The answer, I have found, is very simple: To speak with power you have to tell a good Story with a clear Purpose that that creates Engagement in the hearts and minds of the assembled Audience in order to share your Knowledge. 5 key elements are present in this definition: Story, Purpose, Engagement, Audience and Knowledge, or SPEAK for short. As simple and common sense as this definition sounds at first, this axiom is not easy to follow, and most speakers fail to speak with power because they miss one or more of these 5 elements.
Remember your old high school science teacher who had the power to bore his class to tears within just a few moments of the class? Or remember the boss who spoke for over an hour at your company meeting without anyone actually remembering anything that was said? Now ask yourself, did they tell a good Story with a clear Purpose that that creates Engagement in the hearts and minds of the assembled Audience in order to share your Knowledge? I will wager that the answer will be a NO every time. They most likely cared about their topic and wished to share their knowledge and to convince their audience of their own mastery of the subject matter. Then why did the result of their labors feet so flat and ineffective?
What most likely happened is that your teacher/boss focused primarily on dumping their Knowledge on you-their audience-without a story, focusing on convincing you with information and facts alone. As a result, they most likely buried the purpose of why this presentation should be listened to in a mountain of extraneous information. Now think of how they delivered their message. Most likely their delivery was probably lackluster because their body, voice or their supporting materials did not match their message and as a result they lost the engagement of their listeners. Lastly, ask yourself: How plugged in were they into what the audience wanted? Most often, speakers are too focused on their own material to really understand the type, amount, and level of information that their particular audience needs. As a result, the speaker’s goal of sharing their knowledge fails not because their own lack of knowledge, but because their failure to effectively see, hear and communicate their knowledge to their audience.
Learning how to speak with power can be so effective because it not only helps to remind you of the five key elements to speaking with power, but it immediately distinguishes you from all other professionals who are dumping knowledge onto their audiences, hoping that it will stick. The process of SPEAK– telling a good Story with a clear Purpose that that creates Engagement in the hearts and minds of the assembled Audience in order to share your Knowledge– is a step-wise process to attain this mastery. I will cover it in detail in the upcoming blogs and hope that you will find it interesting, informative and, most importantly, practical in helping you speak with power!
Take Care!
Leo Novsky
www.leonovsky.com
https://www.facebook.com/leonovskyspeaks
Leo
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