In order to have a speech that leaves people saying, “WOW!” You must have a message that is both passionate and compelling. It cannot be one or the other, it has to be both. Why both? Think about the last time you were watching a political talking head that you did not agree with. Did you keep watching, or did you tune out? You didn’t find yourself too compelled to watch.

Now think about the last time you listened to a speaker monotonously droned on about their method to deliver unlimited wealth. How to have unlimited wealth is obviously a compelling topic, but the speaker’s tone is lulling you into a deep, restful sleep? How many other times have you went to presentations because the topic was compelling, but didn’t take anything away because the topic was not presented with a passion that made it unforgettable?

So to deliver a WOW speech, you must be both passionate about your topic and be able to deliver that topic in a manner that is compelling to your audience. You might be thinking that everything you do is passionate and compelling, but if two weeks later no one remembers your speech then it might need some work on either the passion or the compelling message that keeps audiences craving your presence.

This past weekend I was at our District Fall Conference. Of the four educational sessions we had, three of them were amazing, but one fell flat. Why did that one fall flat, but not the others? The speech fell flat, because it was not delivered with the passion that the other speakers showed for their topics.

What does it take to be passionate? Nothing more than a true love of the topic you are speaking about. If you are not passionate about GPS tracking devices, then why would you try to deliver a forty-five minute keynote on the topic? It is just not going to get you point across that those devices are important for protecting and utilizing the assets of your corporation. How do you know when you love the topic? Do you find yourself talking endlessly about it? If you are, then you might just be passionate about that topic.

How do you be compelling? Being compelling with anything technical is something that I have seen many speakers fall flat on. You can see the passion in their eyes, but they just cannot find a way to project that into the topic. This is something that could take a book to discuss, but simply put, you have to keep it as simple as possible for the audience at hand.

Imagine if you were talking to a group of fifth graders. What are the most important points that you are trying to get across? Now take those and make them simple. For example, I want to talk about how important GPS devices are to monitor the use of a company’s mobile assets. Am I going to immediately talk about all the stuff inside of the boxes? No, I am going to begin by telling the audience that they have a problem. Their problem is that they don’t know have any idea what their mobile assets are doing. Then I will tell them how they can fix that problem.
If you are experienced at watching speeches, then you will start to see a trend among the great ones. They will share with you a problem that you can relate to in your own life. That problem could be complex, such as GPS tracking solutions, or the problem could be as simple as remembering to shave in the morning. Simple or complex, the compelling speech has an interesting problem, and then carries you along to the solution.

When trying to craft your WOW speech, begin to think about if you are really passionate about your topic. If you are truly passionate about your topic, then think about a problem that needs to be solved or that you have solved. Then lay it out to the audience. What is the problem and how are you going to solve it? Then just stand there, keep it simple, and speak your heard out.

Keep on speaking,
Chris

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