Speaking like Stephenson
Dr Sean Stephenson called himself the three-foot giant. The therapist born with the brittle bone disease outlived the doctors who thought he would not survive more than 24 hours. Sadly, he passed away in August 2019 but his Lucrative Society lives on. How did the motivational speaker cure insecurities?
Substance
You might have not heard of Stephenson unless you are American. He impresses by applying one of Cialdini’s persuasive principles: allude to authority. When he was 19, he had been working for Bill Clinton. The Dalai Lama and Richard Branson were two of his mentors, and blue chip companies as well as Oprah have consulted him for advice. Do not refrain from name-dropping but remain humble.
Sean Stephenson got paid to speak because he turned trite topics into pertinent performances. Some speeches seem trivial at first until you take note of the auditorium. For instance, his TEDx Talk, entitled “The prison of your mind”, actually took place at the Ironwood State Prison. It is wise to stay away from off-the-shelf speeches. Let’s put in some effort and cater for each audience.
Structure
Would it not be convenient to have a device flagging flat parts of our presentation? Thankfully, bestselling author Nancy Duarte developed a tool. She adds each sentence of a speech on two parallel lines to visualise contrasts. If the part is about the past or current status, make the dot on the bottom line. Whenever the speech talks about a future scenario, make one on the line above. Eventually, connect the dots showing a sparkline.
Artful orators regularly jump between talking about what is and pushing for what could be. Stephenson’s speeches do not follow an ancient structure yet consist of many moments of impact. Duarte’s scheme can give our presentations a more dynamic flow.
Style
Ping-pong. Those who can summarise the main take-away in one vivid expression know what they are doing. Stephenson used table tennis to explain how to create powerful connections. He also called pity a ‘drug’ and purpose a ‘fuel’ to move through pain. Metaphors are a type of figurative language, which you should use when you want your audience really figure out what you really mean.
Our attention fades away in long presentations. Professionals therefore move and interact to create a dynamic performance. Stephenson could not walk around but pushes his wheelchair constantly from right to left. He turned one-hour long speeches into performances by giving the audience small exercises or running quick polls. Whenever he asked for a show of hands, he also raised his arm. By showing the gesture we avert awkward situations because we grab people’s attention and encourage them to join in.
Five lessons for public speakers
Link the title and benefits of your presentation to the respective audience.
Allude to respected people to make your claims come across as credible.
Check your speech with a sparkline that explains the situation today, then describes what could be if we were to implement your idea and concludes with a blissful call to action.
Use metaphors to help your audience remember key points.
Model for the audience what you want them to do or feel.
Learn the techniques. Boost your confidence. Make your point.
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