IdeaBank, an online reference tool for quotes, history, and trivia – http://www.idea-bank.com/ib/html/ – sends subscribers a monthly email newsletter each month. The new editor, Tom Daly, is also the longstanding editor of Vital Speeches of the Day. In May’s edition, he made an interesting observation:
“There are only two types of speeches, informative or persuasive; that's it. Your speech will either be one that informs your audience about a topic or tries to persuade them to accept or adopt a particular position.”
I’ve been thinking about that – looking at past speeches I’ve written for clients, considering remarks I read, and evaluating presentations as I listen. I’m beginning to think he’s absolutely right – every speech is one or the other. Those that aren’t easily identifiable, most likely also fail as speeches, with each lacking a unified theme or message, taking the audience all over the place (though in reality the audience won’t “go” with that type of speaker anywhere but will mentally disengage to think about a to do list, what to pick up at the store, the next day’s meeting, the hairstyle of the person three rows down and two over, etc.)
A couple of weeks after reading this, I met Andy Gilman, President and CEO of CommCore Consulting Group – www.commcoreconsulting.com – and read his book, Get to the Point, co-authored with Karen Berg. (Highly recommend it for its great tips on preparing and delivering the type of presentations that occur in most companies – ISBN 0-7872-2232-1.)
First chapter, first critical success factor: know your audience. They write: “There is a distinction between ‘speaker-centered’ and ‘audience-centered’ messages.” Which made me reflect on another two buckets every speech can be put into: either it’s all about the speaker or it connects to the audience. But unlike the informative/persuasive division, this one makes or breaks the event.
Identify the purpose: informative or persuasive. Then make sure it’s connected clearly to the audience.