The Referable Speaker by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2021-10-05T23:57:07+00:00

Reliable delivery

Rachel DeAlto once offered ten different speeches about relationships on the college speaking circuit. Actually, it was more than that, because she’d take on any topic the meeting planner asked for and cram it into her speeches. As a result, her sessions weren’t much more than a series of thoughts delivered via microphone.

“One meeting planner wanted me to talk about Title IX [a law that protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities]. Only, I’d have to learn about it to teach it,” she says. So she did.

Rachel wasn’t sharing her expertise so much as delivering whatever was asked of her, like she was the short-order cook of speakers. Then she got a wake-up call from a friend, an accomplished speaker who asked, “What are you really good at?”

Rachel could speak about a variety of topics, but it all came down to one overarching theme: relatability. So she abandoned her list of speeches and created one keynote with four key parts that never change and smaller parts that can be tailored to each audience. She went from being a short-order cook to being a chef with a set menu and a couple of specials.

Rachel’s new speech was a hit. So much so that her referral tree grew outside the college market and suddenly corporate audiences were hiring her. She can still tailor her speech for a predominantly male audience of facility managers or a female audience of corporate executives.

Her reliable delivery of one keynote speech helps people understand quickly what she speaks about, and that adds to her referability. She’s increased her speaking frequency to twice a month (twenty-four gigs per year), including large keynotes at conventions. What’s more, she used this speech to test material for a new book.

Even her feedback has improved. “Before, they’d say, ‘I liked Rachel. She’s great,’ like they want to have a beer with me,” she says. “Now they say, ‘My employees need this’ or ‘My leadership team needs this.’”

That’s because with reliable delivery, she now has a referable speech.

Your audience can tell if your speech is off the cuff. Even if you’re a subject matter expert or you can jog your memory with your slides, event organizers can tell the difference between winging it and a well-built performance.

Maybe the speaker is furtively glancing at the “confidence monitor,” or looking down to decide what to say next (hoping the words will be written on the floor?). Maybe they stumble through their slides on a virtual event. They might repeat themselves, pace onstage, hold a handful of notes, read off their slides, or clutch the podium. They might suddenly speed through material or run out of things to say because they’ve misjudged the amount of material needed for the time allotted. Toward the end of a speech, maybe you’ve heard a speaker say something like, “If you remember anything, remember this one thing...” Or, “If I had more time...” Or, the worst for all involved: “Oh, they’re signaling to me to wrap it up.

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