Say It With Your Chest
Several years ago, I was invited to be the Keynote Speaker at one of the military academies. I was given plenty of time to prepare and meticulously put together a presentation fitting for such an occasion. I arrived the day before the scheduled event. That evening, I took my notes to the venue to get in the moment but to my surprise, the words on the paper didn’t match what I was feeling in my heart. I became more and more frustrated as I struggled to find a flow. The speech was memorized and rehearsed over and over, yet the words escaped me.
The next morning while walking to the car, I took that speech and dropped it in the nearest trash can. I approached the podium with a blue document protector with one singular piece of paper. On that paper was written, “don’t forget the cadre, don’t forget the family members”. Once I started to speak, I somehow entered a zone. To this day, I’m not sure what I said but I do remember the faces and how excited they looked as they stood and clapped upon my completion.
Standing to the side shaking hands, the Academy Commandant approached with his hand out. He said, “Command Sergeant Major Sloan, in 35 years of service that was the best speech I’ve ever heard. Can I get a copy?” Smiling from ear to ear, I tap danced and asked if I could email it to him. He said, “no worries I’ll just take your copy.” He grabbed my blue folder as he walked away. A couple days later, I received a phone call. When I picked up the phone, the voice on the other end simply said, “you forgot the cadre and the families”. We both laughed and I explained how that speech came to be. I simply talked about Soldiers and Leadership. While on the surface I broke my own rules but in deeper examination, I did everything as planned. I prepared, I rehearsed, I connected, and I talked about the things that spoke to the heart of a Soldier.
Your people are learning and growing every day. If you do not challenge yourself to increase your skill sets, they will soon close the gap and ultimately making you irrelevant. My experience tells me one area leaders at all levels really need to improve upon is public speaking. Whether it was in the small group setting or at one of the too many to count graduation ceremonies I’ve attended, I’ve noticed a significant deficiency in Sergeants Major’s ability to deliver an address that is indicative of their incredible skills, knowledge, and attributes.
If you go on Amazon or YouTube right now, you will find literally thousands of public speaking self-help videos and publications. I am confident any one of these can provide you with a road map to success. My goal here is to simplify that journey in just a few key rules to deliver an exceptional speech.
1. Talk about things you are passionate about. Very rarely will your subject or main idea be mandated to you. The overwhelming majority of the time, you’ll be given a time expectation so pick a subject that stokes your passions. The most memorable presentations are given with passion and commitment.
2. Take your audience on an emotional journey. Make them cry. Make them laugh. Get them excited. Get them angry. Make them feel! When you are developing your outline, strategically hit on each of the emotional touch points.
3. Prepare; Practice; Prepare; Practice; Prepare; Practice. I’ve seen far too many folks attempt to “wing it” by simply reading word for word prepared comments from a piece of paper, often never looking up from the podium. You must memorize your speech. This is not to say you shouldn’t have notes at the podium, you absolutely should have them. However, you cannot allow them to become a crutch. They are there to simply keep you from rambling and to stay on course. It is a very effective technique to read excerpts from your speech verbatim but that should be planned and utilized only to draw specific attention to a story or quote. The most effective speakers are the ones who DELIVER their thoughts opposed to dictating them.
4. Become a functional introvert. I got it! There are lots of introverts out there and seemingly many of them make it to the senior leadership level. Guess what? It’s time to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Your people want to hear from their leaders, and they want to hear from them in a way that stokes their passions that gives them the energy to push past their individual challenges and self-imposed limitations. If you accept the fact, you are not a good public speaker, you are failing your people. Take a big breath, pull up your big boy and girl pants, then simply speak from the heart. You can do this.
5. Rehearse in front of someone you trust to be painfully honest with you. “Mirror-Mirror on the wall, who is the best damn speaker of them all?” Guess what??? That dang mirror is a liar. You need a trusted confidant who will provide you an honest critique so that you can master your delivery. If you are thinking right now, “Sloan, it’s not that serious” I would argue it absolutely is that serious. As a Sergeant Major, your most valuable leadership tools are the example you set and the words you speak.
Your people want to hear from you. They need to hear from you. They must hear from you in a way that generates passion and pushes them past their fears. This type of inspirational presentation doesn’t happen by accident. You must learn to start with your head and finish with your heart.
TIMTalks – Timeless, Inspirational and Meaningful
