Rethinking Speechwriting in the Context of Conversational Communications
There was a time when a public speaker could count on the attention of their audience.
Blackberries, wireless laptops, and other tools mean that you’re no longer in control of the environment you’re speaking in. Are you talking to a room full of conference-goers, or to all the readers of live bloggers and folks Twittering your comments to their colleagues?
You don’t know.
The implications for speechwriters and their clients?
Speechwriter Glynn Young says speakers need to be more conversational, engaging the audience in the talk. Speechwriters need to “think of people not as an audience, but … as a community, a community of real people. And we think of ourselves as part of that community. And we convince our speakers that they, too, are part of that community.”
His tips, as reported by Ragan.com’s David Murray:
When you’re part of a community, you communicate in a different way. For instance:
1. “Let’s not talk at people, let’s talk with people, let’s have a conversation with people. . . . Write like people speak.”
2. “Declare a moratorium on opinion surveys, at least for a year.” (Murray explains Young’s point: Opinion surveys are typically constructed on the basis of what’s important for the organization. Organizations need to start thinking about what’s in the interest of their aud— er, the communities they’re members of.)
3. “Use communication tools that facilitate community—and use them well.” (Town hall meetings, for example, are typically “heavy on information and presentation and light on interaction,” Murray quotes Young. Executives who recognize that controlling the message is futile will understand that the unique opportunity at a town hall meeting is to give people a chance to talk in front of their colleagues, and a chance to listen.)
Maybe the next speaking engagement shouldn’t be a speech, but a chance to interact with the people you’re addressing. Anything that feels canned and inauthentic is much more likely to fail today than it would have 15 years ago.
If your first instinct is to focus on what you need to tell the audience, not what your audience might want to know/hear, you’re already off target.
Ask not what you can tell your audience, but how you can communicate with them, and find out more about what they think and know.
Photo courtesy PRSA St. Louis.
Technorati Tags: business,communications,speeches,public speaking,communities,attention,conversation,conversational,ragan,david murray,town hall meetings,opinion surveys,voice,authenticity
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POSTED IN: Audiences, Communication Skills, Conferences and Webinars, Event Management, Executive Mindset, Key Messages, Persuasion, Presentations, Speechwriting
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