I was thinking last week about what makes someone inspirational as a speaker, or at least interesting…!
Here’s what I came up with:
A real person speaking simply and passionately to real people about real issues.
Here’s what I mean..
‘A real person speaking’ means someone sharing their experiences and telling stories from their lives. Someone being truly themselves.
‘…simply…’ means using one concrete, unexpected idea (to borrow from the Heath brothers in Made to Stick) delivered in conversational language.
‘… and passionately…’ means having the person link into the highest part of themselves to share their feelings with their listeners and make them feel something about the topic.
‘… to real people about real issues.’ means that the speaker has thought about exactly who they are talking to and what would be relevant to them. (For me, this means thinking through the five Cobalt planning questions in detail).
Just thoughts in progress… What do you think? What needs adding in?
I tend to think that a speaker in order to inspire me, has to be trustworthy. This could arise from association, either because he or she conveys a parental figure through their image, or their words. The opposite would be somebody who does not inspire trust, either because they seem unreliable, untrue, deceitful or just plain awkward in a bad way.
Hey Denis
So in order for a speaker to be inspirational, you need to feel like you trust them.
Maybe it’s something about honesty or credibility?
… communicates simply, passionately and credibly…
or
… communicates simply, passionately and honestly…
Thanks – I’ll let that ‘compost’ in the mix…
Andrew,
Your thoughts about what makes someone an inspirational speaker have stayed in my mind…
While I agree with your view about being real and conversational, I know from experience that this reality must be well-planned, thoughtfully assembled and practiced and rehearsed. It’s inspiring to be carried away on a journey that’s about facing a crisis, overcoming obstacles and acheiving a resolution. Trully inspirational speakers have culled their memories, selected the most compelling parts and crafted the speech carefully. This is then practiced and rehearsed to the point where the speaker can re-live the experiences while telling the perfectly crafted story.
In terms of the quality of honesty Denis want–that’s why people must tell their own stories rather than adopting other people’s stories or talking in the third person.
Susan
Thanks for your wisdom – checking out your site it seems you are the business story-telling queen!
I couldn’t agree more about telling stories only from your experience (or maybe the experience of someone you know – NOT urban myths…).
I forgot how I used to go through stories to make sure I was clear on their structure and their message. Thanks for the reminder. There’s nothing wrong with some rough and ready as long as it’s both rough AND ready…