How to Give a Speech That Generates New Clients
Art, the owner of a medium-sized business recently invested a small fortune to sponsor a dinner at a high-level industry summit.
He'd been networking within the industry for twenty years and felt the time was right to make a bold statement.
It was a gamble he was ready to take.
His generous sponsorship fee bought him signage throughout the conference along with an opportunity to give a gift to each attendee at the dinner.
An additional investment bought the fancy pen sets and brochures that adorned each place setting.
He was also given five minutes at the podium, just before dinner, to give a short speech.
Five minutes to make a positive and lasting impression and to make the gamble pay off.
There was only one problem: he'd never given a speech outside of a small boardroom or for more than seven people.
This audience was going to be over 100 of the most influential, senior-level movers and shakers in his industry.
What would you do? Would you mumble a few polite thank you's and gamble that just being there would pay off? Would you throw the dice by telling a lame joke and risk losing whatever credibility you sought to purchase? Or would you make the most of the opportunity by giving a speech that enhanced your reputation and turned a few heads? During our first phone conversation, I asked him what he wanted to accomplish by speaking at this summit.
"My goal is to put a human face on my company and give people an experience of who I am," he said.
"The dinner I've sponsored is the largest gathering during the conference.
I feel as though it's key to take advantage of this speaking opportunity.
" Two weeks before the event, Art and I got together to work on his speech.
He'd written a few ideas on a piece of paper.
What he prepared was a resume of his experience in the industry.
While it was reasonably impressive, it was also predictable and boring.
It was a report, not a speech that would engage someone's attention, especially after dinner and drinks.
We immediately shifted the focus from reporting to storytelling.
I asked him to tell me stories about his job, his customers and how he got into the industry in the first place.
Within a very short time he was on a roll.
His stories were real, funny and fascinating.
They were human-interest stories that revealed the person rather than the resume.
They contained humor, credibility and experience.
This is how Art described the experience the day after the summit: "Dinner was poolside with a lectern off to one side," he said.
"I was supposed to speak before dinner was served, but after quite a while it was clear that wasn't going to be the case.
I finally got up to speak around 8:45 p.
m.
and by that time it was dark and there was no light on the podium.
To make matters worse, there was music playing by the pool and they couldn't turn it off, so I had to speak over the music.
" "So what happened?" I asked.
"Once I got into my stories," he said, "it was really flowing.
Even though people were finishing their dessert, they paid attention.
" "Do you feel that your gamble paid off?" I asked.
"What made it clear to me that the speech was a success," he continued, "was the number of people who came up to me afterwards.
At least a third of the people acknowledged me later that evening or the following day.
Over half were new contacts for me.
I think the stories we worked on communicated a sense of who I am.
After all, if they don't buy the salesman, they won't buy what you're selling.
" Those are wise words.
As a speaker, when you only have a few minutes to make a positive impression, sell yourself first and your product or service second.
Remember these simple guidelines the next time you give a speech: 1.
People want to know who you are before they care about what you've done.
2.
Use personal stories that reveal why you do what you do, as well as what you do.
3.
If you want to triple the results you get from speaking - triple your investment in preparation time.
4.
Before you run your ideas by an audience, run them by a few colleagues.
Do a few trial runs out loud and on your feet with someone watching.
Or better yet, hire a good coach.
5.
Rather than reading a list of accomplishments, appeal to the common ground that you share with your audience.
He'd been networking within the industry for twenty years and felt the time was right to make a bold statement.
It was a gamble he was ready to take.
His generous sponsorship fee bought him signage throughout the conference along with an opportunity to give a gift to each attendee at the dinner.
An additional investment bought the fancy pen sets and brochures that adorned each place setting.
He was also given five minutes at the podium, just before dinner, to give a short speech.
Five minutes to make a positive and lasting impression and to make the gamble pay off.
There was only one problem: he'd never given a speech outside of a small boardroom or for more than seven people.
This audience was going to be over 100 of the most influential, senior-level movers and shakers in his industry.
What would you do? Would you mumble a few polite thank you's and gamble that just being there would pay off? Would you throw the dice by telling a lame joke and risk losing whatever credibility you sought to purchase? Or would you make the most of the opportunity by giving a speech that enhanced your reputation and turned a few heads? During our first phone conversation, I asked him what he wanted to accomplish by speaking at this summit.
"My goal is to put a human face on my company and give people an experience of who I am," he said.
"The dinner I've sponsored is the largest gathering during the conference.
I feel as though it's key to take advantage of this speaking opportunity.
" Two weeks before the event, Art and I got together to work on his speech.
He'd written a few ideas on a piece of paper.
What he prepared was a resume of his experience in the industry.
While it was reasonably impressive, it was also predictable and boring.
It was a report, not a speech that would engage someone's attention, especially after dinner and drinks.
We immediately shifted the focus from reporting to storytelling.
I asked him to tell me stories about his job, his customers and how he got into the industry in the first place.
Within a very short time he was on a roll.
His stories were real, funny and fascinating.
They were human-interest stories that revealed the person rather than the resume.
They contained humor, credibility and experience.
This is how Art described the experience the day after the summit: "Dinner was poolside with a lectern off to one side," he said.
"I was supposed to speak before dinner was served, but after quite a while it was clear that wasn't going to be the case.
I finally got up to speak around 8:45 p.
m.
and by that time it was dark and there was no light on the podium.
To make matters worse, there was music playing by the pool and they couldn't turn it off, so I had to speak over the music.
" "So what happened?" I asked.
"Once I got into my stories," he said, "it was really flowing.
Even though people were finishing their dessert, they paid attention.
" "Do you feel that your gamble paid off?" I asked.
"What made it clear to me that the speech was a success," he continued, "was the number of people who came up to me afterwards.
At least a third of the people acknowledged me later that evening or the following day.
Over half were new contacts for me.
I think the stories we worked on communicated a sense of who I am.
After all, if they don't buy the salesman, they won't buy what you're selling.
" Those are wise words.
As a speaker, when you only have a few minutes to make a positive impression, sell yourself first and your product or service second.
Remember these simple guidelines the next time you give a speech: 1.
People want to know who you are before they care about what you've done.
2.
Use personal stories that reveal why you do what you do, as well as what you do.
3.
If you want to triple the results you get from speaking - triple your investment in preparation time.
4.
Before you run your ideas by an audience, run them by a few colleagues.
Do a few trial runs out loud and on your feet with someone watching.
Or better yet, hire a good coach.
5.
Rather than reading a list of accomplishments, appeal to the common ground that you share with your audience.