How to Make Your Speech Sound Like Music to Their Ears: Chapter 2

Some of you have written and encouraged me to keep going. I appreciate those emails and thank those of you who took the time to send the encouragement.

I brushed the manuscript off this afternoon and decided to post chapter 2. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear (read) it. Enjoy.

“It was an itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie” …

“You ain’t nothin’ but a” …

How long did it take you to figure out the rest of the words to those choruses? No time at all, right? And you probably haven’t heard — or even thought about — those songs in ages!

But why is that? Why are we able to remember the words to choruses we haven’t heard for decades?

Here’s why …

When it comes to music, the chorus is what a song is all about. It’s the main message. It’s the central theme. And everything in a song revolves around and points to the chorus. Not only is the chorus the central theme in a song, it’s repeated over and over throughout a song . . . that’s why we remember it.

And in the same way music has a chorus, your speech should have a chorus that serves the same purpose. That chorus should be what the speech is all about. It should be the main message. It should be the central theme . . . and the chorus of your speech should be repeated over and over throughout your speech.

But how do you decide what your chorus is? And how do you develop it?

In music, a chorus is usually generally made up of a two or more lines. In a speech, the is chorus is made up of one word, phrase or sentence.

In order to decide what that word, phrase or sentence will be, you’ll need to define your purpose first.

To define your purpose, you’ll need to answer some questions.

First, what is it you’re trying to do?

Do you want to inform your audience?

Do you want to inspire them?

Do you want to demonstrate something to them?

Do you want to entertain them?

Do you want to persuade them?

You may just want to do one of the five . . . or you may want to do a combination. That’s the first half of defining your purpose. Consider that the “what” part of your purpose. It defines “what” you want to do.

The second half of defining your purpose can be considered the “why”. “Why” are you informing, inspiring, demonstrating, entertaining or persuading?

After all, you’re informing them so they can use the information in a specific way . . . what way? And if you’re inspiring them, you’re inspiring them to do something . . . but what?

To get a better grip on the “why”, think about this for a moment . . . When you’re delivering your speech, what do you want your audience to think and feel?

And when you’ve finished delivering your speech, what is it you want your audience to do?

The answers to those questions will be your “why”.

Once you’ve clearly answered the “what” and “why” questions, you’ll have a compass to guide you through your speech. It will determine the stories you tell, the examples you use and the quotations you include. It will also determine what you exclude. If the examples, stories, or statistics don’t help to move you closer to achieving the purpose of your speech, they don’t make the final cut.

Here’s an example of what your purpose may sound like:

The purpose of my speech is to inform our supporters of how their donations have been used over the past year by our charity. I also want to persuade them to continue donating to our charity again this year.

I want them to feel satisfied that their donations have been put to good use. At the end of the presentation, I want them to make a commitment to donate more to the charity.

Here’s another example:

The purpose of my speech is to inform our staff of the changes our organization will experience over the next few months and to persuade the staff to prepare themselves for the upcoming changes.

I want the staff to think that the changes we will be facing are manageable changes, and I want them to feel the organization will be supportive of them as they go through a learning curve.

At the end of the presentation, I want staff to start charting a plan for how they can best handle the changes. And I want them to share that plan with their managers and directors.

Neither of the examples I’ve just used would be considered your chorus, because, as you’ll recall, your chorus should be one word, phrase or sentence. So to get to your chorus, boil your purpose statement down. For example, the chorus for the first example could be “your giving has helped”. It could also be “we couldn’t have done this without you”.

The chorus for the second example could be as simple as “the coming changes”, ” here we grow again” or “change: the constant challenge”.

But whatever you decide on, your chorus needs to be woven throughout the entire presentation. There are a number of different ways to do this. Some methods are more effective than others, but all of them can work if used properly. Use them the wrong way, and you’ll quickly hit a sour note.

METHODS OF INCORPORATING THE CHORUS INTO YOUR SPEECH

Theme

One of the more popular methods of weaving a chorus into a speech is by using an acronym. You’ve probably seen or heard countless variations of this method. If you’ve ever listened to a speech on goal setting, it’s likely you’ve been exposed to the “S.M.A.R.T” acronym.

Specific

Measurable

Action oriented

Realistic

Timeline

It can be a clever technique, but it’s one you have to be careful with. Here’s why … your audience needs to remember what every letter of your acronym means. If you’re using a long acronym or one that’s not already embedded in the mind of the audience, they’ll likely forget as you get further into your speech. Remember they can’t go back and review what the last letter of your acronym the way they could if they were reading a book. The acronym has to be either short or one they’re already familiar with.

Acronyms can work as the the theme for a speech, but they are wrought with challenges. I prefer to use acronyms within a speech, but you may find they work quite well for your topic.

Lists

Another method of weaving the chorus throughout your speech is by using a list, such as “The Seven Deadly Sins of Public Speaking”. This is another method you have to be careful with. Unless those seven deadly sins are already familiar to your audience, they will have a hard time remembering what all seven sins are. Not only that, if you’re going to use “The Seven Deadly Sins” as your theme, you can’t just go and make up your own sins. Your main points have to somehow parallel lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. If they don’t, your list won’t work.

Analogy

A popular, time-tested and effective method of driving home your theme is by using an analogy . . . or comparing your topic with something else the audience is familiar with. Take a look at most of the sermons Jesus taught, and you’ll notice his fondness for using analogies to drive his points home.

Even movies and tv shows can be used as analogies. If you plan on using this method, you have to remember that some of your audience may know of the movie or show, but never watched it. In that case, you’ll have to give a brief overview of the show that will quickly put all listeners on the same page.

I do this with a presentation I deliver on the topic of customer service. The title of the presentation is “Customer Service Survival Skills”. The theme is taken from the reality t.v. show, Survivor. In the speech, I compare the three keys to winning on the show, Survivor, with the three keys to winning the customer service game. My three main keys to becoming a customer service survivor are 1.) building alliances 2.) Sharpening your survival skills and 3.) winning the immunity challenges.

If you’re familiar with the show, what the three keys will make perfect sense to you. If you’re not familiar with the show, watching one episode would immediately clear it up.

Repetition

The final method for weaving the chorus throughout your speech — and what I consider to be the most effective method — is repetition. If you want your audience to walk away remembering and repeating your speech, make sure you repeat the chorus as often as possible. There are a number of examples of using repetition to drive home your theme. The one I’ll share with you is from the “I Have a Dream” speech. King began the speech by saying

” I’m happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

He then went on to say the word free, freedom, or liberty over 30 times in just under 17 minutes. The last words of his speech were “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we’re free at last!”.

Just as King did in his speech, you should find ways to repeat the word, phrase or sentence that is the chorus of your speech.

Whatever method you choose, your goal will be to make it easy for your audience to clearly identify and remember your chorus … even if they haven’t heard or thought about if for a long time.

Tagged as: Analogies, Martin Luther King Jr., Music to their ears, Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, Repetition in speeches, Rhetorical Devices, Scripted Speeches, Successful Speeches, Theme for your speech