Occupying a prominent perch on my shelves and in my heart is a little book called Public Speaking as Listeners Like It, by Richard C. Borden.
It was given to me by Marian Rich, a renowned and beloved New York teacher who worked with actors of all stripes (including Marlon Brando and Al Pacino) on voice and speech issues, and with business people on their public speaking. I co-taught with her at the New School for Social Research.
The book is a short public speaking course in and of itself. Here’s the basic message: structure your presentation as a dialogue between yourself and the audience. Build it as if your audience were silently hurling the following challenges at you in sequence.
Ho hum! Why bring that up? For instance? So what?
Ho hum!
“Just another boring talk,” says the presentation audience as it settles into its collective seat. Break through their indifference and capture their attention with an opening that is more interesting than anything they could be thinking about or saying to one another.
Why bring that up?
“Okay, you got my interest,” they say to themselves after you’ve delivered your introduction. “Where are you going with this?” Tell them why you brought it up. Make a case for the importance of your topic. Explain what the situation is, and what opportunities or problems there could be.
For instance?
“Sounds good in theory,” they’re thinking. “Give me an example. Be specific!” This is the time to get your presentation to speak in pictures. Use stories from your own life. Case studies from your research. Anecdotes from history or the news. Stories of famous people. Data is also useful, but only in partnership with real-life examples.
So what?
“Okay, I’m with you so far,” they say silently. “You got my attention. You made me understand the relevance and importance of the issues, and you gave me specific examples so I can see exactly what the situation is. What do you want me to do?”
Tell them what they can do to solve the problem, or take advantage of the opportunity. Lay it out clearly, step by step. Blow the trumpet: call them to action.
As Borden says, quoting Confucius, “To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish.”
I have a hard-bound copy of the book, and on Amazon you will see that my version is worth about $80. I wouldn’t sell it for ten times that amount.
If you want to complete your library, get this book: Public Speaking as Listeners Like It.