The Well-Spoken Woman (20 page)

TODAY'S THE DAY

If God isn't in the details, then the devil sure is. Paying attention to the small stuff means you are not sweating the details in front of the audience. It can also mean the difference between giving a professional presentation versus coming off as an amateur who is out of her league. Here is a final checklist to handle any last-minute changes and ensure all systems are go.

STANDING OVATION POINT:
PREPARATION BRINGS PEACE OF MIND

For most women, going rogue is a risky business, as we are still judged more critically than men. Elizabeth Dole could certainly attest to the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge you have done everything you can to maximize what is within your control. A lifelong glass-ceiling buster, Dole's 2000 presidential candidacy was the first serious effort by a credible woman in decades. The campaign fell short not because of a subpar candidate but for a lack of campaign funds. Her poise and strength on the stump paved the way for her victory as the first woman to serve as US senator from North Carolina.

Finding the time to prepare is a challenge, whether you are running for
office, positioning for a promotion, or holding a staff meeting. There will always be competing demands on your time as you juggle the responsibilities of work with home and personal life. The solution is to be realistic about the time commitment it will take for you to improve and plan accordingly so your communications skill building doesn't fall by the wayside.

Preplanned spontaneity will help you achieve the balance between being ready for anything versus anything goes. As you gain more experience, it is possible to gauge improvement with the following measures. Preplanned spontaneity is working for you when you experience the following:

 

• You are given high marks in speaker evaluations.
  
• People flock around you to introduce themselves afterward.
  
• You are invited back next year.
  
• You receive invitations to more prestigious events.
  
• You receive a promotion, public acknowledgment, gratitude for inspiring others.
  

 

The idea is to write so people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

—Maya Angelou, interview, Academy of Achievement website

 

 

T
he audience of Washington power brokers was all abuzz with anticipation for the evening's guest speaker, the latest in what was billed as the nation's most distinguished speaker series. Previous gatherings had featured such luminaries as Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu, Margaret Thatcher, and Walter Cronkite holding forth on achievement and leadership. When Maya Angelou strode across the stage, she was a resplendent figure in a white satin gown that glowed in the soft lights of the darkened performing arts center. As Angelou gazed out on the plush seats filled with VIPs from the White House, foreign embassies, and halls of Congress, she tilted her head slightly, paused, and began to sing.

It was an unconventional opening for a most conventional crowd. For Angelou, the performance was characteristic of what she had been doing since first taking the stage as a twenty-something calypso singer in a San Francisco cabaret in the 1950s. As she has done countless times before in a myriad of settings, Angelou mesmerized the audience with rich, melodious words that flowed like warm chocolate. She lives the power of words, and they are her central focus whether she is performing on Broadway or delivering a presidential inaugural poem. Angelou says she is driven to take words, the most common things, and bring them to new life: “[I] rearrange them so they come out fresh. Arrange them in one way and make people weep. Arrange them in another way and make them laugh. Ball them up
like that ‘snap' and throw them up against the wall and make them bounce.”
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Angelou's relationship with words began early, and like any liaison, it has been tumultuous as well as joyful. As a child, she feared words, believing them to be the cause of terrible harm, and didn't speak for years. While her tongue was silent, the words on the pages of beloved books served as a refuge from pain. Self-educated, she read everything she could get her hands on. During the years she raised her son on her own, words provided a paycheck that put food on the table. Angelou's words now provide sustenance to the millions who have read her six volumes of autobiography, multiple children's books, plays, poetry collections, and Hallmark greeting cards.

Maya Angelou exemplifies the “phenomenal woman” she describes in one of her most acclaimed poems. Indeed, when she enters a room, it is “just as cool as you please.” There is a bit of a swagger to the elocution and vocabulary, but the words are not bandied about in an impulsive manner, as she knows firsthand how they can hurt as well as heal. When she is writing, she devotes her whole self to the effort, allowing everything else to shut down. Angelou is well-spoken because she is well-written. It is nearly impossible to say something well if you cannot write it well first. Angelou has committed her life to saying things well: “Use the language, men. Use the language, women. That is the only thing that really separates us from the rats and the rhinoceros. It is the ability to say how we feel. ‘I believe this.' ‘I need this.'”
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WHY PUTTING IT IN WRITING MATTERS

The ability to write a speech may seem like a superfluous skill when Twitter
^®
messages and television sound bites create immediate impact. Why spend time laboring over paragraphs and transitions when Power-Point
^®
bullets will get you through the meeting? Technology has the advantages of being easy, fast, and direct. Then, there are the occasions when what you say really matters. An awards ceremony is an opportunity to publicly thank the people who believed in you more than you believed in yourself. Expressing gratitude requires and deserves more than 140 characters
or 20 seconds. In a wired world, giving a talk remains the most fundamental means to express yourself in a meaningful and thoughtful way.

The process of speech writing can be intimidating because what works is different from other forms of writing. The best speeches are written not to be read but to be heard. A speech that reads beautifully may not speak well. Most writing is done for the eye. With a written text, the reader sees the chapters, paragraphs, and sentences. Punctuation helps the reader understand the author's intent. Periods and exclamation points clarify meaning, while question marks and commas add nuance.

A speech, on the other hand, must make sense to the listener even though the listener has no visual cues. Once the words are spoken, they are gone. It is up to the speaker to fill in the blanks with a structure that is explicit and easy to follow. Verbal and vocal signposts are needed to signal transitions. Some of the grammar rules from English 101 work against the speechwriter. This is not an excuse for sloppy writing or incomplete thoughts. It means that speech writing is different from our usual writing.

PUTTING PEN TO PAPER

It can be intimidating to stare at a blank computer screen and wonder: “What am I going to say? Where do I begin?” The initial step in the writing process causes many to procrastinate or to never quite get around to it. Angelou always begins with an old-fashioned legal pad—no iPad® or PC for her. She says a clean sheet of paper scares and thrills her: “I see a yellow pad and my knees get weak and I salivate.”
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If that clean slate brings you more agony than ecstasy, rest assured that some simple steps can make the writing process less daunting. A manageable approach is to divide the writing into small steps over a few days. The
general rule of thumb is that for every minute you plan to speak, you should schedule an hour of preparation time. The preparation includes writing and rewriting and rehearsal. Of course, it is not possible to devote so much time to every speaking event, but for the more important occasions, you must make sure to put prep time on your calendar.

Speech Writing Step 1: What Am I Doing Up Here?

A speech without a purpose is either an ego trip or a murky mess. Decide what you want to accomplish and what you can accomplish given the setting, audience, and occasion. Is this a presentation at an annual board meeting or an evening address at a charity event? There is a tremendous difference in atmosphere depending on the type of event and audience expectations. Writing the remarks for the installation of a new board member is a far cry from penning a call to action at a protest rally.

There are four general types of speeches: inspirational, informative, persuasive, and entertaining. To determine which is appropriate, consider the reason the audience has gathered and the response you seek from them. Once you are clear about the purpose, the speech will begin to have direction and form.

Speaking to Inspire

Inspirational speeches heighten the audience's appreciation for someone or something for which they already feel devotion or respect. This speech is most frequently heard when people gather to pay tribute, such as at a retirement dinner, sports banquet, or award ceremony. Musician Alicia Keys articulated the appeal of the artist Prince on the occasion of his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “There is only one man who is so loud, he makes you soft, so strong, he makes you weak…so honest, you feel kinda bashful.”
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Eulogies and remembrances are another example of inspirational addresses. The mourners at Coretta Scott King's funeral celebrated the legacy of a woman who embodied the heart and soul of the civil rights movement. In her remarks, Maya Angelou spoke of her personal friend who was a national treasure.

In the midst of national tumult, in the medium of international violent uproar, Coretta Scott King's face remained a study in serenity. In times of interior violent storms she sat, her hands resting in her lap calmly, like good children sleeping.

Her passion was never spent in public display. She offered her industry and her energies to action, toward righting ancient and current wrongs in this world.

She believed religiously in non-violent protest.

She believed it could heal a nation mired in a history of slavery and all its excesses.

She believed non-violent protest religiously could lift up a nation rife with racial prejudices and racial bias.

She was a quintessential African American woman, born in the small town repressive South, born of flesh and destined to become iron, born—born a cornflower and destined to become a steel magnolia.
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Speaking to Inform

Informative speeches seek to teach, educate, or enlighten. Nearly all talks to some extent include aspects of the informative speech. The challenge is to present practical material the audience will understand and remember. The speaker is not necessarily trying to persuade or convince the listeners to take one course of action over another. The point may be to provide options or alternatives. Training workshops and educational classes are informational, whether they take place in a classroom, at a work site, in a conference room, or on an athletic field. Highly skilled informative speakers use a variety of methods to increase the audience's ability to comprehend and retain information. Visual aids, demonstrations, roleplaying, storytelling, and handout materials are all tools that reinforce learning points.

Musician Caroline Phillips is bringing an old-world instrument to new-age audiences. When the folk artist performs, she treats her audiences to a beginner's lesson on the hurdy-gurdy. The one-thousand-year-old string instrument looks like a cross between a violin and a large vacuum cleaner. Accompanied by a slide presentation with photos of the instrument, Phillips presents the hurdy-gurdy for dummies.

The hurdy gurdy or wheel fiddle. [As you can see on the slides] these are the different types and shapes of the hurdy-gurdy. It is the only musical instrument that uses a crank to turn a wheel that rubs against strings. It has three different types of strings. The second string is a melody string. It is played on a wooden keyboard tuned like a piano. The third string, it activates what is called the buzzing bridge or the dog. When I turn the crank or apply pressure it makes it sound like a barking dog.

This is all pretty innovative if you consider the instrument first appeared about one thousand years ago. It originally took two people to play it. This all changed a couple of centuries ago. One to turn the crank and another person to play the melody. It has been used historically through the ages mostly for dance music because of the uniqueness of the melody combined with the acoustic boom box.