Chapter 106 Prepare your own speech material

The emphasis here is on "one's own". Although reading a book is also a kind of preparation, it is not the best way.Finding materials from books will be helpful, but if one only wants to get a lot of ready-made materials from books, and immediately take them for himself and tell others, it will be difficult to win enthusiastic applause from the audience. Once, I taught a public speaking class for the banking world.This class is held every Friday night from 5pm to 7pm.Mr. Luo from a certain bank looked at his watch on a Friday afternoon and found that it was already 4:30, but he was not ready to say anything.He walked out of the office, bought a magazine at the newsstand, and on the way to speech class, he picked out an article titled "You Only Have 10 Years to Succeed" to read.The purpose of his reading is only so that when it is his turn to speak in class, he can say something without being cold.

After an hour of class, he stood up and tried to narrate the content of the article with interest and persuasion.However, he has not digested and assimilated those contents, so those contents have not really become his own, but only superficial memories, and he lacks passion when he speaks them out. Of course, it is difficult for the audience to have a deep impression.All he mentioned was what the author of the article said, but Mr. Luo rarely had his own opinion.So I said to him: "Mr. Luo, what we are really interested in is not what the author of this article says, but you and your opinions. Tell us what you have to say. If you don't have anything to say now, we will write the same article. Save the topic for next week. You can read the article again and ask yourself if you agree with the author. If you agree, use your own experience to prove his opinion. If not, tell what is different Different from why, it can be said in this way to attract people and make people impressed."

Mr. Luo accepted this suggestion, and after rereading the article, he found that his opinion was completely different from that of the original author, so he thought over, developed, and sorted out his own opinion.When Mr. Luo stood up to speak on this topic again the next week, what he talked about was his own material, the "ore" dug from his own "mine source", so it was real and moving, and this speech was very successful. This is preparation. Only your own real experience and thoughtful speech will be successful. A few years ago, at a New York Rotary Club luncheon, the keynote speaker was a prominent government official, and everyone was looking forward to hearing his account of ministry work.

As soon as he stood on the platform, we immediately saw that he had not prepared beforehand.At first, he wanted to give an impromptu speech at random, but it didn't work.Then he hastily produced another stack of notes from his pocket.But these things seemed so disorganized, like scraps of iron in a freight car.He fumbled through these things for a while, and his speech became more and more awkward and clumsy.Time passed by, and he became more and more helpless and confused.At this point, he continued to struggle, and said something apologetic.He hoped to sort out the notes a little bit, and at the same time raised a glass of water with trembling hands and brought it to his parched lips. It was really horrible!He was completely overwhelmed by fear because he had so little preparation for the speech.At last he had no choice but to sit down.It can be said that this is one of the most humiliating orators I have ever seen.The way he speaks is just like Rousseau said: he begins without knowing and ends with not knowing.

Since 1912, my professional needs have required me to evaluate more than 5,000 speeches a year.These speakers also taught me a great lesson: Confidence comes only from those who come prepared.Just think about it, when a person goes to the battlefield, if he is carrying a faulty weapon and has no ammunition, how can he talk about launching a fierce attack on the enemy?Lincoln said: "I believe that if I have nothing to say, no matter how experienced or how old I am, I will not be immune to embarrassment." To appear in front of an audience unprepared is like running down the street with no clothes on.If you want to develop a sense of confidence, why not increase your sense of security by preparing yourself well before you give a speech?