HOLIDAY SPEECHES VS HOLIDAY GIFTS
Have you ever noticed that giving a holiday speech is a lot like giving a holiday gift? We use exactly the same principles to give a speech as to give a gift!
When we think of the folks on our holiday gift list, we try to come up with something they'll appreciate that they didn't have before. Something that will make them feel we care about them.
This is a great technique for overcoming the fear of giving a speech at a holiday event or any time. Whether it's a few words of welcome, a 10-minute recap of the past year's success, or a major introduction to a whole new series of thoughts, when we break down the elements of our gift-giving technique, we find three simple principles:
We need to give something that has value to them.
We need to stay within a few mutually agreed upon rules.
We need to think about what would please them the most.
Here’s something else special to notice about all three of these principles. It's all about them!
When we're choosing a gift, we're not thinking about ourselves. We're thinking about what will be appropriate for them, that will make them feel we cared enough to find something worthwhile they didn't have before. When we're giving a gift, at holiday time or any time, the question we ask is "W.I.I.F.T.? What's in it for them?"
When giving a speech, the key to not being afraid is to use exactly the same principles:
The information we're presenting is valuable.
We're going to speak for an agreed upon amount of time in a format they can easily absorb in language they'll understand.
Our talk is our gift to them. They want to leave the room knowing more than when they came in. They'll be attentive and extremely pleased to take it home with them because we're giving them what they came to get.
The key to not being afraid is "W.I.I.F.T? What's in it for them?"
Notice also that in these three principles, there's no "I". We can't be thinking about ourselves at the same time that we're thinking about them.
When we're focused on giving the audience our gift and making sure they're getting what they came for, there's no room to wonder if we're saying it right, if everyone agrees, if perhaps that guy in the third row thinks we're full of hogwash, or if they've got a basket of rotten apples under their seat ready to let fly at the first mistake. We can't think about any of those things because our minds don't work that way.
Our brains are wired to think sequentially, one thought after another. It's physically impossible to hold two opposing thoughts in the same moment. Thus if we're focusing our attention on giving the audience our gift with passion and gusto, we can't possibly worry about whether we're doing it 'right'. We can't be afraid because we're too busy sharing what we know, giving the audience the gift they came for, focusing on knowledge they didn't have before they entered the room.
Our job is to give them our gift. When we do that, we feel strong, confident, unique, sexy, and proud. We have nothing to fear.