“What’s Your Talk Show Pitch?” and Other Questions to Help You Craft a Stand-Out Speaker Story

We tend to think of public speaking as this super-elite skill relegated to a select few. But guess what?

We all have the ability to become powerful public speakers. Seriously.

And what I’ve learned over the course of my own public speaking journey is that often what separates a good speech from a bad speech isn’t star quality — it’s the speaker’s relationship to the content.

Many people struggle to figure out what their story is, but the reality is that most of us have powerful stories to share but we censor them. We reorganize and sterilize it according to what we think people want and then we release a filtered version of the truth if we release it at all.

This self-censorship plays a starring role in the internal struggle that so many people experience when they know they are going to speak publicly and it’s a narrative that prevents your real story, your great story, from surfacing.

Storytelling is a vital form of communication in all sorts of contexts, not just public speaking. Stories can validate ideas, motivate actions, and communicate ideas, feelings and information. You can share striking statistics, but without a story to go with them, it’s hard for people to truly understand and contextualize the concepts.

So if you’re looking to dip your toes into the waters of public speaking, here’s an exercise to help you shed your fears, uncover your story and wow your future audiences.

What do you know well?

The old cliche “write what you know” holds true for public speaking as well.

Most of us can easily carry out a conversation with a friend if we’re talking about something we understand like the back of our hand and care for deeply. Conversation, by nature, is fluid and engaging. However, most people have a tendency to clam up once when they’re thrust into the spotlight.

If the idea of public speaking makes you break out in cold sweats, you can ease into it by simply practicing in front of a mirror. Really imagine you’re talking to someone and don’t structure the idea as you’re speaking. Just let it emerge naturally as it would during a regular chat.

Also, you know that advice that you should pretend that the audience isn’t there? Don’t do that. It will only make you nervous and cause you to disconnect from the people you’re speaking to. You also shouldn’t try to hide your nerves because that, too, only increases anxiety.

Instead, I prefer to follow the motto: “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” It’s totally okay if your voice shakes a little or your hands get sweaty. Even the most experienced speakers still get nervous before a big talk.

What can you teach others?

You are accomplished. Yes, you. Even if you don’t fully believe it, your lived experience is a treasure trove of valuable insights that you can apply to a variety of different contexts, including public speaking. So what do you have to say that can have a positive impact on the lives of others?

Think your experiences are too niche? I guarantee that if you dig a little deeper, you’ll discover the common threads and find ways to use your story as an entry point to talk about a broader theme or topic.

In August 2019, I had the pleasure of teaching a storytelling class as part of Women and Color’s Speaker Bootcamp

What can you discuss using plain language?

Even if you’re speaking to an industry audience, it’s rare that everybody in the room will have the same experience as you or use the same language.

When you cut out the jargon and technical terms and distill your ideas down to their most basic form, you can create a rapport with anyone. At the same time, this can help you communicate in a more authentic way. You don’t have to play the part of a public speaker or industry expert. If you’re talking in front of a crowd, congratulations! You already are.

What won’t you get sick talking about?

Whether it’s a favourite TV show or an interesting news story, we all have those interests that we can talk about ad nauseam.

While writing up a speech about Insecure may not be appropriate for that upcoming conference you were thinking of applying to, it can be a great way to practice your diction and breath. Even more valuable: it helps you feel comfortable telling your story and turning off your self-censors.

This exercise can also help you find anecdotes or images to include in your presentation. For example, you could use Insecure GIFs throughout your speech to add humour and make your talk more personal and relatable.

What’s your personal connection to the topic?

What compels you to talk about this topic or perform this work you’ll be talking about? Even if you’re working on a technical talk, you probably have some kind of emotional connection to it. Maybe your parents inspired you to pursue your current career path or a specific event motivated you to make a major lifestyle change.

While it can be scary to talk about your personal life in a public space, a little vulnerability can go a long way in helping people connect with your story on a deeper level. As Brené Brown says, “vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy and creativity.”

What’s your hook?

Great stories aren’t just sunshine and rainbows and the same can be said about great speeches.

We all have our own experiences with conflict. However, these events are what shape us as people and make us relatable to others. When applied to public speaking, showing how you overcame conflict in your life can be an effective way to build credibility and trust and ultimately connect with your audience.

Of course, conflict isn’t the only way to build rapport, but it can act as a hook to engage your audience. Other types of hooks include a solution to a problem shared by the community you’re speaking to or sharing a funny anecdote.

Think about what kind of emotional impression you want to leave on your audience, but make sure it’s authentic to you. Don’t fake emotion. Corny as it is, you really should just be yourself.

What learnings can you share?

A lot of talks cover why something happened or how a situation impacted a person’s life, but those who are new to the public speaking game often forget to answer another important question in their presentations — “So what?”

Emotional appeal is great and effective, but you still need learnings and insights to back up what you’re saying. It’s important to connect your ideas to hard facts or other credible details.

To figure this out, determine how to measure the impact of your topic. For industry talks, you can do this with key performance indicators. In less formal situations, you can share the outcomes of events or activities as well as general facts and figures that relate to your topic.

What’s your talk show pitch?

In order to engage an audience and feel empowered in your role as a speaker, you need to be relatable and honest. At the end of the day, it is not the content but how you tell a story that makes it powerful.

So the last question I want you to consider is this: how would you engage an audience if you were a guest on a talk show? Would you tell an anecdote? What would the message of your anecdote be? How do people connect to it? If you’re passionate about the topic and connect your story to your message, the audience will be right along with you.

If you take away anything from this post, let it be that your message and insights are incredibly powerful and you can harness them in so many ways. Let that empower you as you begin your speaking career.