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When radio
personality and writer Garrison Keillor delivers his weekly
15-minute monologue “News from Lake Wobegone”, he speaks without
notes.
How does he do it?
He says it’s a combination of trusting himself and always knowing
where his message is headed.
When interviewed
recently about how he speaks note-free, he said, “I think if you
have an ending in mind, if you have a beginning and an ending in
mind, you’re pretty much there.”
Keillor has been
the host of the popular radio program “A Prairie Home Companion”
since 1974. His note-free monologues are delivered to 4 million
weekly listeners.
Speaking to a
reporter at
“Worthwhile” magazine, Keillor explained “As long as you start
here and you’re going to go there, you really find some interesting
ways of getting there. If I blank, which I do often, I can always
find something back there in my memory to kind of tide me over. You
learn this art of circular talking and holding pattern and just go
around in circles. Then you remember where you’re going to go.”
Keillor
added, “I think that people who speak in public make a terrible
mistake in putting paper in front of themselves. So many good
people stand in a pulpit on Sunday morning and they pull out this
little sheet of paper and they read from it. What they wrote down
was just a start and if they were to trust themselves a little more
they could have done so much better.”
Some people might
read Keillor’s remarks and say “Easy for him to say. He’s a
naturally gifted speaker.”
But Keillor said
that “I think it’s a learnable skill.”
We agree. Indeed,
we think that the gist of Keillor’s “know where you’re going” advice
is on target and easily learnable.
The key to speaking
without reading a text is making sure that you keep your messages
limited to a few key points and determining a few stories to
illustrate your points. A few points and stories are actually easy
to remember, especially if you practice the presentation several
times.
So next time you
have to give a speech, don’t read your text. Know where you're going
by picking a few main points
and bring them to life with stories. If you practice enough, you’ll
come across as smooth as Garrison Keillor.
At Speechworks we
help our clients learn how to communicate in a way that connects and
persuades. If you’re interested in becoming a great communicator
give us a call at 404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net. |
