Sounding Conversational in a Speech

00:00 So, how do you sound conversational when you're giving a speech? We've all heard speakers get up, and it's sort of like, okay, class, today we're going to cover the following 12 point, and it just sounds awful.

00:14 It's this elevated volume, somewhat monotone, and the speaker just sounds like they're reading off a teleprompter in their brain. So part of it is you've got to sound like you're actually in the moment that what you're saying and what you're thinking are in sync.

00:31 Because if you're constantly thinking about what you're going to say 5 seconds from now, it can make you sound mechanical.

00:39 It can make you sound contrived as if you've memorized something, even if you have it.

00:44 Now, this is yet another reason why I recommend not reading a speech, because it's virtually impossible to sound conversational.

00:52 If you're reading a speech, it flattens you out.

00:54 This is why I recommend speaking from a set outline where you have just bullet points, three or four words to remind you of what you want to talk about and then talk about it for a couple of minutes.

01:08 Part of it is just getting comfortable.

01:10 You need to rehearse, not to memorize, but to get comfortable with your content.

01:16 So when you're talking about it, you're not having to think about it.

01:19 Think about when someone ask you, How did you meet your spouse, or What's your favorite teacher? If you're really young, you don't have to sit there and think about it for 10 minutes.

01:29 You can just talk.

01:30 It's not that you say it word for word the same way every time, but in general, you know what you're going to say because you've thought about it before, and you've said about it. You've said it before.

01:42 That way, you can sound conversational.

01:44 Also, notice how I just messed up a second ago.

01:48 People do that in real life conversation all the time.

01:52 It's okay.

01:54 Don't beat yourself up.

01:56 Don't try to stop and edit it out and iron out all the imperfections.

02:00 Realize if you're going to give a speech, and you're going to sound conversational, there will be occasional mess ups.

02:08 There will be times when you start a sentence, stop and go in another direction.

02:12 There will be times when you have sentence fragments, you'll have repetition.

02:17 That's okay. That's what makes you sound conversational.