Practice, practice, practice - Part 2 of 2

I went to the Speakers Bureau in Garden Grove. I had the chance to evaluate two 20 minute speeches.

First speech was inpirational. The main thrust of my evaluation was organization. The speaker gave a personal story on how he overcame a motorcycle accident where he was told he would be in a wheelchair the rest of his life to having just put 200 miles on his new motorcycle. He talked on using that accomplishment to help others overcome physical handicaps. He also talked on healing his own hernieated discs through exercise.

He had a lot of material and that was the problem. There were 3 speeches wrapped in one. My recommendation was for the speaker to ask this question: "What do I want my audience to do after hearing my speech?" The answer would guide him in organizing his material.


The second speech was a "how to" speech. It was how to generate energy in your presentation through connecting to your audience. The speaker began with a story of visitng the WWII memorial to the American Soldier in Bastogne, the famous city featured from the Battle of the Bulge, as a young child. She contrasted her first visit with her father to her second visit to the memorial with her mother by how her mother helped her emotionally connect to the sacrifice made by the slain soldiers.

The story demonstrated how developing a connection increases the energy in an experience. The speaker then talked about how to increase you ability to make a connection through 4 different connection activities. She then wrapped up with an exercise using 7 volunteers to demonstrate a connection activity.

The speaker is a wonderful storyteller and an accomplished speaker. My evaluation's focus was on two things:

1. Transistion from personal story to the 4 connection activities and
2. Organization of material in each connection activity. My recommended format was:
a. Benefit(s)
b. Activity description
c. Activity examples

These two speeches provided excellent practice for the upcoming District Championship. I'm thankful to the Speakers Bureau to giving me the opportunity to practice.