Who is your best friend? You must have few best friends who you met during different stages of your life. Today, I would like to introduce you to your new best friend when it comes to public speaking. He is Mr. PARTS and he shall assist you in creating compelling contents for your speeches so that they become dynamic speeches that speak to the minds and hearts of your audience. PARTS is an acronym for five tools to help in your speech development efforts. Let examine each tool briefly.
P stands for Phrase. What is your message? Can you frame it in a sentence or a phrase to make your speech repeatable, digestible and perhaps, Tweetable! Think very hard about this. Think fast and slow. Engage your active mind and sub-conscious mind to come up with this phrase. It is very important to leave your audience with a phrase. In 2005, I delivered a speech entitled: WhoZanGa! People who saw it still remember it and I bet you they will never forget it. Going beyond my speeches, I think the most memorable speech ever is the one delivered on 28th of August 1963 in Washington DC by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled ………………… Yes, you are right! This is the magic of having the right phrase.
A stands for Anchors. How do you intend to anchor your message in the minds of the audience members? There are few tools that could help you do just that including acronyms. As I highlighted above, PARTS is an acronym for five tools that will help you in creating compelling contents for your speeches. Recently, I created ALI as an acronym for what a typical leader must do to be successful: (A) Anticipates the Future, (L) Learns Forever and (I) Inspires Others. What acronyms could you create?
R stands for Reflection. Whenever you speak, provide the audience with opportunities to think and reflect about what you are saying. Pause, often. My friend Rena Romano, said: “If there is no reflection, there is no connection.” The last thing you want as a speaker is to lose the audience. One way to have the audience reflect is using rhetorical questions. For example, you could ask: When was the last time you reflected about your personal and professional achievements? Or going back to your best friends, when was the last time you hanged out with them? We hang out regularly. We had dinner in a fine restaurant. The food was mouthwatering and our jokes were eye watering so to speak. We remained until the owner kicked us out at midnight!
T stands for Technique. Audience members love techniques. What useful techniques can you share with them? I still remember a speech made by an event management specialist on how to host successful events. He told us to answer the following five questions: When is the event? Where will it be held? Who will attend it? What will be the agenda? And finally, why it is being held? Now, whether you are hosting a conference or a birthday party, you can use this simple technique to plan your upcoming event. I ensure all my speeches have this element so that the audience picks up techniques they could use immediately. For example, I speak about the 3 R’s to employee engagement: Recognition, Rewards & Recreation.
S stands for the Sale. Every speech is selling something, a thought or a product or a service. So, what are you selling and how will you put it forward to your audience? I vividly remember the worst sale pitch in my life. It was 2004 and I used to live in Dubai, I saw an advertisement in a newspaper for what the clinic proclaimed to be an effective hair loss treatment. I made a visit just for fun! The Doctor was the worst salesman I met in my life. He tried to sell me a customized wig so that my personal confidence is boosted. He was wrong, totally wrong. Did I complain about being less confident due to my hair loss? Not at all. He wrongly assumed that. Always research your audiences’ needs and then frame your speech around meeting these needs; never use your imagination.
I hope you enjoyed meeting your new best speaking friend: Mr. PARTS. Rest assured he is a friend you can rely on all the time. He will help you in creating compelling contents for your speeches regardless of your speaking topic. Try him out! He will make your messages more memorable, digestible and Tweetable!
Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.