Audiences are regularly surprised to find themselves in the middle of a conversation when they expected to sit through a monologue.
With smaller audiences it’s easy to have an actual conversation, but even with bigger audiences you can get pretty close to making it feel like one.
Actually, many of the tools you’d use in a conversation, work in a speech too, such as eye contact, questions (even if just rhetorical), a moment of pause for reflection etc.
But, probably most importantly, the words you use.
If you stop using corporate speak.
If you ditch the industry buzzwords.
And instead just use words you’d normally use in a conversation …
… the one you’d have with a friend in the bar …
… that’s when your speech will feel remarkably akin to that conversation in the bar.
To me, the best speeches feel like conversations.
What do you think?
