How to Give the Best Speech of Your Life

By Sam Glenn

This is the best deal you will ever find on crafting a speech that "wow's" an audience. If you have ever wanted the absolute most simple way to craft an deliver an awesome speech that people will love, talk about and praise you for after - then this is the book to get. Sam Glenn has been speaking to audiences of all sizes - including some as large as 75,000 at stadium events - for the past 15 years. He has won Speaker of the Year by Meeting Professionals International and Meeting & Events Magazine. So he knows his stuff! Sam knows what works and what doesn't. This book is a simple book that will calm your nerves and help you connect with your audience and make an impact of instant credibility. If you only have a few minutes at a networking event, training, chamber event, trying to develop new business, graduation speech, induction at a meeting, sharing a few words at a banquet - you name it, this book will help you and bring value to your communication - and Sam makes it super easy and fast.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sam Glenn
• Release date: Feb 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311093127

Book preview

SAM’s RULE #1:

Before We Start, I Need You to Remember to Keep It Simple

You are going to hear me say this rule several times throughout this book: keep it simple; and don’t complicate simplicity. I will be writing to you as if speaking to you. Hopefully, you will get the vibe that I want to be a coach and cheerleader for your success.

What you are about to read is the result of me taking what others have complicated, and making it simple for you. Whether you are giving a 30-second introduction at a networking event, or presenting 1 hour of information, the goal here is not to overwhelm you into developing anxiety about public speaking—but instead to inspire you to do it with ease and effectiveness. In fact, you might even get people to laugh in the process! Imagine that?!

A lot of books do just the opposite of making this into a simple subject. The complication might happen through the sheer volume of material and information—which becomes incredibly overwhelming, and not very personable. Or it might be that many of the books or programs out there are just plain boring. I don’t do boring! In fact, a big reason I wrote this book is to help people who are good at what they do avoid putting a hole in their boats by getting up and boring an audience to the point that the whole ship sinks.

Besides making the subject simple, as I have done, I want something from you. That is, I want you to make the process of reading this book simple. As you dive into this material, do so in small bites; and allow yourself to retain and reflect on what you learn. Then, read it over again. Repetition will allow you to digest it for long term nourishment, rather than forcing yourself to swallow it all in one gulp (only to spit it back up again when you have a terrible stomach ache later).

_______________________________________________

What this training manual isn’t going to do:

You will learn what it takes to give great

speeches & presentations!

Your attitude + effort + this material =

Best Speech of Your Life!

_______________________________________________

In addition to simple, I want this to be fun for you! Give yourself permission to laugh as you take on the very serious task of learning to speak effectively. Do it with a friend if you can. Pop some popcorn and munch while you learn.

Some material I share will work for you, and some won’t. You have the right to determine which. Don’t be afraid to reject what doesn’t suit you, and please feel free to research other material out there. This is not meant as the end all, be-all resource. Expanding your knowledge bank by using other materials to compliment what I am going to lay out for you will only increase your success.

I’m sharing the best of what I’ve learned along the way—many times from others who paved the way for me. I like what Tom Antion says, I have never had an original thought. The material laid out for you in this manual is a credit to great communicators everywhere who have encouraged me either in person or through their works. What I have done is taken the best of what I know, and packaged it in such a way that if you do what is laid out, you too will have success and be able to give the best speech of your life.

What if you already speak for a living, and feel like you have it mastered? Maybe you are like my brother who doesn't give the so-called occasional speech, but gives presentations for hours every day to train new customers on his product and update the leadership in his company. You would think he would be a seasoned pro and not get the jitters, but he told me recently that the first three minutes of every presentation he gives are like watching a golf ball fail to reach its intended target. Even if you train and speak in front of others frequently, I’ve written this book in such a way that you can learn valuable insights to assist you in keeping your edge sharp. Enjoy!

MY STORY:

From Shy, Unorganized, and Scared to

Award-Winning Speaker

It is said that most people prefer death over public speaking; I easily fit into that category. I personally never set out to become a professional speaker. In fact, I was so afraid of public speaking that in college I took a zero score anytime I was required to give a speech. My professors would argue that it would not be in my best interest to do so, but I still didn't care. I didn't like feeling nervous, wiping my sweating palms on my pants every 30 seconds, or drinking water to combat cottonmouth. In fact, I remember an un-nerving experience that only reinforced my fear when I witnessed a fellow student who got so nervous about giving a speech that when the time came for him to stand up, he fainted and hit his head on a desk. It knocked him right out and an ambulance had to be called! I remember thinking from that moment on, there is no way I am standing up in front of a bunch of people and having that happen to me.

I admit it: I was afraid of standing up in front of a bunch of people and having all eyes on me. I was afraid of messing up, forgetting my key points, or worrying whether people liked me or not. In fact, in my high school speech class— which was required—we had to stand up and give directions from the school to our homes. My first thought was, this is a bad idea as it is the perfect setup for the guys in the class to toilet paper my house on the weekend. However, I was willing to do what it took to graduate.

The kid who spoke before me lived in the house right by me. I lucked out! All I had to do was copy his speech, use the same words and descriptions, and be done with it.

It should have been that easy, but I’ll tell you how I complicated it (and broke my first rule: Keep it Simple). The instructor uttered those words, Mr. Glenn, your next. UGH! I walked up to the front of the class, looked at the ground, and in a low-grade voice that sounded like a mouse, I began to utter words that made no real sense. I was so nervous; you could visibly see my hands trembling from the fear factor of giving a simple two-minute speech to my classmates. As I looked out at my fellow students, I could see some laughing at how nervous I was. Others had a look of, What is wrong with this kid? on their faces.

The plus side to this experience is that I was so bad at giving this speech, I am pretty sure that anyone who followed my directions home would end up in the back woods of Canada. Sorry