Written by Lary Tracy, Tracy Presentation Skills
Can any writing task be more daunting than offering advice on speeches to professional speech writers? I think not. But I am comforted by the fact that I am not offering advice on writing speeches but instead on delivering them.
As a new member of the Washington Speechwriters Roundtable, I want to bring something to this "table. Perhaps my experience as one who has delivered some 3000 presentations, and who now trains executives in the art of speaking, can help you in preparing your bosses and clients for the effective delivery of the speeches you spend so much time and mental energy writing.
I have great sympathy for speech writers who craft oratorical gems, and then watch their skillful work hacked to death by the people for whom they wrote their masterpieces. I have listened to speeches delivered ineptly, and then was surprised, when later reading the "prepared remarks," to discover just how skillfully written were these speeches. I have thought, "Oh, the poor speech writer. If only the speaker had spent a little time practicing, we would have seen the blending of substance and style."
I hope this brief survey of a specific method of presentation practice will help you encourage the people for whom you write to take the time to rehearse so they will shine when they mount the podium.
For additional information, I have several articles on my website-- www.tracy-presentation.com --on speech delivery, including my "Taming Hostile Audiences" which appeared in the March 1, 2005 Vital Speeches of the Day. That speech will be profiled by Editor ( and famous speech writer) Aram Bakshian, Jr. in the July 2005 American Speaker Magazine.
In my presentation skills workshops, I place great emphasis on the "Murder Board," a term with which many of you are familiar. The Murder Board has two overriding objectives:
- Hone delivery skills, especially important when a script is to be read.
- Anticipate probable questions and objections so succinct, accurate answers can be developed.
What a name -- the Murder Board! It sounds like something Tony Soprano might convene, doesn't it? But, despite the macabre name, it has nothing to do with a criminal act and everything to do with becoming a better, more persuasive public speaker. It is a realistic simulation of the actual presentation to be made. Colleagues role-play the audience to be faced, firing the type of questions this group is likely to ask. It should be more difficult than the actual presentation.
The Murder Board is the presenter's version of the actor's dress rehearsal, what lawyers do in preparing a witness to face cross-examination in a trial, and what the flight simulator is to the pilot. Just as with the actor, the witness, and the pilot, this simulation permits speakers to learn from their mistakes, so that they (1) are more responsive to the informational needs of the audience, (2) have developed answers for likely questions to be asked, and (3) have greater competence in platform skills. It enables speakers to visualize the presentation in advance. Not only is proficiency in speaking increased by such a meticulous practice, so too is self-confidence. One of the reasons that public speaking ranks high in the pantheon of phobias because of apprehension that one is going to be embarrassed by not being able to answer questions from the audience.
Many of you are thinking now that, while desirable, you will never get your bosses or clients to subject themselves to what could be a humiliating experience in front of peers and subordinates. No doubt it will require considerable persuasion on your part. You might wish to invite an outside speech coach to do the selling. Modesty precludes me from making a specific recommendation as to who this coach should be!
Perhaps the best selling point to convince the speaker for whom you are writing to participate in a Murder Board is to counsel him or her that a little discomfiture within the company or agency certainly is better than public humiliation. Most people are risk-averse. Juts show which is the greater risk to his or her self-esteem.
Many of you are probably familiar with the story, perhaps apocryphal, but I believe true, of
a Senator (who shall remain anonymous) who was handed his speech by a staff member just before mounting the podium. The Senator had not practiced, or even read it. Unfortunately for this lawmaker, he failed to note that the first page was the press release touting how his remarks were greeted with thunderous applause. The hapless Senator, oblivious to the words on the paper, read the press release, to the dismay of his speechwriter and the delight of audience members who roared with laughter.
A Murder Board, or several, should be conducted to avoid having your boss or client have a similar fate befall him or her. It should be videotaped and audio-taped. Seeing themselves deliver in a boring manner could motivate them to rehearse several times.
This realistic practice session allows speakers to make mistakes when they don't count, increasing the odds that they will be spell-binders when they address their audiences. If the speaker is able to anticipate questions, he or she, in collaboration with you and other staff members, can develop answers ahead of time. Think back to when you were in college or graduate school. Your GPA would probably have been higher if you could have seen the questions before the final exams. The Murder Board permits the presenter a look at the probable "exam questions." The only obstacle to developing a delivery skills-honing, question-anticipating simulated presentation is willingness to take hard hits in practice in order to be more effective in the actual presentation.
The term Murder Board originated within the U.S. military, specifically within the extensive training system of the U.S. Army. When a person has been selected to be an instructor at an Army school, he or she must go through a demanding instructor training program. I attended two such training programs during my Army career, and the Murder Boards in these programs were far from pleasant experiences.
Graduation and designation as an instructor is not dependent on a written test, but instead on a successful delivery of a 50-minute class from the curriculum of the school. The audience for this crucible generally consists of instructors who have gone through their own Murder Board, and are determined that this would-be instructor will experience the same frustration and humiliation they did. They ask tough, realistic questions--the type of questions their students are asking.
At the end of the 50 minute class, the aspiring instructor gets a thumbs up--meaning he or she can now join this band of brothers and sisters as an instructor, or a thumbs-down, meaning another "opportunity" to go through a Murder Board.
This realistic simulation has permeated the military culture. As an example, when I ran the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) briefing team, we had three Murder Boards before the daily briefing to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The first one was at 5:30 AM, the second at 6:30 AM, the third in front of two General officers, one hour later. By the time the briefer was in front of the Chairman, those intense sessions had provided the right answers to virtually every question the Chairman asked.
Many presenters, while accepting the need to sharpen delivery skills, reject the idea of a Murder Board, confident they can anticipate the difficult questions likely to be asked, and assuming they need not practice in front of others. These people may actually be displaying a false bravado to mask their concern at speaking in front of a group, perhaps exposing their lack of speaking skills.
I am in good company in believing in the need to have such a practice session in front of others who are role-playing the audience to be faced. The man who possessed perhaps the greatest mind of the 20th Century, Albert Einstein, realized that even he needed help. He once said:
"What a person does on his own, without being stimulated
by the thoughts and experiences of others, is even in the
best cases rather paltry and monotonous."
Perhaps Albert Einstein can help you encourage your practice-resistant bosses and clients to undergo a Murder Board. Then your skillfully-crafted speeches will be delivered the way you intended them to be delivered.
About the Author:
Larry Tracy is the author of The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations, available at his website. A retired Army colonel, he was called "an extraordinarily effective speaker" by President Ronald Reagan. He has been cited in numerous publications as one of the top presentations trainers in the US. His website is #1 on Google for "persuasive presentations." He will be on the cover of the July 2005 American Speaker magazine, in which his speech "Taming Hostile Audiences," published in the March 1, 2005 Vital Speeches of the Day, will be analyzed.
http://www.tracy-presentation.com
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