If you have heard retired Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner deliver a speech you probably agree with me that he’s a great speaker. If you heard him speak a the GetMotivated.com seminar in downtown Phoenix last month, then you also know that he’s not the type to be satisfied with being a great spear – he wants to be the best.
Reflecting on this specific speech allows me to touch on some advanced topics that are easy to master and distinguish you as a speaker and increase the effectiveness of your visual aids. Here are some specific recommendations I have for Kurt Warner to take his speech from the Get Motivated seminar from great to incredible.
Things Kurt Water did that were Great:
In response to a welcoming thunderous applause, his opening line was perfect: “a great crowd like this makes me want to play again.” As expected this generated uproar of cheer from the audience. His opening set the tone and the spirit of the speech; Kurt quickly established a light-hearted rapport with the audience.
There was a notable balance of humor throughout his speech. Kurt shared a story of how hyper-competitive he is as an individual – even while playing video games with his own children – that one time his wife scolded him “do you always have to make your 6yr old cry?” Later while distinguishing his children from one-another, he told the story of his daughter that demonstrated how much of a determined soul is. How she scaled a rickety tower of kitchen furniture in order to reach the cookie jar atop the pantry, and when she crashed to the floor hurting herself (with a cookie still firmly in hand) he proclaimed “YES – I’ve got one! I’ve got one willing to sacrifice everything for what she wants.” Beyond a great storytelling technique, humor is one universal way to establish and maintain a connection with your audience.
Kurt laid out a clear and simple chronology of events to take the audience on a journey through his lift: playing football as kids, only wanting “WARNER” on his jersey, and how his vision developed and guided his choices in life. Most of our lives are dictated by time and event, so it’s natural to interpret inferred timelines into a story line the audience can easily follow along with.
His Call-To-Action was clear, deliberate and contained. Well contained by framing it with the question “Do you want to be the Best?” and them immediately followed by “Here are the Two-Things you must do…” People like lists, short lists. Audiences are more likely to feel empowered and activated by a list of three or less near-impossible-things, than they would given a catalog of 18 easy-steps-to-success.
Things to help You or Kurt Warner become one of the Best:
Remember to STOP. Stop talking, stop walking, stop breathing. Pause – every now and then – to draw attention. This is one technique that is easy to rehearse and will have a huge impact on the delivery of your message. Pausing gets attention. Use it right after saying something profound. This allows your audience to process and appreciate what you have just said. You can use it immediately before saying something important. This allows your audience to clear their thoughts and prepare for revelation. Moreover, it serves to draw in the attention of those perhaps briefly distracted. Want to pack an even bigger punch? Right before your dramatic pause, say “here’s the most important thing I’ve learned…” or “if you remember only one thing from my speech today, remember this… ” This technique can be used to exploit the audience attention and accentuate your point.
Eventually, take your hands out of your pockets. Having one hand in your pocket can be a disarming approach in early stages of your speech: establishing authenticity with the audience as an everyday-kinda-guy. Once you’ve done that – pull it out. Meaning, once you have established the tone (personable, comfortable and relaxed) use both hands to gesture while you’re speaking. This will increase your visual effectiveness as you move throughout your speech.
Put the slide show remote down. This will free up both hands to accentuate your gestures and not risk accidentally advancing the slide before you are ready. Note: when you do this, incorporate part of your natural movement to make your way back to the lectern to operate the remote – you don’t want it to seem unnatural. If this is uncomfortable, consider at least putting it down after you have reached the final slide – it serves no further purpose.
In my opinion, hiring Kurt Warner to speak at your local event or next business conference is worth every penny. I look forward to his incredible speaking career here in the Valley Of The Sun and around the world.
-SpeakUpBrian
(Bonus)
Below are some demonstrated techniques to improve the effectiveness of Visual Aids (Powerpoint slides). On the left are pictures I took from my front row floor seats of the slides Kurt used. On the right are versions of the same slide that I built from scratch using full screen imagery and consistent high-contract embedded text to amplify the intended message.
Kurt Warner Original Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . My Reproduced Slides
