Put a Bow on it

Today, I visited the District 55, Division J International Speech contest for Toastmasters, here in Austin, Texas. Toastmasters regularly holds these contests and it's a great way to see some fantastic speakers, one of whom might win the final contest held this summer in Colorado.

The winner of today's contest gave a stirring speech about her brother, and intelligent, fun loving fellow with some quirky ideas on life (at least to some people!). The final part of her story was the revelation that her brother was dying; she had come to take him to the hospital, something he refused to do for himself, but after some time, conversation, and reflection, decided to respect his opinion on the matter. She wanted to respect who he was as a person. It was touching and very personal; in my opinion, easily the best speech out of the five that were presented.

Afterward the contest, when everyone was congratulating the winner, a well respected officer in Toastmaster offered this piece of advice to the winner: "Add a take way to the end. Something the audience can hold onto."

I agreed with her and rephrased it as, "Put a bow on the gift that is your speech." What the speaker failed to do, despite an otherwise wonderful delivery, was to connect to the story of her brother to the values and concerns of the audience. While the speech was a heartfelt discussion about a concerned sister and her ailing brother, what lesson did she learn that should could have imparted up on us? A listener might have implied a moral such as, "to each their own," but was that what she meant? I wasn't sure, and since another person had mentioned it as well, I was sure many more of us were left curious.

The idea of offering something tangible, a moral, a call to action, to the audience is critical in removing any sort of ambiguity about what the speech was meant to convey. When you're delivering your speeches, think of your speech as a gift. The structure is the box, the words the wrapping, and the story the content. To make that gift just that much more special, make sure to put a bow on it. A bow that is a call to action for your audience.