MarcusASmith.com

Welcome to the 7th edition of “Interviews with Speaking Experts”. The expert for today is Cliff Suttle.  Cliff is the president of ExciteYourAudience.com, a Hired Gun Speaker and Training Company.  He is the author of the “Anti-Elevator Speech” and “Choosing to Win” as well as the producer of the coach in a box CD series “Audience in the Palm.”  Cliff is a popular freelance writer and businessman for over twenty years and has worked with companies such as General Motors, Ford Motor, Xerox, Kodak, IBM, Met-Life, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and more. His unique business, communication, and presentation skills system is popular with audiences everywhere.

Marcus Smith:  On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your first speech?  Why?

Cliff Suttle: My very first public speech was in the third grade.  My school had a talent show and I signed up for it.  It was then I realized I didn’t have any talent :-/.  Scrambling, I found some of my brother’s Bill Cosby records of his stand up act.  I learned a couple of Cosby’s stand up bits word for word having to guess at gestures and facial expressions.  I won the contest.  I did such a good job that at least once a month after that I was asked to do another one.  I spent a lot of money on Cosby records .

I’m sure it wasn’t as good as I remember, but I remember it as a 10.  All I know for sure is that I spent a lot of time preparing and the kids laughed their heads off.  It was probably more like an 8 or less, but the point is that it’s all in the preparation.  Know your material.  I worked so hard on figuring out hand and facial gestures that I probably should have earn a degree in it.  However I don’t recommend stealing other people’s material .  Sorry Bill.

Marcus Smith: On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your last speech?  Why?

Cliff Suttle:  My last speech was for about 75 people at a Chamber of Commerce special event.  I gave a speech on my latest book, “The Anti-Elevator Speech”.  I recorded the speech, as I do with most of my speeches, so I could review the presentation later.  Great crowd reaction, and I received the most wonderful testimonial email from the President of the Chamber before I even returned home.  However, if you get to comfortable with your abilities you will get lazy and start to slide back in your skills.  While watching the recording, I found a number of things I could have done better.  I would give the speech a 9.  I really recommend recording and reviewing your presentations.

Marcus Smith: In your opinion what is the most important part of a speech? Why?

Cliff Suttle:  The opening.  With most crowds you get about 2-3 minutes to catch their attention or they will write you off.  I do a lot of one on one speech coaching and I work with openings of my client’s speeches more than any other part.  If you can do something different, something unexpected, people will sit up in their chairs and take notice.  A bland or boring opening is the kiss of death.

Marcus Smith: In your opinion what is the least important part of a speech?  Why?

Cliff Suttle:  There aren’t any least important parts.  As soon as you start thinking there are parts that don’t matter, you can expect that there will be part of your speech that the audience won’t care about.  If you get paid to speak, people lay down their hard earned money to be entertained and informed.  You’re there to do that.  Your clients are counting on you to do that.  Are there any unimportant parts of a car?  Hmmm…wheels, nope, windows, nope, the radio, nope, they are all important and you wouldn’t buy the car without them.  It’s important to work on the details as much as you do the major stories and points.

Marcus Smith: Why is public speaking such a paralyzing fear in the world today?

Cliff Suttle:  In my experience, it’s the people who are worried and thinking about themselves that are nervous.  “What will people think of MY speech.”  What if I forget MY speech?”  “What will people think of ME.”  A speech is not about you, it’s about the audience.  If you focus on the audience and what they will get out of it, most of your fears will go away.  It’s been proven that everyone’s favorite word in the language is their own name.  The brain centers are more active when you hear your own name than any other word.  It’s human nature,  and it’s also what you need to fight against.  Humans are pretty egocentric as a whole, the speaker and the audience alike.  It’s not until we unlearn this training that we have the possibility of becoming a great speaker.

Marcus Smith: Who is the speaker you admire the most and why?

Cliff Suttle: This question I don’t like.  I have seen too many speakers try and emulate other speakers.  At best they become nothing more than bad copies of the originals.  No other speaker in the world has your message.  No other speaker in the world has your style.  No other speaker in the world has your delivery.  This is true of every speaker.  You’re the only speaker in the world who can do what you do.  The speaker you admire should be yourself.  You should not try to be like anyone else, because as soon as you are the audience will sense that you are not being authentic.  Think about comedians like Don Rickles, Rodney Dangerfield, or Dane Cook.   They all have a unique style all their own.  However, I have seen other comedians try and copy them and it’s never as good.  There is room in the world for lots of speaking styles.  Every speaker should admire their own speaking and create a style that is truly their own.  There are lots of great speakers out there, Les Brown, Darrin Lacroix, Larry Winget, but nobody can do what they do better than them.  Nobody can do Les Brown better than Les Brown.  Don’t even try.

Now as far as technique, you can learn something from just about every speaker.  I love Larry Winget’s in your face style.  It’s a bit much for me, but if I add some of that to my delivery now and then it is very powerful.  Allen Wise has a really interesting way of impromptu speaking that makes him a great speaker.  I love listening to Randy Gage tell a story.  However, I don’t want to be any of these people.  I want to be me and you should want to be you.

Marcus Smith:  What are your thoughts on writing a speech word for word prior to delivery?

Cliff Suttle:  I think if you need to write your speech down word for word, then you dont’ really know your subject well enough.  I spent about a year studying a system called “speaking by head nods.”  This is a skill where you can have no idea what you are going to talk about when you start and deliver the perfect speech for any audience every time.  Fascinating stuff.  I have some canned speeches that I give all the time, but if you hear me deliver the speech on two different days, you will have a different experience both times.  That’s because I adjust my speech for the audience and what they want to hear on the fly.  If you are delivering a speech word for word, you can’t do that.  The interesting part about this is it also encourages people to see you more than once.  

Marcus Smith: Why were you initially drawn to public speaking?

Cliff Suttle: Well… I think it’s because I am a ham .  Seriously, I love applause, compliments, and big smiles from the audience.  At least that’s what initially drew me to public speaking.  It wasn’t until later that I realized my focus was all wrong.  The speech wasn’t about me, it’s about the  audience.  It was a “light bulb” moment when I figured that out.  I think my speaking became twice as good that day.  I was listening to another speaker, unfortunately I can remember who, he said that he hates when people come up after the show and tell him he’s a good speaker.  He feels like he failed.  He loves it when people say that his MESSAGE moved them or they were changed by the message.  That was when the light bulb went off for me.  Now, I feel exactly the same way.

Marcus Smith: List 3 common myths about public speaking that you hear constantly.  Tell us why they aren’t true.

Cliff Suttle: I don’t want to do three, but I will do one.  I taught speech at a college and the book they told us we had to use, which I hated, had a section in it entitled, “Being nervous when you are speaking is normal.” (In my best Larry Winget voice) NO IT ISN’T NORMAL!  Just because you are nervous does not make it normal.  It’s normal for most adults to know how to ride a bike, but when you’re a kid you didn’t know how to ride a bike.  The fact that you didn’t know how to ride a bike didn’t make it normal not to know how.  You just didn’t know how because you hadn’t learned yet.  Not being nervous while public speaking is something you have to learn, like reading, math, and even feeding yourself.  It can be learned by anyone.

Thinking that something is “normal” gives you an excuse to continue poor behavior.  I never want anyone to think that being nervous is normal.  Don’t accept it and keep learning. When the fear is gone, then you will know what it feels like to be normal.

Marcus Smith: What advice would you give someone who was about to deliver their first real speech before an audience.

Cliff Suttle: Your speech is not about you.  It’s about your audience.  Focus on them and you will be fine.

If you would like to hear more from Cliff Suttle visit his site at www.exciteyouraudience.com

written by Marcus A Smith