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From Al Gore's Chief Speechwriter: Simple Tips for a Damn Good Presentation

Written by: Timothy Ferriss

Article Overview: What happens when you say “laugh at all my jokes and I’ll breakdance for you at the end”—and someone calls you on it?

From Al Gore's Chief Speechwriter: Simple Tips for a Damn Good Presentation

What happens when you say “laugh at all my jokes and I’ll breakdance for you at the end”—and someone calls you on it?

This is exactly what happened to me two months ago at the Nielsen Training Conference in Atlanta. I didn’t choose the music.

Ahhhhh… public speaking!

A fate worse than death for some, but the pay-off can be tremendous. The 4HWW hit its tipping point with one presentation at SXSW, and in a digital world, one thought-provoking or rousing speech can propel you or your brand into the stratosphere.

But what are the basics for persuasive content and a delivery that makes evangelists out of disbelievers? I think Dan Pink is the right person to ask…

I first contacted Dan after reading his great article “Japan, Ink” in Wired magazine. I was very curious about why, after two bestsellers, he’d chosen to write his latest business book—which parallels the 4HWW philosophies—in manga format, a first for the English-speaking world.

I found out after-the-fact that Dan was also the chief speechwriter for Al Gore from 1995-1997.

Here are some of his tips for how to prepare and deliver world-class presentations, whether to a small group of colleagues or a huge room of UN delegates and media:
What are the necessary ingredients in a good speech?

I’ve said many times that the three essential ingredients in any good speech are brevity, levity, and repetition. (That bears repeating: brevity, levity, and repetition.)

But at a broader level, the most important aspect of any speech, as Garr Reynolds reminds us in Presentation Zen, is being able to answer two questions:

A. What’s your point?
B. Why does it matter?

That’s the whole enchilada. If you have a single point and can explain to a particular audience why it matters to them, you’re ahead of 90 percent of the business and political speechgivers out there today.
How do you plan and structure presentations?

There’s no single formula for making a point and showing why it matters, but you typically won’t go wrong if you abide by four principles:

1. Give the speech a beginning, a middle, and an end. You don’t have to take the audience by the hand and walk them through each step. And you don’t have to proceed chronologically. But having that structure in your head will give your speech a shape. And it will provide your audience some guideposts about where you’ve been and where you’re going.

2. Mix up the elements. Variety can keep your audience engaged. For instance, funny stories are great. But a half-hour of nothing but zany tales can actually undermine your point. Pelting people with factoids for 40 minutes is usually a mistake. But removing them altogether is also an error. Mix it up. Audiences are so accustomed to predictable speeches that surprise can be your ally. Indeed, one of my favorite speech models doesn’t even have words. It’s Haydn’s Surprise Symphony (No. 94 in G Major). It engages the listener by offering variety and surprise within an established structure.

3. Once you’ve mapped out your speech, remove 20 percent. In all my years of preparing and watching political and business speeches, I’ve yet to hear anyone say, “Gee, I wish that speech were longer.”

4. Don’t forget Bunko’s third lesson. Here’s the key lesson: It’s not about you. That’s doubly true for speeches. It’s not about you. It’s about the audience. Think of it from their perspective. Again, at the risk of being too critical of all those who stride the stage or command the podium, too many speechmakers – either through nervousness or ego – seem to forget that what really matters is the audience’s experience, not their own.
What are the keys to world-class delivery?

Authenticity. Don’t ape someone else’s style. don’t try to be Barack Obama or Tom Peters or Margaret Thatcher. It’ll only underscore how far you are from being one of these outstanding speechifiers. As trite as it may sound, just try to be you. If “you” is someone who’s slightly uneasy, who says “uh” a few times on stage, no problem. As long as you’re authentic — and as long as you have something interesting and relevant to say –- you’ll be fine. I’ve found audiences are extremely tolerant of people who are less polished but who have something valuable to convey. But their b.s. detectors go off big time when they see a super-polished presenter spewing vaporous nothings. Again, assuming you have a point and can explain why it matters, just work on being the best version of you can be.
What are the most common mistakes that presenters make and how do you fix them?

There are three that I see all the time:

1. Thinking a speech is a right rather than a privilege. When you deliver a speech, you’ve got 10 or 100 or 10,000 people who have decided that the most important thing they can be doing at that moment isn’t taking care of something at the office or being with their families – but sitting there listening to you. That’s an extraordinary — and humbling — gift. Alas, not enough speakers think of it this way. They believe that their own exalted position somehow confers the right to keep people captive for an hour. Nonsense. A speech is a privilege, not a right. The goal is to for the audience to leave saying, “I’m sure glad I listened to that guy for an hour rather than returned those phone calls or answered those emails.”

2. Forgetting the Lamott rule. Anne Lamott wrote Bird by Bird, one of my favorite writing guides. [Note from Tim: I used this book when writing 4HWW and second the recommendation] In the book, she describes how an editor of hers cut out a sizable portion of some chapter she had written. Outraged, she asked him why. He said: “Just because it happened to you doesn’t mean it’s interesting.” Great advice for speakers.

3. Not doing their homework. This may seem self-evident, but it’s important to know whom you’re talking to. Yet too many speakers ignore this simple truth. They deliver the same speech to a group of nuns that they delivered three days ago at a punk rock convention. You don’t necessarily have to craft an entirely new speech from top to bottom every time you open your mouth. But there are all kinds of ways to tailor and customize the message to the people at hand. For example, when I was working for Gore, we used to love to include in his speeches what we called “How the hells?” For instance, say he was speaking in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. We’d find out the most popular coffee shop in Sheboygan and its most popular pastry. Then somewhere in the speech, we’d include a place for him to say matter-of-factly, “If you’re talking about health care down at Charley Café’s – and maybe eating one of those cherry-walnut scones – you might wonder whether our Medicare plan covers … “ People love that sort of touch. Homework pays.
What are the 3 most memorable speeches you worked on with Gore?

1. His 1996 Democratic Convention acceptance speech. The reason: We were scrambling and I got to the Teleprompter only about ten minutes before the speech. When the technician loaded the disk into the machine, the machine couldn’t read it. And we couldn’t figure out how to fix it. The problem continued even as the VP was being announced onto stage — in front a 10,000 people and a live national television audience. Then, through some kind of divine intervention, about one minute into the speech, we got it to work. I must have lost 35 pounds of sweat.

2. His 1999 eulogy for this father. I was no longer working for him then, but he asked me to lend a hand on this one. He wrote the entire speech himself – and it was immensely personal and deeply moving. What’s more, it was a good reminder that politicians – whom we swat around like badminton birdies – are human beings.

3. His 1995 commencement speech at MIT. We prepared for this one for months. The VP got memos from dozens of remarkable people, including several Nobel Prize winners. He, a couple of policy people, and I would have these long meetings that were like graduate seminars. The day before the speech we had a decent draft. Then that night around 6, he essentially threw out the whole thing and we ended up doing an all-nighter. Believe me: Being in the ceremonial office of the Vice President of the United States at 2am having a conversation about Ilya Prigogine is not an experience I’m going to have (or want to have) again.

Any last advice?

I’m a word guy through and through. I believe in the power of words. But ultimately speeches are about actions. The only reason to give a speech is to change the world. That’s a high bar. But that’s what we should aspire to when audiences give us this privilege.

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Article Tags: 4hww, al gore, al gores, breakdance, brevity, chief speechwriter, class presentations, essential ingredients, evangelists, garr, huge room, japan ink, levity, necessary ingredients, rousing speech, single point, stratosphere, tipping point, whole enchilada, worse than death



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