Supporting your speech to make it memorable.(Selected Topics)

Sometimes just the right quotation or an evocative story can make an entire speech memorable. Connecting distinctive stories or quotations to content is very effective in helping people remember the key parts of your presentation. I attended a college where we had mandatory chapel with a different speaker every day. The speaker I remembered at year's end was the one who distinguished his or her point with a memorable story or quotation. If you connect your ideas with stories or quotations, then you have a better chance of audience members remembering. Personal experiences are great vehicles to carry your point home. You feel comfortable telling them because you lived them, and they are guaranteed to be fresh material for the audience because no one else has had your experience. Here is a personal experience that I have used in speeches.

As I approached my 40th birthday, I was very introspective about what I had not accomplished that I felt I should have before turning 40. The thing that stuck in my mind was that I had never learned how to swim. Now I had taken many swimming lessons from all kinds of sources: the Red Cross, YMCA, a college physical education course, and even individual lessons. But anytime we got to the deep end lessons, I would drop out because of my great fear of water. I was determined this time, thinking, "I can't turn forty and not know how to swim." So I signed up again at our local YMCA for "beginner adult lessons." I'm here to tell you that on lesson number 37, I swam the deep end of the pool! I'm not a great swimmer today, but I can swim. This experience gave me encouragement to attempt other things I had never been comfortable doing. I use that story in talking about perseverance and getting out of one's comfort zone.

Look beyond personal experience to newspapers, I regularly peruse local and national newspapers for examples. The story of woodpeckers drilling holes in the space shuttle Discovery and causing a mission's postponement made its way into a speech to illustrate the importance of thorough preparation for significant events.

Some of the best illustrations come from other people. To people who have wide experience and many years of life I will sometimes ask, "What is the most unusual thing that has happened to you in your career?" "What is the funniest thing that has happened to you in your life?" or "What is the most important principle you have learned in your work?" Just sit back after such questions and wait for the story! One of my favorites is from an elderly woman who told me about getting married in a horse and buggy. That story works well in telling about the significance of change in one's life.

Yogi Berra once said, "You can learn a lot just by watching." That statement spells out a creative way of getting new illustrative material. As you travel and work, look for stories and keep track of them. Tour state capitals. A wealth of illustrative material can be found in such places. The state capital building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for ...