Wisdom comes from reflection. One of the best ways to prosper as a speaker is to plant seeds that help you grow. Here are 27 of my phrases that, if internalized, can help you take your speaking to greater heights.
You might consider saving them in a place you pass by often so they can sink into your subconscious mind and automatically boost your speaking.
27 SPEAKING PHRASES
- You can’t have an effect if they don’t reflect
- When you lift yourself up, you let your audience down
- Tease them before you tell them
- Turn their pain into your promise
- Speak like you talk, not like you write
- If you take us through the problem, take us through the payoff
- It’s the look before and after that line that makes the line
- What’s loose is lost (always tie each message to an anchor)
- Speak to one but look to all
- Too many speakers try to get across too much information in too little time
- Don’t add humor; uncover it
- What gets recorded gets rewarded
- It’s not about perfection, it’s about connection
- Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal.
- Never sell a product, always sell the results
- Don’t speak for standing ovations; speak for standing invitations
- No phrase, no stage
- If you are always dynamic, you are no longer dynamic
- Don’t make it up, dig it up (your story is in you and waiting to be told)
- Let me forget myself, remember my speech, and touch my audience
- You can’t create a message without first creating a mess. After all, a message is just a “mess” with “age”
- The phrase determines what stays
- A confused mind says no but a clear mind says go
- Put the result before the resource
- The harder your journey, the higher their conversion
- Sell the belief before the relief
- Let your long road lead to their shortcut
Your Turn
What phrases have you come up with that guide you with your speaking?
Great article, Craig! As you know, I speak to dentists (not always the easiest crowd, let me tell you!). When I put my presentations together, I have a big sign in front me as a reminder to have “INtent in my CONtent”! It helps me stay on track, focus on my message and give my listeners content they can take home and that will make a difference to them. I learned this the hard way, by the way!
If you want Praise include a Phrase
It’s not about speaking perfectly it’s about speaking effectively
Craig, thanks for your words of wisdom. I am sure there is a lot of experience behind them. My offering:
“You need to be able to articulate your central message in one sentence before you are ready to speak.”
Paul
That’s great Paul. Thanks. It’s like the writer of a movie screenplay needs to be able to articulate the log-line before writing the actual script.
1. Share your convictions, that puts power in your speech.
2. Read a lot of news so that the stories come automatically and are authentic
3. Relate each unique experience with a topic of discussion which you speak about
Best regards
Sridhar
Thanks Sridhar.
Toastmasters teaches that there should be at least one of these objectives for your talk: inform, entertain, persuade, inspire. The problem occurs if an objective is to cure insomnia. The most permanent form of this cure is death by powerpoint. I know many who are serial murderers.
Thank you Steve. Great point.
Craig, just to let you know, your social media works. Because of this post, I ended up on your website and purchased your book. Keep up the great work. Always enjoy your posts … they actually have usable content in them almost every time.
Thank you Joe!
Great job Craig.
Here are some of mine:
“The relentless pursuit of betterment!” – my personal tag line
“Be content with where you are, but more excited about where you are going.”
“Negative thoughts only drain those that think them!”
“Life is built on the opportunity of impossibility.”
Thanks David. I really like that personal tag line because it implies the betterment of others as well as yourself.
This is one I always use in Spanish and it translates to: “Public speaking can only be mastered by speaking in public” (in Spanish: “A hablar en público sólo se aprende hablando en público”).
I love that one Sebastian.
+ Don’t just talk, speak! (everybody talks, few people really speak)
+ Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience finish listening
Thanks Jonas.
You’re the master of the pithy phrase, Craig. I’ve added a few of these to the quote book I keep, and have used a couple of your lines in the past (attributing you, of course).
That line “If you’re always dynamic, you’re no longer dynamic” really made me stop and think! Adding light and shade is so much better than being high-energy all the time. (When speaking, I tend to stand still a lot, so I just wish the opposite was true: “If you’re always static, you’re no longer static!”)
Here are a couple of my own lines:
+ A quality quote is a smart sentence with the boring bits cut out. [After Alfred Hitchcock: “Drama is life with the dull parts cut out.”]
+ BIG ideas need sharing – through SMALL words.
If you like them, by all means quote me too! 🙂
Thanks Craig! I really like that Big idea statement.
I just heard Craig at my son’s graduation in North Carolina. It was the best commencement speech I have ever heard. It was funny, heart felt and dynamic. I wrote down some of your quotes. I too have wanted to he a professional public speaker and have done public speaking through my career but have never had the courage to step off the cliff and just pursue public speaking as a career. I admire that you stepped off that cliff. Thank you for the inspiration.
Thank you Linda. I really appreciate your kind words. I’m sure you can do this too.
Hi Craig – some great phrases – thank you !
Two more linked phrases which, regrettably, I did NOT create are :
“You speak not just to inform, but to transform”
“You speak not just to input, but to impact”
Thank you Geoff!