QUICKSPEECH 101                                                      By Karl Walinskas, ATM

You have a terrific idea for your next club speech. There is invaluable information to 
convey to your audience. You're jazzed, motivated, and even better, you're on the agenda 
for tomorrow night's club meeting! All you have to do is throw your talk together and 
you'll be sure to take home the Best Speaker of the Night award.

You get home from work and you're ready to go. But wait a minute, your wife is out of 
town so you have to watch the kids. The dog got sick on the carpet. And don't forget, 
you've got to get those bills out tonight. Eleven o'clock rolls around before you know it 
and you haven't prepared a thing for your speech. You didn't procrastinate...these were 
real emergencies! Why me? You inwardly scream to whoever's listening. What will you 
do? Cancel and suffer untold embarrassment?

Not to fear. You just need to enroll in Quickspeech 101". This ten minute course will 
provide a surefire way to design an appropriate speech in less than one half hour. You 
just need to know the H-B-A-WIIFM method.

Hook:

The first thing that any speech needs is an attention getter. This is the hook. It gives
your audience a reason to spend seven minutes listening to you talk. A hook is 
comprised of one or two cleverly worded sentences that will grab your listeners, make 
them curious in anticipation of what comes next. A hook can be an anecdote, a quote 
from someone in authority or from history, a poem, or a question which relates to your 
topic. Along with your close, the hook is the only part of your speech you need commit to 
memory. Still stumped and short on time? I like to hook the audience in the form of a 
question. A question is addressed at them, and therefore requires thought. It gets the 
group immediately involved in your subject.

Let him that would move the earth first move himself.  Do you think Socrates was a 
Toastmaster? is an example of a recent hook I used in a speech.

How many of you carry a CPR certification card? If you do, is it current? is another 
effective hook I heard from a fellow club member on the same night as my talk.

Remember, your club speeches don't have to be perfect, just compelling and interesting. 
You can polish them for competitions when you have plenty of time. Now let me ask you 
this, how much time does it take for you to come up with a captivating hook?

Body:

All effective speeches are designed to make a point to the listener. Entertaining stories 
like Aesop's Fables were designed to be didactic, to support an underlying theme. In 
order to make a point that's believable, you need evidence. This is your body.

The body is the meat of your speech, like the rising action in a play or movie. Within the 
body, you will want to make points that support your overriding message. For a seven 
minute speech, limit the number of points to three. Any more will confuse the issue. The 
points you make should be easy to memorize. After all, this information is near and dear 
to you, you just need to share it appropriately.

After each point, provide the evidence to persuade your listeners that you're right. You 
may see speeches on CSPAN where reams of data is used to support the main points, but 
this is Quickspeech 101. You don't have time to research and organize data. You have to 
give your talk in twenty minutes! No sweat. Use the most effective evidence of 
all...personal experience. Support your point with things that have happened in your life. 
Will you need note cards or days to memorize the information? Of course not! These 
events happened to you. They're already in your long term memory. If you take nothing 
else from this article, always remember and never forget this point: The easiest and 
usually most effective speech you can give is one that weaves in your own experiences.

Ask for It:

I said before that effective speeches make a point. The best speeches go even further, 
they motivate the audience to action. You're hitting on all cylinders with your talk, now 
what do you want the audience to do with what you have so convincingly told them? 
Don't assume the audience will know, you have to Ask for It! A speech without asking 
for action is a wasted opportunity. Should the audience contribute to the American 
Cancer Society? Vote in the next election? Try eating at a hibachi steakhouse? It doesn't 
matter how trivial you think your subject is, any topic can present a case for audience
action.

In a sales presentation, this part of the formula is known as the close. Here's the data, 
here's what I want you to do.

WIIFM:

Wait just a minute, you say. Just because I gave my listeners data and asked them to do 
something doesn't mean they will take action. Exactly! Who is the most important person 
in the room from your listener's perspective? ME! Human beings have a selfish side to 
their nature. They want to know the benefits of taking action. They want to know What's 
In It For Me? (WIIFM). 

Savvy listeners may be able to interpret the benefits from your presentation, but again, 
don't assume the connection has been made. Tell them what they'll get out of the actions 
you want them to take.

You'll gain the satisfaction of helping science defeat one of the largest killers in the 
world.

You'll know you've participated in making a difference in the political system.

You will be sure to see an entertaining show and enjoy a fantastic meal.

Think of several, compelling benefits and close your talk by stating them directly. 
WIIFM gives your audience the final reasons they need to take action.

In order to prepare and deliver an effective, logical speech about any topic, use the H-B-
A-WIIFM structure learned in Quickspeech 101. Captivate your audience with an 
effective hook. Make and support your points in the body of your talk, rolling in personal 
experiences that they can relate to. Directly seek action by Asking for it. Then, convince 
any listeners still on the fence of What's In It for Me.

You will cut down dramatically on the time it takes to prepare a presentation and enjoy 
the confidence of knowing that your talk flows and makes your points. You'll never have 
to miss a scheduled speech again.


* Reprinted from The Toastmaster Magazine June 1998