Solution for the Boring Speaker

You have a world-renowned author/expert/guru coming to your organization for a lecture. Everyone is excited; his/her fame is well established. There’s only one little problem: you saw the expert give a speech at a different convention two months ago and he was deadly dull. In fact, no one was awake by the end of the hour.

What’s my advice?

Cancel the Speech!

But that doesn’t mean you have to cancel the event or the expert’s appearance. Instead, you should consider altering the format. Don’t start with the traditional 45-60 minute speech followed up by 15 minutes of questions from the audience (the audience may have left from boredom by then). A different approach is to simply start off the whole event with questions. Increasingly, I am seeing this format at places like the 92nd Street Y here in New York City, a venue that holds hundreds of major events for speakers each year.

The 92nd Street Y format is to have the guest expert interviewed by a well-known and respected expert, typically a journalist. The questioner is the surrogate for the audience. The questioner has likely read the expert’s latest book, and asks intelligent questions, but the questioner’s knowledge base is closer to the audience’s knowledge on the subject rather than the expert’s. This makes for a more engaging presentation.

Halfway through the allotted time, questions are then thrown open to the audience. More people have a chance to participate this way.

For experts who have not devoted time and attention to the stagecraft of public speaking, this Q and A format is a far superior way to communicate with an audience. Here are ten advantages to a presentation consisting entirely of questions and answers:

1 - It’s harder for the speaker to be boring when answering questions than it is when      they lecture.

2 - It’s easier to focus on examples when responding to questions.

3 - Topics are broken up into more bite-sized, digestible nuggets that are easier to      understand.

4 - It is much easier for the speaker to address concerns that are of immediate and      direct concern to the audience, rather than going on and on in a prepared speech      in an area that is of no concern to the audience.

5 - There is more oral variety hearing the voices of at least 2 people every couple of      minutes.

6 - The audience is much more focused on the event because they have a stake in its      outcome through their questioning.

7 - It’s much harder for a speaker to lose an audience in this format because if there is      confusion, the next question can ask for clarification.

8 - This format negates the need for a speaker to ever read from notes.

9 - This format negates the need of the speaker from ever reading bullet points on a      PowerPoint slide.

10 - When the expert sits down next to the questioner it creates a more comfortable       and relaxed environment for audience and speaker alike.