tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post5485558378747605111..comments2023-12-10T16:30:24.965+00:00Comments on Max Atkinson's Blog: To read or not to read? That is the question for speechwriters - or is it?Max Atkinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06163447049027217653noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-38825067358372980272012-03-07T16:40:37.380+00:002012-03-07T16:40:37.380+00:00My take on authenticity is this: we perform severa...My take on authenticity is this: we perform several roles in our life, and even if I'm a politician who likes to wear pyjamas at home, I'm not less authentic if I wear formal attire on stage. another setting, different rules. So if my role is to make things right for the community, my task is to convince others to believe and follow me. that hardly can be achieved in my pyjamas, even if I like wearing them a lot and they (i think) look good on me. so i better use any public speaking techniques that make my case and make them sound authentic on me rather that imposing my "pure me" to others.Neringa Vaisbrodenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-65546416626882886342012-03-05T18:37:58.267+00:002012-03-05T18:37:58.267+00:00Max, here's the rub. While the "wing it&q...Max, here's the rub. While the "wing it" crowd cited the "stevenotes" that Steve Jobs used to present at the Worldwide Developers Conference, and the "read it" crowd cited his Stanford commencement address, most expert observers agree that he was actually operating from a written script in both cases (in fact, Carmine Gallo wrote a book about it). <br /><br />The difference was that, for a "stevenote," jobs would begin with a script and then over a course of several weeks he would digest it -- first to paragraph thesis statements, then to bullet points, and then to single words (in later years he appears to have gone even a step further and associated the upcoming images on his Keynote monitor to remind him of the next element in his script.<br /><br />I remind speakers of that when they tell me, "Oh, I'll just speak off the top of my head," or "I'll speak from slides." <br /><br />The difference between memorising a speech and winging it is the difference between wearing vertical stripes (to appear thin) and going on a diet. In either case, the method involving willpower and preparation will invariably result in a superior product.Tom Morriseyhttp://www.tommorrisey.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-2145221942875638902012-03-05T17:33:41.812+00:002012-03-05T17:33:41.812+00:00At risk of adding more fuel to the debate - too ma...At risk of adding more fuel to the debate - too many people have suggested they woudl rather hear a well constructed speech read out aloud rather a speaker turning his back and using PowerPoint badly. Well i agree with them all. And I disagree with their argument as well. It is not either/or. Reading a script or using PowerPoint is as limited a choice as the Monty Python Spam menu! A good speaker can have on the lectern or in his hand some well crafted notes that enable him to speak well to an audience. It is neither reading (as the bulk of the content is semi-impromptu but with a structure) nor does it require PowerPoint (but can go alongside it). A good speaker using notes is as authentic as it can be without a boundaries of content management. The speech writing skills are still required when formulating the content, and then further developed during the speech. That is what makes a great speaker in my humble opinion.Ian Pricehttp://www.businesstrainingdirect.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-55259952029029853992012-03-02T11:47:36.669+00:002012-03-02T11:47:36.669+00:00I had a number of presentation courses, but as the...I had a number of presentation courses, but as they were given by a consultancy it was more about fitting inside their "model" than actually presenting well. I freed myself from this misery using 3 principles:<br /><br />1 - *I* talk, and it's about what I know/think/see. This means that my notes contain structure and timing rather than knowledge - at most there will be a turn of phrase I like to bring out (the press needs quotes to report). I would be interested in training myself to work from a script, but I also know I will deviate from it as my speaking also involves a degree of audience sensing. You can't 100% plan this ahead of time.<br /><br />2 - I talk in freedom. My pet hate is people hiding behind table and lecterns - I prefer to wander around, and most audiences seem to prefer that too. So whatever I use to guide the speech must support this mobility. I prefer cards for this, also because of reason 3:<br /><br />3 - assume nothing works. My principal area of operation besides privacy management is in crisis management and recovery, so it's part of my psyche to plan ahead for failure. This means that any media has at best a supporting role.<br /><br />Your discussions seem to simply be a back-and-forth on the one variable you have to plan for: your speaker's nature. If they can make a text fully their own, respect to them. If they can't you have to leave them the margin to be themselves (I'd be a prime example of that). Both can result in a speech that SOUNDS authentic.<br /><br />Authenticity is an impression. You only have control over the delivery, not over the reception.<br /><br />Thank you for the debate - I find it very interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-76485060278631576592012-03-01T21:49:19.976+00:002012-03-01T21:49:19.976+00:00Max
As one of your Prophets of Doom I have replie...Max<br /><br />As one of your Prophets of Doom I have replied here:<br /><br />http://charlescrawford.biz/blog/speechwriting-and-spontaneity<br /><br />That links to my further thoughts at HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/charles-crawford/down-with-speechwriting-u_b_1313075.html<br /><br />Alan Barker's comment nails it!Charles Crawfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01683347936698720341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-24577215643349686372012-02-28T21:54:44.283+00:002012-02-28T21:54:44.283+00:00Thanks for inviting me to weigh in on this one, Ma...Thanks for inviting me to weigh in on this one, Max. Great post and, as always, you make us think!<br /><br />My take on authenticity is similar to that of Neil Harvey Smith. However, I believe it starts with Intention. Similar to values, intention is what guides a person's actions. It's an aim that is an unconscious filter for what we say. Communication that is framed through a clear intention will be genuine and authentic whether it is read or ad-libbed. The greatest speakers have clear intention aligned with content and both aligned with delivery. <br /><br />Alignment with delivery, however, means knowing what you are saying, connecting with it. A speaker can be disconnected from her words whether reading or not, so delivery that is aligned with intention and content is connected! Saying words so that they sound like what you are saying makes them sound authentic, although when you aren't used to doing that, it can feel dramatic. Funny, isn't it??!Kate Petershttp://www.katepeters.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-68980960813005126902012-02-28T19:32:28.317+00:002012-02-28T19:32:28.317+00:00Excellent post Max, and great points Alan and Neil...Excellent post Max, and great points Alan and Neil. I believe that Alan is on point in terms of the usage of authenticity when the proper word would seem to be sincerity. Delivering an address that the speaker has had little to no input in putting together is a recipe for an underwhelming speech, as is speaking extemporaneously without preparing properly. I would be remiss if I did not mention Ken and his well-delivered point regarding PPT, as we have all been subjected to watching a presenter’s back as he or she quite literally reads the slide, verbatim, into the screen.Matt Eventoffhttp://www.princetonpublicspeaking.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-39947929163156571892012-02-28T16:18:57.458+00:002012-02-28T16:18:57.458+00:00Neil Harvey-Smith has just posted the following on...Neil Harvey-Smith has just posted the following on his blog at wp.me/p1xv8O-1c -reproduced here with his permission, for which thanks.<br /><br />AUTHENTICITY - A RESPONSE TO MAX ATKINSON<br />Max Atkinson’s blog is one of the very best of its kind – informative, passionate and relentlessly sound on the dumbing down of news. I recommend it.<br /><br />I am a huge believer in the importance of authenticity in verbal communication and I use the concept a great deal. In his new post, to read or not to read, Max calls authenticity ”the most worrying buzzword of the day” and says “I doubt if I’m alone in remaining unclear about what exactly it’s supposed to mean – other than different things to different people.”<br /><br />I hope I can reassure him – and other professional speechwriters in fear of their livelihoods – that authenticity is a quality needed whether you are talking off the cuff, using notes or reading a script. While I can’t control how others use the term, I want to suggest that it should not be used as a synonym for “unwritten” or “extemporaneous”, any more than the ‘real you’ is the bleary-eyed grouch who falls out of bed in the morning.<br /><br />Authenticity is about bringing a person’s character, values and personality to their presentation. A nervous wreck, stumbling through random thoughts connected only by “um” and “er”, is no more an authentic presenter than a corporate droid speed-reading paragraphs off a pile of A4.<br /><br />With practice and confidence, extemporaneous speeches can be highly authentic because speech patterns tend to be most natural, moments of humour spontaneous, and illustrations genuine visualised connections not pre-prepped metaphorical cliches.<br /><br />But notes can aid the presenter. Maintaining structure, ensuring key moments are phrased carefully, being accurate in using quotations can all improve an authentic performance if they are used as a support, rather than a crutch. Notes fail when there is an uncomfortable disconnect between the unscripted parts, delivered like a man chatting at a barbecue, and the scripted parts, delivered in the hesitant monotone of an 8-year-old reading the Old Testament at school assembly.<br /><br />A fully written speech can be highly authentic. Max uses the famous Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address as a terrific example of a powerful speech read off the page. But look at the subject matter. It deals with extraordinary personal episodes in Jobs’ life and the lessons he drew from them. His voice is clear, his pace measured and the listener can feel the genuine emotion behind each incident. It is brilliantly written AND authentic – it brings the man’s character, personality and values to the presentation.<br /><br />Each of us can benefit from digging beneath our workplace persona and revealing something of the real person beneath. I don’t mean starting your pitch with a tangential story about Barney the dog’s trip to the vet. I do mean talking in natural speech patterns, working in appropriate real-life examples, talking about how you feel about things, making us feel that we know who you are. That is authenticity. It is the good speechwriter’s friend.Max Atkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06163447049027217653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-17761766038201944072012-02-27T21:15:22.182+00:002012-02-27T21:15:22.182+00:00A very interesting discussion. I was sorry to miss...A very interesting discussion. I was sorry to miss the conference and learning that this very interesting issue came up makes me more so.<br /><br /> My hunch is that the critics confused authenticity and sincerity. Authenticity - a much devalued word - probably means 'coming across on telly well'. Nobody being normal comes over well on TV; it's a very artificial medium. So, in fact, what the criticis want is people to be sufficiently inauthentic to come over well on TV.<br /><br />Sincerity on the other hand is about the words. It involves presenting reasons that others can accept and share (that's a key term) with the one providing them.. It requires the right tone in language, appropriate to the situation (decorum is the term the Romans used, but its also what Kenneth Burke means when he refers to 'identification'). And it also requires an argument of some kind which the speaker wants to share. If the speaker knows what they mean, and explains what they mean sensibly and in terms congruent with the audience then they will be judged sincere.<br /><br />All of which is just a way of saying that ethos, pathos and logos should all work together. That this ancient insight has been forgotten by a lot of politicians (and that they might want to push it away even more, by getting rid of the speechwriter) is very depressing indeed.Alan Finlaysonhttp://www.britishpoliticalspeech.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-63183882265535613582012-02-27T14:03:35.944+00:002012-02-27T14:03:35.944+00:00An interesting conversation developing here.
Rhet...An interesting conversation developing here.<br /><br />Rhetoric has been dogged, hasn't it, throughout its history, with the reputation of falseness. The word these days is 'authenticity'. Can a performance be authentic? <br /><br />Great to see one of the recent comments from a coach using theatre techniques: as an ex-actor, I naturally see good performance as authentic. But the fact remains that, for many public speakers, delivering a speech *feels* inauthentic: embarrassing, false, unnatural.<br /><br />So, then: another paradox (to complement Ken Norman's!). Audiences demand more authenticity from speakers; speakers standing before an audience feel inauthentic. What can we do? (I'm talking as a coach or trainer, now...)<br /><br />I think the answer came later in the conference, from Phil Collins. <br /><br />Someone asked him how Ed Miliband might improve his speaking. Collins answered that the problem was not that Miliband spoke poorly; it was that he has nothing to say. 'What Ed needs,' he said (I'm paraphrasing slightly), "is a philosopher."<br /><br />Maybe *that's* how we release a speaker's authenticity: by finding what it is they most want to say, and then helping them to say it more eloquently. The key is to articulate an idea that the speaker is passionate about.<br /><br />When passion is allied to an idea, the audience senses authenticity. And, perhaps, the speaker also feels it.<br /><br />I expand on all this here: http://justwriteonline.typepad.com/distributed_intelligence/Alan Barkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-7481739597532106642012-02-27T12:14:03.351+00:002012-02-27T12:14:03.351+00:00Hi Max
Great post. I do agree with your point tha...Hi Max<br /><br />Great post. I do agree with your point that it is far better to see someone reading a good speech well than stumbling around or using PowerPoint. I actively encourage people away from PP whenever possible as it's so badly used, most of the time. <br /><br />I agree about being able to maintain eye contact whilst reading a full script. It is absolutely possible to do this so well that people entirely forget you are reading something. <br /><br />(I've adapted a theatre technique to help public speakers sound natural when reading a script. If interested it's here: http://talkaboutspeaking.com/how-to-sound-really-natural-when-delivering-a-fully-scripted-speech/)Cordelia Ditton (@DillyTalk)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-57391321498292794542012-02-24T19:00:58.184+00:002012-02-24T19:00:58.184+00:00Thanks for this, Ken. And very good point about di...Thanks for this, Ken. And very good point about dispensing with PowerPoint on the grounds that most speakers don't use it well.<br /><br />Didn't mention that one of the presentations at the conference had some of the most awful PowerPoint slides you could imagine - essays written in fonts so small that no one could read them even if they'd wanted to - and we were left to guess at what possible connection there might be (if any) between the slides and what they were talking about.<br /><br />Worst of all, the offenders were university teachers - which confirms my ongoing worries about how much damage has been done to higher education by PowerPoint since I left the said profession more than 25 years ago (when chalk & talk was already under fire from overhead projectors)...Max Atkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06163447049027217653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3553440626649035970.post-57096944183171180362012-02-24T16:50:07.924+00:002012-02-24T16:50:07.924+00:00Great blog, thank you.
I totally agree. I'd M...Great blog, thank you.<br /><br />I totally agree. I'd MUCH rather watch someone read well from a well written speech than tuning their back on the audience to read out loud from poorly written PowerPoint slides. This seems to be the default position for most of the speakers I see.<br /><br />To dismiss Speech Writing because some people don't deliver well would be like dispensing with PowerPoint on the basis MOST don't use it well. (actually now I've typed that it does have some appeal as an idea!)<br /><br />A well crafted speech is a rarity and is always a privilege to hear regardless of the quality of delivery skills employed. <br /><br />As far as "authenticity" is concerned surely the paradox is that if you "work" on it surely by definition you become inauthentic. <br /><br />Give me a speaker who has clearly thought hard about her message, her audience and invested some time in writing a decent speech over somebody who has saved themselves some time by creating a PowerPoint auto-cue for themselves.Ken Normanhttp://newtrickstraining.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com