I’m going to do a series of blogs on the basics of public speaking in honor of the Fall, the presidential campaign, and my new book, Trust Me:  Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, coming out in December from Jossey-Bass.  So here goes with the first 'basic' of giving great speeches. 

Speeches should be about one thing.  No more.  You should be able to sum up your presentation in one sentence – the elevator speech.  We must remain strong to fight communism, promote peace, and improve the economy at home.  That’s a one-sentence summary of President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address.  Help me work toward realizing my dream of racial equality.  That’s the elevator speech for the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” oration. 

You get the idea.  Great speeches – successful speeches – confine themselves to one clear message.  And this is not a message like some company’s anodyne vision statement.  It should have a real point of view, emotion, and involve the audience in some way. 

The great weakness of many political and business speeches is that they try to do too much.  They lack clarity and punch, because the speaker won’t confine him- or herself to one topic and one point of view.  Politicians want to bond with as many people as possible, naturally, and so must constantly fight the temptation to try to be all things to all people.  Or they take the laundry list approach, figuring that a speech that goes on forever will have something for everyone in it. 

Business people suffer from the same temptations and have to fight the same battles.  Both groups also often want to avoid offense to some faction, and so make their language fuzzy in an effort to anger no one.  In so doing, they usually manage to confuse everyone. 

If you can’t summarize your talk in one clear sentence, you’re not ready to speak.  Figure out your elevator speech and get back to us.