"Find the Reason Behind Every Word"
"Find the reason behind every word" is my speaker coaching motto, and one I share with everyone with whom I coach. Passion, plus an idea, plus the drive to share it, plus the ability to make that happen...all of it can lead to greatness. My job as a coach and guide is to help make that happen through helping the speaker find meaning in every single word they say from the stage.
As the only international speaker coach for TEDxPerth Australia, I get the honor of being part of a team and coaching some truly impactful and powerful speakers for their handful of minutes onstage in Perth. I have worked with speakers who have travelled the world and taken the most incredible photos to capture every subtle nuance of things most of us might otherwise never see.
I have coached a speaker who has a goal of saving the oceans, and might just have figured out how to do it. No big deal right? I have coached someone who asks hard personal questions of strangers, on camera with their permission, and records their heartfelt answers so that we can all see the depth of what we feel as a shared experience with others.
Gaining clarity on one's topic is the first critical step, and then comes the development of the message around that topic. Rehearsal is about preparation and confidence. I can't stress enough how important practice is for any speaker. Make that EVERY speaker, myself included. When we practice, we overcome some of the main fears of public speaking that impede people communicating effectively: fear of failure, a deep anxiety around being judged by the audience, and then the negative thoughts that creep in around forgetting what you're supposed to say. When we visualize success, we can achieve it, and with public speaking its essential to replace negative thoughts with confidence and positive self-affirmations that result from doing the work, the rehearsal, the preparation.
Glossophobia, or a fear of public speaking, is often cited before fear of spiders, heights, and even death in terms of what terrifies people. I never take for granted that speaking is something about which I feel comfortable. I work with people at every stage of their apprehension to be onstage. Some are ready to go. Others would rather be dead on the top of a roller coaster next to a pile of spiders. To each their own, and I meet every speaker where they are, and imagine with them where they need to be.
The pressure TED and TEDx speakers go through, as they bring their message and then as it is crafted and refined through countless hours and revisions - leading up to them being courageous and walking onstage - would make many people apprehensive to even start such an intensive and intimidating process. TEDxPerth is like any major TED-related event. When I did my own TED talk, I was told, "Bring your A-game." TEDxPerth is no exception.
I am not a drill sergeant. It is on the speaker to bring the drive to succeed and then we can get to work from there. Some speakers expect that the coach will do all the work, almost as if I will be going onstage for them. Others are ready and know that its up to them to make it happen. They listen. That's what separates the speakers who will be average from the speakers who will be exceptional. Sometimes its basic things like taking my advice on exercise and stretching before speaking. Other times its taking input on concept and script and internalizing it and making it one's own. For a speaker to succeed, they have to want to say what they have to say, and they have to want to do the work to make it happen.
Then there is Jessica Bailey, who came to me with her concept, life story, and intention, all wrapped up in one powerful statement, “I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.” Her life story is powerful, and her perspectives on it are clear and intentionally focused. She knew what she wanted to say. She had lived it. She was ready to do the work. And she dove in.
She was relentless with her pursuit of greater strength and clarity. I tell every speaker I coach that our goal is to explore that motto, essentially an acting lesson combined with a communication directive: “Find the reason behind every word.” An actor doesn't walk out onstage and make up their own lines on the night of the play. And they also don't deliver the lines without emotion, having only memorized them but not added the heart necessary to bring them to life.
The best speakers recognize that to bring life and passion to the stage, and to do what speakers are supposed to do - share and offer something of real value and connection to the audience - that they need to find each word as if discovering for the first time, the same way we do when we are speaking to a friend. We don't go in with a script in hand. We have intention and a reason to say what we want to say.
Jessica did exactly that. I was simply a passenger on this journey…the person in the seat next to you who says “In two blocks I think you turn left.” After the event, she wrote on her social media accounts and said, "One of the greatest things Greg gave me was autonomy. He never tried to put his words in my mouth or make the talk his. He questioned. He suggested. He challenged me lovingly, and then he allowed me to decide. America to Australia. Zoom calls. Emails. Voice notes. Distance never stopped him from showing up. He taught me that every word must have a reason behind them. And perhaps one of the greatest lessons he gave me was that the audience owes you nothing. Don’t walk onto the stage demanding that they laugh, cry, clap or even agree with you. Let them be neutral. Your responsibility is simply to stand there and 'tell them what you know'. So I did- i told them what i know, and what happened next belonged to the room."
Jessica is the one who drove her incredible speech all the way to a standing ovation from the audience last night in Perth. I am already looking forward to seeing what comes next: both from TEDxPerth and their remarkable curation team, who seem to always find great speakers, and from Jessica too. Jessica most definitely came through and fulfilled her speech title, "I Have Something to Say." Check back with me via my contact page for the release of Jessica’s video from last night. I would very much love for her message to resonate and draw from you the knowledge that you too have something to say. And if you need help crafting that message, you know exactly where to go and who to ask. I will be here, ready and waiting to help you find the reason behind every word.
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