Tips for delivering a serious/solemn speech

Hey all,

Lately I’ve been listening to and reading a lot of sermons, lectures, famous speeches and such, all from the somewhat distant past, and I’ve been incredibly struck by the way speech has evolved over the years. For example, I don't know what it is about today's politicians, youth pastors and students at the High School and College level, but the concept of non-awkward solemnity seems to have passed them by at some point. So, since I had a bit of spare time this evening, I thought I’d jot down some pointers.

In the interested of defining the subject…by “solemnity” I am referring to what is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as an “formal or ceremonious observance of an occasion or event” though for the sake of this post I would expand that definition to include “serious or solemn issues and needs”. In real life this simply means that when the content or context of your speech is solemn you make sure that your speech is also solemn.

At this point you might be saying to yourself “All I have to do is be solemn, right?” That would be correct…sort of. The thing is that delivering a speech is much, much more difficult than it seems, both because it’s more difficult to project what you want to project in a speech than it looks from the audience and because most people fear public speaking more than death itself. Literally! They do, and you probably will once you step up in front of people.

I know many of my friends will have to give a solemn speech at some point (sooner rather than later in most of your cases) be it at school, church or in a competition, so here are a few basics of delivering a solemn/serious speech that I thought I’d put out there for you. Some of these will basically be General Speech 101, but I'm also going to highlight a few basic techniques or methods for delivering the solemn variety of speeches that they may be of some assistance to you.

First, know your subject matter and be substantive. This is seriously Speech 101 but I am convinced that 86.3% of all people who claim some knowledge of Speech are deluded. If you are speaking about genocide in Africa I don’t want to hear “something like”, “approximately” or “I think” as you make your point. Know your facts! Otherwise your audience is going to be wondering to themselves “So, I wonder just how serious this really is?” Oh, and for the record, 87.3% if all statistics are made up on the spot.

Second, keep it short. I know, I know. At this time you are thinking “looks who’s talking!” Trust, me, I have been guilty of this. But I must briefly finish my point. Don’t pontificate, repeat yourself or belabor a point in a speech – ever. When you do people start getting restless, stop listening to you and think “when will this guy stop going on and on about dear old departed Granny?” If your subject matter is solemn/serious than you seriously don’t want to detract from the content of your speech with the length of it.

Third, keep it respectful/dignified. If you are eulogizing dear Grandma at her funeral try and preserve her dignity. Things not to say would include “Grandma had such peace. Even when she contracted leaky bowel syndrome and required extra care, she always had peace”. Uh...yeah…so the solemn speech thing was just shot. A simple “Even in the face of trials Grandma was always at peace with her condition” would suffice. It’s not always inappropriate to say something amusing in a solemn speech - a witty saying of your Grandmother would be appropriate, or a humorous story about that little boy you gave an aid package too could help you to connect your audience to your subject - but when deciding what is appropriate try to replace “jokes” with “humor” or “the humorous”.

Fourth, keep it humble. If you are talking about how mightily God worked on that missions trip your team just went on don’t exaggerate your role. For the sake of the starving children in Africa relying on you to raise money for their cause…keep the “me monster” in check (nothing better than a Brian Regan reference to drive home a point about solemnity!). Your audience doesn’t need to hear all about how hard you worked to get your team to Ghana to save those little boys from a terrible life of slavery on Lake Volta – they need to hear about the life of slavery in store of thousands of little boys in Ghana, connect with Ghana through your experience, know the need and come away with a plan for addressing it. Your pride will only turn them off.

Fifth, mind the posture, stance and face! Many young speech makers scoff at these things and at how seriously experienced Speech givers take them, but it is a big deal and the seasoned folk know of what they speak. Outside of an entirely monotone voice, nothing is more maddening than someone who seems to have whatever phobia is associated with a fear of making eye contact and while a “who cares!” slouch may lend the desired effect to a comedians joke, when you are trying to communicate the social implications of violent video games you want to project a sharp, smart, capable, seasoned and socially fluent persona. You don’t want to be perceived as the socially withdrawn wonkish sloucher. If that doesn’t seem fair like a fair way to judge people just remember that this isn’t about you. It’s about effective communication.

Stay alert, keep your heard up, stand straight, control your facial expressions and make eye contact. As a general rule (there are exceptions of course) a more serious/solemn speech involves reaching out to people and drawing them in with a message or plea (i.e. a speech about child prostitution in Thailand, victims of drug abuse in South LA, what you learned from your Uncle Jim’s fight with cancer, etc.). It’s imperative that you are reaching out to your audience not just with the content of your speech but also your voice and body language. Find that middle aged sympathetic crier in the third row and hold her gaze for several seconds. Catch the gaze of the skeptic in the right row middle while driving home a point. You get the point.

Oh…and do NOT put your hands in your pocket! Ever!

Anyway, that about wraps it up. I’ll leave the details of proper hand gesturing to the real pro’s, but for he time being some of this will hopefully be of some aid to a few of you. :-)

Btw, Darrin, who’s too lazy to write more than a thousand words now? :-P

God bless!

Hello!

Hello all!

I have been using Wordpress to publish my articles for a while now, but I am not entirely satisfied with the features they offer. So, seeing that some of my friends using Blogspot were able to obtain features that I have not been able to obtain, I decided I'd give Blogspot a try. :-)

I look forward to blogging here and hope you'll join me for the experience! If I move to a different spot on the net I'll be sure to let you know.

Take care!