I find public speaking difficult. No matter how much effort I put in behind the scenes ranging from drafting and re-drafting overheads to rehearsing the words during a walk. But I still get very nervous and my speech can end up like a Dalek on steroids !
YouTube is a good source for learning about public speaking from a wide range of excellent speakers( for examples see John Cleese on Creativity, TED Talks, and Brian Walden’s Talk on Heroes ), in particular the impressive way they “work the audience”. Recently, I stumbled across an unexpected source to study, a clip with the great bluesman BB King playing a gig in Sing Sing , one of New York’s state maximum security prison, and his performance followed the key elements of making a good public speech.
Conditions in New York state prisons had been deteriorating during the late sixties and early seventies reaching its lowest point in 1971 when there was a riot at Sing Sing ( Sing Sing got its name from the Native American tribe “Sinck Sinck” (or “Sint Sinck”), who the land was bought from in 1685) prison and 43 people were killed. Against this background David Hoffman in 1972, a film and documentary maker, had been working with prisoners in Sing Sing to make a documentary when he organized a Thanksgiving Day concert, which included BB King and Joan Baez. The following YouTube clip shows BB King starting his section of the concert with the song How Blue Can You Get:
You can’t fail to be drawn into the performance. So what can be learned ?
First know your audience, and why they are attending, in this case the gig ( or in our case a meeting, presentation, conference etc ). In other words what are their expectations. Of course in BB Kings’ case most of the audience didn’t want to be in prison; therefore turning up for the gig they would have been looking for entertainment to relieve the tedium.
Next is to catch the attention of the audience, and then hold it. BB starts his section with a few jokes that makes a link between himself and the audience. He then quietly plays a solo on his beloved guitar Lucille that settles the audience down and draws their attention to the stage. The song that he plays has a direct contact with the audience; it touches on life outside of prison. He then pulls the audience further into the performance, by play acting the role of the woman in the song.
The last point that can be taken from the video clip is to continue pulling the audience into the performance. The song builds up in three stages with a ‘punch line’ at each stage. This continues to draw in the audience step by step. Any comedian couldn’t have improved on the delivery of the final punch line, and the resulting audience reaction is a riot of cheering and laughter.
In summary: know your audience – why are they there and what is there expectations, grab their attention and hold onto it, and finally build up their interest until the final few lines are memorable. BB King had refined his showmanship over many years, which gives the final point. Although public speaking is difficult it is important to keep going; presenting different material to a wide range of audiences in different venues, and grow in confidence by learning from each event.