There are two instances when a therapist may have to make a public speech—each requires a different kind of speech. When the therapist speaks before the city council, trying to influence an ordinance, they are using a speech to persuade. If the therapist gives a seminar or talks at a club meeting, they are most likely giving a speech to inform.

The two kinds of speeches have some common elements. The first problem is the Ho Hum Factor. How are you going to break your audience’s inertia and get them interested in what you have to say? You might quote a startling statistic. Or you could tell a story. Our ears naturally click into stories; the audience’s defenses are automatically lowered and suddenly they’re listening.

But then they’ll ask, what do I care about this? So you have to tell them why the topic of your speech concerns them. Speaking to city council, you might say that the new law would generate law suits.

Before you start speaking, look at your audience (this is called “taking the room.”) Do the same thing while you’re speaking. Not only will the audience feel more connected to you as you talk (as opposed to thinking you’re giving a canned address), you can assess them for feedback. If you see several angry, dissenting faces in the crowd, you may decide to elaborate on the point you’re discussing. Don’t be discouraged, though, by unfriendly faces. Those people may be unhappy for entirely different reasons (fight with boyfriend, irritable clerk at the convenience store). Gain confidence from the smiles in the audience. Author and professional speaker Dr. Ken Snyder states that simply by making eye contact, you increase the effectiveness of your speech by at least a factor of five.

A good technique to keep the audience’s attention as you move along is internal paragraphing. Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them.

Jack Welch uses this technique in his book, Winning. He writes there are 5 things to do for this issue. He lists the five, and then goes through each individually in depth. Afterwards, he restates the problem and again lists the five ways to deal with it. If you do this, your audience won’t lose the way you’re thinking about your topic. If you skip this, you may get deep into your speech, thinking you’re being very clear, but somebody else may be wondering, “Why is this person talking about that?”

For example: Tell them what you’re going to tell them: “I am going to explain how massage relieves headache, helps you sleep, relieves muscle stiffness and increases circulation.” Then go into detail explaining each one. After you have told them, tell them what you have told: “Now you understand how massage relieves headache, helps you sleep, relieves muscle stiffness and increases circulation.”

Be aware of volume, velocity and vocabulary as you speak. You want to speak loudly enough so everyone can hear you, including the person way in the back. You want to vary your speed and tone—the easiest way to put the audience into slumber is to use a same-paced monotone (if you do this, have a stirring wake up segment at the end!)

Your delivery will go a long way towards wowing your audience and can even move listeners who aren’t completely with you on the facts. Speak confidently, with no hesitations (except for applause!)

Vividness of language will improve your speech. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech. He spoke of Blacks living in a “lonely island of poverty.” He went on to say,

Putting civil rights in terms of a check and promissory note is a unique way to express the issue. He went on to say the check came back “insufficient funds”—he forwarded his point with a striking metaphor which made his conclusion easy for the audience to remember.

Two techniques to make your speech more effective are repetition and enlarging the issue. By repeating a phrase several times in your speech, you give structure to your address. This gives the audience a place “to hang their hat,” to follow your argument. Martin Luther King, Jr. did this by saying “I have a dream,” describing an element of that hope, and then repeating the phrase before discussing another part. Al Sharpton did it when he again and again invoked “the promise of America.”

Enlarging the issue ties your subject into the bigger picture, making it more important. When President Kennedy spoke on civil rights in 1963, he said “This is not a sectional issue … We are confronted primarily with a moral issue.” Suddenly we’re no longer talking about Black students attending the University of Alabama—we’re into a national, ethical question. That “growing” of his subject made the speech more effective.

If you’re trying to argue something is not very important (such as an error you made), enlarging the issue is very useful. When Newt Gingrich admitted to having an affair while President Clinton was being prosecuted for a similar incident, he attempted to distinguish the two. The issue with Clinton, he said, was not about a woman, it was about lying under oath. That’s enlarging the issue.

You will probably use lots of examples as you seek to show your audience the subject you’re talking about. When you quote a name to make a point in your speech, make sure you get the name right. Robert Allen, a financial self-help guru, was giving a seminar where he referred to the then-head of General Electric as “Bob” Welch. The fact that Allen didn’t know the correct first name of the CEO of the world’s second biggest company hurt his credibility. (Welch’s first name is actually Jack.)

When you quote a source, make sure it’s credible. Robert Allen (again) was talking about home equity and mentioned an article in Reader’s Digest. The Digest is a great publication but not a particular authority on mortgages. He would have done better citing the Wall Street Journal, Fortune or Forbes. On the other hand, if you’re lecturing about how to do a particular massage technique, talking about Massage Today’s research is going to be better than quoting from the Wall Street Journal. The problem here is the listener may think, “That’s the best source he/she can find? It’s not very close to what he’s talking about.” Using an “off point” source for evidence weakens your presentation.

The two main differences between a speech to persuade and to inform are their purpose and the command element. With the first kind of speech, you’re trying to convince the audience to do something—change a law or buy your massage, perhaps. The most important point of a speech to persuade is the command. You have to tell them what it is you want them to do. Al Gore made a film, An Inconvenient Truth, which was essentially a speech to persuade us that global warming is a problem we need to solve—but he never gave the command, never told us to solve it or how to solve it.

For a different approach to telling people what to do, listen to Rev. Al Sharpton’s speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Regardless of whether he convinces you or not, no one was ever in any doubt about what Sharpton wanted you to do (vote for his candidate)—the speech exemplifies the command element of a speech to persuade.

On the 1968 night Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Robert F. Kennedy spoke extemporaneously to a crowd who had not heard the news. In six minutes, he told the audience what had happened and asked them “to return home.” There were riots in over 100 American cities that night but only minor incidents in Indianapolis where Kennedy had spoken. That’s a speech to persuade whose command element succeeded in a big way!

The other kind of speech a therapist might have to give is the speech to inform. Perhaps you’re speaking at a club meeting or Kiwanis or Rotary meeting. Maybe you’re talking at a seminar. In any case, if you’re trying to teach, telling the public about the benefits of massage, then your main purpose is not to persuade them to do something. Instead, it is to inform them. So the command element is not necessary here.

The speech to inform is a good way to implement the NCBTMB’s Code of Ethics: “Accurately inform clients, other health care practitioners, and the public of the scope and limitations of their discipline.”

When President Kennedy told the nation on television in 1962 of missiles in Cuba, he was making a speech to inform. He wasn’t trying to get his audience to do anything. In the second sentence, he began presenting the evidence. He used a portion of the internal paragraph technique by numbering his response to the crisis. He said, “First, to halt this offensive buildup …”. A little later, he noted, “Second, I have directed …” By breaking his speech into seven points, he gave the audience a way to understand and follow his thinking more clearly than if he’d delivered the speech without breaking it points down for them. In The Fog of War documentary about Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam conflict, the same technique was used by breaking the movie into eleven lessons about war.

If you take questions at the end of your speech, you may occasionally get hostile or taunting questions. It is very important that you not respond in kind. When President Clinton introduced Ruth Bader Ginsburg, his nominee for the Supreme Court, to the press, a reporter asked a possibly obnoxious question. The president responded angrily. President Kennedy might have parried the query with humor.

Comedian Jay Leno was heckled early in his career on the Johnny Carson Show. He turned to Carson and said, “This is the kind of kid who sees the cowboy being stalked on TV and who knocks on the set trying to warn the hero.” The audience laughed, Carson smiled and the situation was defused.

That’s it. Overcome the Ho Hum Factor and tell the audience why it cares about your subject. Internally paragraph your speech, using volume, velocity and vivid vocabulary. Enhance your performance with repetition and by enlarging the issue. Quote credible sources. If you’re trying to persuade, don’t forget to command the audience. You’ll have a great speech.