How do you inspire people with a speech?

I ran across this list of the 50 most inspiring movie speeches (warning: language and mature themes) and it inspired me to think about what makes a great movie speech – and to figure out the lessons for great speechmaking in general.  So here, in time for the holiday weekend, are my 5 lessons for creating similar inspirational moments.  

1.  The stakes must be high. 

Many of these speeches come before a battle where the lives of the tribe, the country, or the species are at stake.  To inspire people, pick your moment.  Life and death is best; life and death of your organization is next best.  It's hard to inspire people about 3Q earnings unless you're on the brink. 

2. What's at stake must be clear. 

Inspirational speeches don't thrive on the nuances of morality or human behavior.  Rather, they focus on clear issues of right and wrong, competition – us v. them – and winning or losing.  When you want to inspire, go for the black and white. 

3.  The inspirational speech must be short. 

The longest of the speeches here is 8 minutes.  Most are 2 – 4 minutes.  It's difficult to sustain the fever pitch for very long.  So, if you're giving a longer speech, save the inspiration for the end.  That's all anyone will remember anyway. 

4.  The inspirational speech must be emotional. 

This one should be obvious – doesn't inspiration = emotion? – but especially in the business world, clients tell me all the time that they're uncomfortable with emotion.  They don't want to "go there."  If you want to inspire, you have to tug at the emotions.  It can't be done any other way.  Figure out what the emotional ride is that you want to take your audience on and commit to it.  Fully.  That's what the speech is about. 

5.  Finally, it helps to have a soundtrack.   

Robin Williams can deliver heartfelt emotion without music, as he does in Good Will Hunting, but most of the other clips have a stirring musical soundtrack underneath the actor's lines.  Music takes a shortcut to our emotions and activates them faster and more reliably than words.  So, at the very least, add some walk-in music to your speeches. 

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Original Page: http://publicwords.typepad.com/nickmorgan/2011/09/how-do-you-inspire-people-with-a-speech.html

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