Episode 3: Stop Telling Stories. Start Delivering Signature Speeches That Matter

How do you choose your signature speech? If you listen to Episode 2, you heard how Jenn started with her signature story. Today, let's talk about why it's important to stop telling stories and start delivering speeches that matter.

First, you look at your speaking topic(s). 

Then, you determine the relevance of your speech through the lens of UVP. Mindset tip: you may be asking the wrong question here.

This is where the turning point between motivational speaking and professional speaking lies.

Remember who the hero of your speech is, and how to keep them front and center.

Do you know how to turn your story into a speech that gets you booked? Share your thoughts with me.

Resources: Signature Speech template download https://bit.ly/signaturespeak

Have a question or suggestion for a future episode topic? Email me jenn@jennspingo.com.

Ready to deliver mic drop moments in your next presentation? Schedule a call to learn more about coaching www.calendly.com/jennchat

Looking to book a speaker for your corporate or association event on topics including leadership and communication? View my programs at www.jennspingo.com

Transcript

One of the biggest questions my clients ask me is, Jen, how do I choose my signature speech? If you listen to the previous episode, you know, I talked a little bit about how it all began for me. What my signature story was and the difference between a signature story and a signature speech. Today, let's talk about the story of your signature speech versus simply telling stories as part of your speech.

There's a difference, the story of your speech versus telling stories in your speech. Let's talk about the basics of what you're gonna need. In your portfolio as you're getting started in your speaking business, you must have speaking topics. So a speaking topic would be, I speak on leadership and communication.

That is something I offer. So if you're an event planner listening, let's have a conversation. If you were listening to my previous episode of how it all began, you might've heard me tell about how I started in health and wellness. [00:01:00] So my speaking topic was on health and wellness. More specifically weight loss in the health industry.

As you're hearing that, I would love for you to reflect and let me know in the comments what is your speaking topic. The interesting thing about speaking topics are there very general, right? Think of them as the Google test. You go to Google, you type in, how do I become a better leader? You type in how do I get healthy?

Okay. That is what will inform your speaking topics. And most professional speakers have more than one topic. So, for example, if you speak on leadership, there are different elements within leadership. You might think of this as long tail keyword phrases. I'm a data nerd and I've taken courses on how to do SEO, how to do GEO, which is the answer to SEO using ai.

So I know a little [00:02:00] bit about the data and how to be found as someone who's trying to get your name out there as a speaker. So these are some of the tactics we use when it comes to working together on your speaking business. 

But when we're talking about signature topics, your big umbrella first might be leadership.

Now, underneath that umbrella are sub areas of interest. Now, this is where you really shine as a speaker and you must have a unique value proposition. Yes. I'm not making this up. This is marketing speak 1 0 1. Unique value proposition. One of the biggest challenges my clients have is what is my value.

It is what is the unique value proposition of my speech to do you hear the difference there? It's not your unique value proposition as a speaker, it's your unique value proposition. In your speech, before people know who you are as a speaker, [00:03:00] they're gonna be interested in what you're offering in your speech.

So you must become clear when you're getting started on what your unique value proposition in your speech is. Again, we're looking on the macro level of your speaking topic. So for example, if you were speaking on leadership, your unique value proposition of that speech might be leadership through.

Communication styles. Another example might be leadership. As an introverted woman, that's plenty. Other examples might be leadership in challenging times. Now you notice we talked about different types of people who are in leadership.

Another option is different styles of leadership or different. Situations that require leadership. So that's how you get more granular with your leadership topics. That's the unique value proposition of your speech. Now let's talk about how does your signature story go from the loser, which is what I shared from my personal [00:04:00] speech into a business proposition.

This is one of the biggest challenges my clients have. In fact, I've had clients work for months on this one area alone. How do you go from a signature story? To a signature speech. It's a pretty nuanced answer there. So an example of a signature story might be something you would see from a TEDx talk. It might be something you would see on, um, Toastmaster's website for motivational speakers or, um, these people tend to refer themselves as inspirational speakers.

Motivational speakers. You might be seeing them have signature stories or topics and speeches where they want to be heard for their message. I love you. Keep doing the good work you're doing out there in the world. That's not the same as a business speech. That's not the story you're telling within your speech.

Nobody can deny there's value there, but it's a motivational story that doesn't lead people anywhere like they might resonate with you. For example, if you're speaking about, um, being a [00:05:00] domestic abuse survivor, hats off to you for doing that kind of work.

I could never do that kind of work. But if that's what your signature story is on, that may or may not translate to an organization that is trying to get people engaged in the workplace. It's just doesn't fit. It's not something that people in that organization would be looking for. Now, I'm not saying that you can't add value to people who are struggling with domestic abuse or survivors of domestic abuse.

There is a stage for you, no matter what your topic is, but it's a different kind of stage. So in the beginning when I was sharing about being the loser. How I lost all that weight. It took me many years to recognize that there was a turning point within my speech where it became less about my story and my example.

I was not trying to role model anything there, and it came more about how the audience could take that information and do something with it. That is the turning point for your signature story when you know [00:06:00] that you can swap out any story. Within your big story and still have something that adds value to that audience.

That's when you know you've seized upon your signature speech. I'm not gonna leave you hanging. I do have a free resource on your signature speech. Different 

things to look at in terms of organization and ways to engage your audience, including what success looks like for you as a speaker. See the show notes to download that free resource, and let's connect around what that could look like for your particular story.

But what's important here to notice is you can have a signature story and include other stories within your speech that still add value to an audience that may or may not have those particular circumstances that you do. So for example, if I was presenting on how to lose weight, what if everyone in my audience, not a single one of them, had any interest in losing weight?

Sure, I could still talk about healthy eating and that might resonate with some folks. I could still talk about how to move more throughout your day, and [00:07:00] that might resonate with other folks there, but the audience doesn't really care one way or another about losing weight. Then you would be speaking to a lot of audiences who may or may not want to do anything with the information you share.

And again, we don't always know what impact we're having. I'm not telling you to quit. Absolutely do not quit listener. Make sure you're putting yourself out there. 'cause as I said, there's a stage for you. But make sure you're intentional about how your speech helps that audience get to whatever it is they need to get to.

When it comes to a signature speech, you don't have to be clever. You know what your topic is. It's that general umbrella. You know those subtopics, that's the unique value proposition of your speech. Now look at the titles. What is the signature speech title? And here it's not about being clever. If you are too clever, nobody will know what it is you're talking about, and that's the biggest disservice to any of us in the world is nobody knowing what you're talking about.[00:08:00] 

For example, I might have had an acronym in my speech title that made sense to me, but did not make sense to anyone else. It wasn't necessarily helping them get to that next level or understand whether they even wanted to be in that audience with me. So an example of how I turned my title into something that added value to my audience is public speaking for visibility and clients.

Motivational speakers wouldn't necessarily come to my audience for that particular speech because they're speaking to motivate people, to inspire people. They're not speaking, to get visibility and grow their thought leadership and authority. And maybe they don't have any services that they wanna enroll clients into, so that speech is not for them.

You know you've passed the test of, this is my signature speech when it has a very clear value proposition for a very specific audience. Now, I will give you some tips going forward in future episodes [00:09:00] around how to customize your speech title, because let's be honest here, when you're developing your signature speech, you may not have an audience yet, so you will have a title without an audience, and it can be tricky.

Okay, so you wanna keep it general enough so it can apply to different audiences, but specific enough that it addresses a problem. If your signature speech title does not hint at a solution or a promise of a different way of working in the world, then you might still have work to do on that title. I know that feels like a lot to deal with right now, but let's recap what we've talked about today.

We've talked about the difference between a signature story and a signature speech. And the difference there is in the turning point. So do you have a clear turning point within your speech where it goes from your example to something that the audience can wrap their hands around If you have, you're on the right path.

We talked about your general speaking topics, and usually these speaking topics are something that people [00:10:00] are Googling and asking questions around. That's a good time to know that there's a market for that particular topic. We talked about, yes, you can include your signature story within your speech, but eventually your audience wants to be the one who's the hero of the story, not you.

And finally, we talked about how to be clear instead of clever in your signature speech title, if you have found value in today's episode, can you please give me a like and subscribe so that you can continue to receive these episodes into your inbox? In the meanwhile, I will see you on the stage.