Is Your Speech Taken Seriously?

One of the most effective ways to get your spoken words taken more seriously is to back them up with text. This works for two reasons:

Most people are too lazy to put their words into text.
By putting your words in text, you create a way for the ideas in your speech to be accessed at anytime, permanently.

This advice seems glaringly obvious when it comes to a candidate running for US President—of course you have written position papers and speeches to hand out to voters, supporters, and the media. But it is also true for much of the day-to-day communication that average people experience.

For example, let’s say you are upset with your stock broker for not executing a trade you requested in a timely fashion. If you call up the broker and complain (a type of mini-speech) over the phone, your broker will most likely listen to you, and then, what? Nothing. Your complaint, your speech, your words disappear—forever.

However, if you restate all of your complaints to your stock broker in the form of a written letter, and then send it to your broker, guess what happens? The broker must, by law, show this letter to his supervisor. Your words, your complaint, is going to live on for quit sometime. Even if the resolution is not to your total satisfaction, at least your concerns will be seen by a lot more people, just because you took words from your phone conversation and put them in to a text-letter.

Creating a paper trail for your spoken words is normally a positive thing to do, anytime you are trying to gain more support for your ideas (unless you are up to something illegal or no good!). When you are dealing with people who work in government or in highly regulated industries, the written word is often given primary importance—so don’t forget that final step when you are planning your speech, pitch, complaint or telephone rant.

More insights from TJ Walker

Bully Pulpits: Speak to the Heart - FDR
Speaking towards the audiences emotions is one of the best ways for a speaker to call people to action.

(More Videos)

Insecurity Breeds Complexity
The insecure Speaker often commits the blunder of dumping data, that leaves their audience confused and overwhelmed.

(More Videos)