Make Marketing Suck Less

Public Speaking Pet Peeves: Being a "me too" speaker

Do you ever get the feeling of Deja Vu?

The sense you’ve already experienced a situation before.

I get that all the time when I watch a speech.

All of the sudden I’m thrust into an example of how Apple is the most innovative company in the world or Steve Jobs is the speaker we MUST emulate or I’m listening to the damn starfish story (I know it made a difference to that one – how about making a difference to me and never telling that story again).

Now we are down to the pet peeve I hate the most. It’s a waste of time to your audience, and it is a waste of time to you because it does nothing to position you as a speaker in a category of your own.

If you only make changes in ONE of the five areas of pet peevishness I have suggested, make it HERE, I beg you.

Pet Peeve #5: Being a “me too” speaker

A “me too” speaker simply recycles the ideas of others, diligently cites their sources, but doesn’t really add to their own ideas to the conversation.

These are the types of presentations that anyone could give. Seriously, I could totally tackle you, steal your microphone and give the entire speech myself, if it’s a “me too” speech no one will ever know the difference.

A “me too” presentation does nothing to position you or  your expertise.  It does nothing to help you, stand out in the sea of other speakers who speak on the exact same topic. You become part of the echo chamber. Your presentation is a commodity.

A “me too” speech is a wasted opportunity that makes Michelle feels ranty when she sees it.

Remarkable presentations go beyond recycling other people’s ideas and instead build upon those ideas.

Take a lesson from the rule book of Improv, by adding “yes and” to the ideas of the great thinkers who came before you.

[Tweet “Remarkable presentations go beyond recycling other people’s ideas and build upon those ideas.”]

After all, those great thinkers were “yes anding…” the ideas of other people that came before them or combining multiple ideas to make something new.

There are no new completely ideas, but that doesn’t mean you have to fall into the trap of being a “me too” speaker. There are always new combinations, new twists, and a new way to “yes and” your speech into a noteworthy talk.

The next time you’re citing a quote of a famous thinker ask yourself – “How can I add to this? What twist can I put on it that extends this idea?”

There it is, my final of the pet peeves. If you want to transform your speaking from “me too” to developing a speech that only YOU could give,  then maybe your presentation can use a bit of rehab so that you create the best experience for your audience and  leave them talking and dying to take action.