What Change Are You Creating with Your Speech?
Every movement and every speech must be moving people away from something, away from something that's in the status quo and towards something else.
We have talked about what you're rebelling against in the status quo of your industry.
What do you want to shake up?
What do you want to change?
What are you rebelling against?
But rebelling isn't enough.
Pointing out that something needs to change isn't going to make your message spread and make a lasting impact.
We saw this with a 99% movement. They rebelled against Wall Street, but they didn't have a vision or plan for how to change the status quo and what it would look like if they changed it.
The movement ultimately fizzled.
The rebellion is the first part of being a speaker who starts a movement with their message, figuring out what is causing people a challenge or a pain that needs to be overcome.
The most important part is you've got to show what people are moving towards in your speech, what is that vision for the future? What's the result? Where are we heading?
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Start with the Individual Audience Member
When you are painting a vision of possibility of where we're moving towards, the first thing to do is to start with the individual audience member.
What result, what change do you want to give to the audience? I have talked extensively about the three types of results that you can create for an audience.
I have a whole guide around this at drmichellemazur.com/result that you can use to figure out what is that change you want to create for that individual audience member.
The best way to describe this to you is by example. One of my clients, Shannon Walsh, is a coach and a speaker. She is a speaker for educators because she was an educator herself. What she has noticed about her industry, about teaching and schools and education is that teachers don't take care of themselves.
They put themselves last on the to-do list.
You might be thinking, “Oh hey Michelle,” so she talks about self-care, big whoop like that's nothing new, but teachers not taking care of themselves is a big problem.
When a teacher is not rejuvenated, not refreshed, not energized, she or he brings that into the classroom.
The students know. The students know when a teacher is struggling with day to day life.
It's a big, big problem, and Shannon wants to solve it.
The way that she solves this at the individual level is she wants to produce a behavior where teachers and educators put their joy first. In fact, the big idea of her movement is #joyfirst, which I love.
What she wants to accomplish for the individuals in her audience is for them to take care of themselves not by just getting a pedicure or a facial, but by doing little things that bring them joy.
Little things that rejuvenate them, that make them happier so that they can be more effective in the classroom. That's the change she wants to give to each member.
What does it mean for the industry as a whole?
Now the second question to ask is yes we've started with the individual audience member, but what does this change mean for an industry as a whole?
If every teacher she speaks to makes this shift to put themselves first, to make sure that they take care of themselves, then what does that mean for her industry as a whole?
If a teacher puts joy first, they show up in the classroom ready and prepared to teach. If you have a better teacher who is more on the ball, students get better outcomes. They learn more because if a teacher is happy, the classroom is happy.
[Tweet “What is your outcome of your speech?”]
Another huge implication for the students is that happy teachers stay in the industry.
So many teachers burn out and leave education, and these are really good teachers who our society needs to be educating our children.
If teachers are leaving the industry, that's a huge challenge to overcome, but if they start putting their joy first, start enjoying their jobs more and taking care of themselves, they are not going to be burned out.
They are not going to be overwhelmed, and schools will become stronger.
Now, this is the reason why she gets hired to speak because schools want to retain good teachers. It makes the school look good and it makes parents want to send their children to that school.
If we have stronger schools and better teachers and better outcomes, well, Shannon is changing the world.
What if you are personal development or a motivational speaker?
What if you are a personal development or motivational speaker? What does this mean for you?
First, I'm going to tell you, drop the motivational speaker from your title and then go listen to my podcast in the five big trends for 2018, because motivational speaking is not where it's at.
Secondly, let's look at someone who has made a big splash. Let's go to one of my favorite examples, Mel Robbins.
Now, Mel is definitely in that personal development/motivational place. Mel is clearly rebelling against something.
Do you procrastinate? I know I do and I know that's something that I've been using Mel's work to help me with.
Mel believes that confidence comes through action even if we don't feel like taking it because we never feel like taking action when we're waiting around to feel confident.
The change that she is giving to the individual audience members is the five-second rules.
What does it mean if everyone in her audience starts taking that action, starts implementing the five-second rule? It means you're more confident, you get more crap done, individual lives improve, and we are bringing our best selves and our best work into the world.
The world, that gets better too.
[Tweet “It’s not enough to just rebel. Where will you lead people?”]
There you have it.
Focus on the individual first and the result you want to produce for them in that speech because that is the critical piece of starting a movement.
Then think through the implications.
If everyone started taking action on your message, how would your industry be different? This will help you get to the change you want to create with your movement.
You don't have to create a movement with your message all on your own. You can go to drmichellemazur.com/speak and book a free 30-minute consultation with me so that you can have that message that you must share that spreads so that you can profit through the impact that you're making. During that call, I'll tell you how we can create that.
It's just not enough to rebel against the status quo. You must know where you're leading people.
