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THE SEVEN MINUTE STAR

become a great speaker in 15 simple steps

Florian Mueck

Copyright © 2010 by Florian Mueck

Cover artwork, illustration & composing by www.navarra-design.com 

published by: epubli GmbH, Berlin, www.epubli.de

ISBN 978-3-8442-2983-7

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, write to the publisher, at: info@thesevenminutestar.com.

www.thesevenminutestar.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing the first book is an incredibly enriching experience and a great opportunity for self reflection. I would like to send out some special thank-yous to the following people who helped me bring The Seven Minute Star to life:

Special Thanks to Arthur Waters and Claude Desroches for their outstanding work on the editing side.

Special Thanks to Bart Navarra and his team for giving the book its unique design.

Special Thanks to Christoph Reisner and Sven-David Müller for helping me on the publishing side.

Special Thanks to Trent zum Mallen for his everlasting encouragement.

Special Thanks to Andi Kaim, Roman Rosete ten Pas, Ryan Slack, and JK Wasson for their constructive criticism.

Special Thanks to all my fellow Toastmasters from Prestigious Speakers Barcelona - you guys are phenomenal!

Special Thanks to Team Europe Ventures, Tony Anagor, and ESEI for their great collaboration in the educational arena.

Special Thanks to Harry Beckwith for inspiring me with his marketing classic Selling the Invisible (1997).

Special Thanks to Luis Walter for always believing in me.

Special Thanks to my family and my Dadt: "You are the star of my life!"

for Rose

THE CATS MEOW

New Orleans — jazz, Mardi Gras — the historic French Quarter, and the vibrant nightlife! I dived into it when I stopped over on a road trip in 1995. Cats Meow, on Bourbon Street, is a famous karaoke bar. I stood in the crowd admiring the people who dared to step out onto the stage, into the spotlight in front of the raucous crowd. I wanted to sing too, so very much! But — I just couldn’t. I was terrified by all those critical eyes out there, staring, judging, sometimes admiring but sometimes booing. I suffered from what we all suffer from: I suffered from stage-fright!

Now it’s fifteen years later, and I speak at weddings, at parties, at business meetings. I write songs and perform them. I have created my own public speaking seminar that’s both educational and entertaining. And my role as primus inter pares of The Festival, a European movement of which I am the initiator and co-founder, often requires that I give informative and inspiring speeches to a wide variety of people, and to different audiences all the time. And I love it! I constantly look for new opportunities to be a star - The Seven Minute Star.

You’re not looking to be a star? Not for a lifetime? Not for a few years? Not even for just a few months, or weeks, or days? Not even for — seven minutes?

Fine. No problem. I didn’t write this to turn you into a star — but I do mean for this book to inspire you, so sometimes you can feel like a star.

So — A Seven Minute Star? What the heck is that, anyway? Well. what is a star? A star is someone with charisma, with a positive attitude, an engaging spirit, enthusiasm, passion. People admire stars. We celebrate them.

And seven minutes? Seven minutes is the best amount of time for a public speech. There are one hour speeches, 30 minute speeches, and TED¹ talks of 20 minutes, but normally it takes about seven minutes until the first few people in the audience, usually the ones in the last three rows, start to fall asleep. Seven is king!

Stars and public speakers have a lot in common — so whenever you get up to make a speech, to any audience of any size, you will be The Seven Minute Star. And if you follow the steps I offer you in this little book, you too will be able to speak, even for 45 minutes, without anyone falling asleep.

THANK YOU, RALPH!

So How Did It Happen?

The answer goes back to the year 1924, when Ralph C. Smedley founded Toastmasters in Santa Ana, California. Today it is Toastmasters International, with local clubs nearly everywhere, all around the world. Toastmasters has changed my life; it has transformed me into an outgoing, extroverted and passionate public speaker — I enjoy what I speak about, and I also simply enjoy the act of speaking in public.

My introduction to Toastmasters came in 2005, when a friend invited me to a meeting of Prestigious Speakers, a local chapter in Barcelona. I signed up right away. “Wow,” I thought, “these people are moving from just plain smart to being so brilliant, they’re almost like Aristotle!”

Toastmasters emphasizes learning by doing, and you do it with people you like. You’ll learn

how to speak;

how to move your body;

how to vary your voice, so the people in the last row won’t fall asleep;

how to use supporting visual aids — what we call props;

how to include catchy anecdotes, quotations, and humor;

how to maintain eye contact with the entire audience;

how to structure a speech;

how to keep your allotted time by speaking less while still making your point; and

how to engage your audiences enthusiastically.

You’ll turn into a passionate speaker, and you’ll always have your greatest asset on display: your smile!

This book, The Seven Minute Star, is a collection of my own personal experience gleaned not only from spending four years with Toastmasters, but also from applying its lessons in the real world. This book is experience-driven, and offers practical tips and tricks on how to master those seven minutes on stage.

There’s a star in each and every one of us — we just have to prepare ourselves, and let that star step out into the spotlight.

I will definitely return to New Orleans, and when I do, I’ll head straight for the Cats Meow. I’ll climb right up onto the stage, take a deep breath, calm myself, and look deeply into everyone’s eyes. Then — with passion — I will sing: “Start spreading the news...”

So, Thank you, Ralph! You helped me change my life.

FIFTEEN SIMPLE STEPS

So here we are - YOU are about to become The Seven Minute Star — and in just 15 simple steps!

All 15 steps are autonomous learning blocks. If your goal is only to become starlet rather than a fully-fledged seven minute star, you could apply any one of these steps individually, and your speaking style will improve correspondingly.

But of course the secret lies in climbing up all 15 steps, up to the stage, elevating your speaking abilities, growing and expanding, so you’ll shine in the spotlight.

The first two steps — confidence, transparency — are the foundation of your performance. You need these basic principles to climb up further.

With the third step — your first sentence — you’ll create that indispensable link of tension between yourself and your audience.

Steps four through seven — eye contact, voice, body language, visual aids — keep that tension high and guarantee that no one in your audience falls asleep.

Steps eight to eleven — structure, rhetoric, anecdotes, quotations — gives your audience the impression that what they have heard was more than informative, but has actually been profound.

To make your speech truly memorable, though, you need to continue with steps twelve to fourteen — humor, enthusiasm, passion. And the final step, both the simplest and the most difficult, the most obvious and the most important, is your smile.

Once you’ve climbed up all 15 steps, you’ll be standing on the stage ready for the spotlight. For seven minutes you’ll feel like a star. Indeed, you’ll be a star, and it will be unforgettable.

So what are you waiting for — let’s get started!

STEP ONE

The Cat And The Dogs

Imagine you’re a cat. Imagine also — you’re giving a speech to an audience of 500 Rottweilers. The term “hostile audience” would have to be redefined! Yet you take on the challenge. You are even thrilled to do it. You step up on stage. The snarling and barking crowd down there might cause you some concern, but rather than being scared, you feel inspired; you’re even more enthusiastic, because you know what you have to say is important. You cut through the sound of hostility with a roaring “Meow,” and with a firm voice you begin to purr. You are the cat’s meow! You can do it because, from your whiskers to the tip of your tail, you are filled with a wonderful essence, the most important quality any public speaker can have: confidence.

Search your memory — remember the last time you saw someone speaking in public. Can you picture the scene? Good. Now, how did the speaker look? Nervous? Tense? A little coughing? Did the speech begin with a long and disturbing “Aahhh — Ummmm” before an “OK, well...” got added, for variety? Was the room still noisy when the speech began? Did the speaker look at the floor, or off to the side, or over everybody’s head?

That Darn Stage-Fright!

Stage-fright is one of those things, like fleas, that nobody really needs. Where does it come from? When I was in college, why couldn’t I sit in a group of students and just say, “Hi, I’m Florian, I study Business Administration, and I’m here today to find a great employer, ” without suffering from a dry mouth, sweaty palms and high blood pressure?

Once I attended a seminar about moderating discussions given by my friend Bernhard Pelzer from Hamburg. He explained that, when you’re leading a discussion in a larger group, you should always focus on sub-groups of five. This is because a very long time ago we would be sitting in the trees in groups of - you guessed it - five! So, when we were still covered with fur, five was the crucial number. This is now written deep in our brains, in our cerebellum.

But, thanks to Charles Darwin, we did climb down from the trees; we evolved. From that moment on, down from the trees and out in the open, our cerebellum learned to distrust any group of strangers — especially those larger than five; it tells you: “Those guys over there most likely want to kill you. Shut your mouth and get outta here! NOW!” So the last thing your cerebellum wants you to do out there in the meadow is to open your mouth and say, “Hey guys, how are you doing?”

This hasn’t changed. When I was thirteen, I had to perfom a clarinet concert before a large, intimidating, and (to me at least) even menacing audience of 300. I almost wet my pants. I can still hear my cerebellum yelling: “Run away — NOW!”

Dear Future Master Speaker: Although this feeling may be real, even hard-wired in, surrendering to it Does Not Work — not for you, not for anyone! Audiences don’t want to look at a fearful, anxious creature nearly overcome by nerves. That is exactly what they do not want to see.

You Are The Star

Most of the times we speak in public, there is some sort of stage. You, as a speaker, will stand on that stage, standing up above everyone else, who will be looking up at you. Do you know why stars are called stars? Because we look up at them in the sky. And your audience will be looking up to you. While you are speaking, YOU ARE THE STAR!

Practice, Practice, Practice

I may not be a cat, but sometimes I have felt rather like that cat up in front of an audience of 500 Rottweilers. But now I feel that I can gather up all their leashes into my little paw and pull on them. It establishes a sort of tension between my audience and myself. It puts me in control, and gives me an exhilarating feeling of confidence.

This feeling, confidence, is what has let me say good-bye to stage-fright, so today, I consider every speech an opportunity, not a threat. I love to deliver my personal knowledge to my audiences. I am thrilled to go up there both to educate and to entertain people. Sometimes I even start a speech with a little rapping — and I am definitely not Eminem.

The river of my life has flowed unbroken, from the time I played the clarinet, past my time at the university, all the way through to today. Sometimes it’s been torrential, other times calm, sometimes threatening to overflow its banks, sometimes nearly dried up. This river of time is really experience. And if you want to move beyond your fear and gain confidence, then you must jump right in. Practice, practice, practice! Whenever you can, whenever you have the chance, just speak right up and say: “Here I am! I will speak. Let me speak — NOW!”

Go ahead and sing in dark, shady karaoke bars — and do the best possible thing for yourself: join a nearby chapter of Toastmasters!

STEP TWO

Diving Into Ice-Cold Water

Jack Lemmon once said: “If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable. You must reach the emotional and intellectual level of ability where you can go out stark naked, emotionally, in front of an audience.”

$15 For Crying

I love this quotation. I believe that at some point great speakers automatically become actors. The speaker, just like the actor, evokes emotions in the audience. When Leonardo DiCaprio froze to death in the ice-cold water of the Atlantic, people all over the world cried waterfalls. They paid up to 15 bucks just so they could have a chance to cry. Positive or negative emotions, happiness and sadness: it’s all about connecting with your audience on an emotional level.

Your Weakness Is Their Weakness

Now let me ask you a question: How can you expect to touch your audience’s heart if you do not, yourself, open up? An emotional refrigerator will never evoke any reaction in the audience. Yes, they will say, it was an OK speech, technically — but that’s not even close to the Wow! effect.

Many people have a great deal of difficulty with transparency. Too many times I’ve heard someone say: “Yes, yes, but I can’t open up too much — it could be dangerous for me.”

I say, they’re only afraid it would be dangerous. When they say this, they’re giving in to their fear — and if you live in fear, you’ll never get anywhere.

Look, what kind of people do you think are sitting down there in the audience? Exactly! Human beings, normal people, just like you and me, fearful people, positive people, anonymously alcoholic people, good people, funny people, bad, sad, and mad people, all kinds of people you could ever imagine, and a few that would never even occur to you.

My personal experience has shown me that audiences love you when you share intimate stories about yourself. They can identify with your feelings and weaknesses, and will take heart from your strength — because only strong people can reveal themselves to the world.

The Iceberg Syndrome

Let’s forget about speeches for a moment and take a look at another arena in which communication skills are also essential: networking.

Ever since I can remember, my friends have called me ‘the socialized. I have always been deeply interested in getting to know people and their stories. Meeting and talking to strangers is not everyone’s passion, but it is mine.

Consider how two strangers normally meet at a cocktail party. I call it the iceberg effect. When A meets B, the only thing each one can see is the tip of the other’s iceberg, as it were. Naturally, A says something to B about the weather or a recent movie, and B responds with something about the economy or about the Superbowl. These topics keep them both above the waterline — that is, the conversation stays superficial.

(Image 1)

But a passionate networker like B (in Image 2) feels uncomfortable right away. B is not interested in talking about tomorrow’s weather, or about sports, and the economy is too depressing right now. B doesn’t find any of those topics exciting or even interesting — not at a cocktail party.

Instead, B is interested in what lies beneath the surface. And I, of course, am B. I like to dive right into the ice-cold water and say: “You know why I always talk to the people who are standing alone at cocktail parties? When I was 17, I went on a skiing trip — all by myself. I was young, and very shy, and I couldn’t talk to anyone. I remember what an awful feeling it was, so today I like to talk to the people at a party who are standing all by themselves. Maybe they’re lonely.”

And guess what? In little encounters like this, I’ve never had someone run away from me — no matter what you might have predicted. No, they usually will say something like: “That ’s interesting — and don’t we all get lonely sometimes? Actually, I remember...” And I’ve heard some very interesting stories — much more interesting than the next day’s weather, or even the Superbowl.

You get the point. By refusing to be superficial, by being authentic and transparent, B rapidly gains the confidence of A, and something interesting can happen.

It’s the same when you’re speaking in public — you also have to dive into the water, even if at first it feels cold. Share anecdotes with the audience: stories about your problems with dating when you were younger, stories about your mistake of drinking and driving, stories about your idiosyncrasies, even stories about the loss of a loved one or about a broken marriage. The audience will hang on your every word. You’ll be getting to them on an emotional level.

So, what are the limits to transparency? You set the limit. Set it high!

Be Jack Lemmon — be transparent!

STEP THREE

30 Seconds

Do you remember the cat who is so incredibly confident it can stand up to speak in front of 500 Rottweilers? Confidently the cat takes 500 leashes in its paw and pulls gently but firmly, creating a connective tension with the audience. When you speak in public, you have about 30 seconds, more or less, to create that tension between yourself and your listeners, to gain and hold their attention. Your very first sentence is the most crucial rhetorical tool you’ll ever have — it’s like the cat’s paw, because you must use it to grab your audience’s attention.

Boring George

You’ve heard of Curious George, but have you heard about Boring George? If we take a look at average speakers from all over the world — at congresses, banquets, seminars, fairs, weddings, or anywhere — we usually hear a standard, and boring, beginning:

“Hello everybody, and good evening! My name is George Boring, and it is a great honor and pleasure for me to have the opportunity tonight to talk to you about mobility in the 21st century...”

Is that a powerful beginning? If you were in the audience, would it grab your attention? Is this the powerful rhetoric that will blast all the way to the back row of a room filled with 500 guests who just had one too many glasses of red wine?

Let’s take a closer look at this general, standard opening that we’ll hear 99% of the time.

We Know You, George

George is already well known to us: his name appeared on the invitation, and again on the program, and if that weren’t enough, somebody introduced him by name just a few moments ago. We know you, George! And we know what you’re going to talk about, too, because that’s on the invitation too, as well as on the agenda, and maybe on the sign outside the door as well. We know we’re right in the middle of the evening, and we certainly know that it’s a great honor and pleasure for you to be speaking to us — how could it be anything else? In short, you’ve been talking for almost a minute, but you haven’t yet said anything we don’t already know — so we’re already half-way to falling asleep!

I’ve Never Sold A Car In My Life

Once, when I was with KPMG in Barcelona, I had to present the results of a market study whose objective was to analyze the various success factors for retail automobile sales in Spain. We’d invited seven top representatives of auto manufacturers, the country’s biggest importer, and its biggest retailer, and a prominent professor of entrepreneurship, Pedro Nueno of IESE Business School. It was quite an exclusive group.

Had I been inspired by George Boring’s standard beginning, I probably would have started my presentation like this:

“Hello everybody! I know it is early in the morning...” [Insert fake smile.] My name is Florian Mueck, and I would like to share the results of our market study about success factors in automotive retail in Spain with you. Why don’t we start right away by looking at...”

But I did not start like the other 99% of public speakers. Even then, I knew that the first sentence was my only chance, my 30-second chance, to wake everyone up — to grab the leashes of all those Rottweilers — and generate the tension necessary to keep their attention. So instead, I started like this:

“I’ve never sold a car in my life!” Here, instead of a fake smile, I paused for a full three seconds to let the audience think about what I’d just said. Then I continued: “And I don’t know whether any of you has ever sold a car in your lives, either. ” I knew no one had — that much was certain. “But [pause], after talking to all these actors in the marketplace [theatrically pointing at the first Powerpoint slide], after listening to the needs and preoccupations of retailers, manufacturers, importers, dealerships, repair shops, financiers and customers, I can tell you one thing for sure: Selling a car must be one of the biggest challenges in our lives!”

Professor Nueno would never have acknowledged my existence before I made that presentation, but ever since then, every time we see each other, he greets me with a big smile.

Be Creative

The first sentence is holy; it is sacred; it cannot be cluttered up with meaningless verbiage like “Good evening” or “Hello everyone” or “My name is...” An opening sentence must be catchy, a grabber — powerful.

Be creative. If you talk about water, drink a glass of water in one gulp first, then say: “Water is great, but [pause, and turn the empty glass upside-down] there ’s not much left!” If you’re going to talk about music, sing! If you’re speaking about the internet bubble of 2000, bring a balloon and let it explode, then say: “I was a broker in New York, when the bubble burst!”

Whatever you do, make it catchy and unexpected: ask a rhetorical question, for example, or simply exclaim in a single word: “Divorce!” — and let the pause be long enough to get a little uncomfortable. You could entertain the audience with body movements and nothing else. The list of possible openers is nearly infinite; it’s only cut short by your imagination.

By the way, to obtain the greatest impact for your first sentence, make sure there is absolute silence in the room before you even open your mouth. Take your time; it can be difficult, but you must be patient. When the very last person has cleared his throat and his neighbor has stopped moving around on his chair, then you can uncork your magical intro and grab those Rottweilers by the leash.

Learn It By Heart

Since the first sentence is so extremely important to create tension between you and your audience, I strongly recommend that you write it down and learn it by heart. You’ll get a welcome side-benefit as well: you won’t have to think anymore about what to say at the beginning.

That’s Better, George

So how could George have started his speech? Maybe with a quotation:

“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.— Henry Ford ’s words seem timeless. Despite our crisis-battered sector, we are more enthusiastic than ever about what lies ahead. Hybrids, electric cars, emission free cars — new challenges are reaching out to everyone in this room. Let ’s face them with enthusiasm. Henry would be proud of us!”

When you start like this, you surprise the audience. Surprise means attention. Attention is what you want; attention is what you need.

You have 30 seconds to grab those Rottweilers’ leashes — be creative and take your audience by surprise!

STEP FOUR

Here’s Looking At You, Kid

Doesn’t it annoy you when speakers won’t ever look at you? They might look at the ceiling, or just above everybody’s head, but will never make direct eye contact with anyone. They could look at the floor, or off to the left when you’re sitting on the right — it makes you feel left-out. “Hey — look at me when you’re talking to me,” you might love to bark. You’re the Rottweiler, and you’re starting to think that cat’s afraid of you, or at best, that it just doesn’t care.

But what about yourself? I’m willing to bet that you would probably do exactly the same thing. Eye contact is difficult for most people. We feel somehow we are intruding, or making a challenge we don’t mean to make. Just as our cerebellum tells us to avoid talking to strangers, it doesn’t want us to be looking directly at strangers, either. We are socially programmed to avoid eye contact. It’s a very complex matter, but basically, looking other people in the eye is a display of territorial dominance. In some cultures it’s considered highly disrespectful, insolent or arrogant. You lose status in the stare-down contest if you’re the first one to blink. When you’re up in front of a crowd, you’re literally vastly outnumbered, so the last thing you want to do is issue a territorial challenge.

Release The Hand Brake

That’s all true, but it’s just theory, too, and it comes from our distant past. Now, as a practical matter, you simply have to look into people’s eyes — deeply! If you don’t, they’ll feel left out, even disrespected. And a part of them will know that you’re afraid of them — which will make them disrespect you. But when you look into their eyes, you include them, make them feel important. And you show them you trust them enough not to be afraid of them — which means that they can trust you, too.

The ability to look someone in the eye is directly related to your own self-esteem. This brings us right back to the first step — confidence. It couldn’t have been said more clearly than Maxwell Max said it: “Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand brake on!” You remember your first driving lessons — do you want to drive through life with your hand brake on? Of course not.

If you search Google for “eye contact AND public speaking” you will get a multitude of tips and tricks about how best to handle this delicate issue. One of the proposed methods is the figure-8 approach: your eyes follow an imaginary number eight over the room. Doing this lets you constantly cover the entire hall with your gaze.

My personal pattern is to choose three people in the audience, one in the front row on the left, one in the back in the center, and one in the front row on the right. Then I nonchalantly jump from one to another, from the left side to the center, from the center to the right, and back again. I keep my eyes moving — they should never linger anywhere more than a few seconds. This way, everyone in the audience feels part of your show; everyone feels involved and important.

Bridge Of Sympathy

Aside from addressing the audience generally, you can also use eye contact on an individual level. You could say, for example: “Isn’t it a tragedy that every day so many children have to starve to death in Africa?” As you say that, you look directly at a woman in her mid-forties in the third row. There’s a good chance she has children of her own. For sure, you will receive a confirming nod. You’ve just built a bridge of sympathy with that woman, and it will spread out through the rows like a pattern of falling dominos.

One trick I use whenever I can is to talk to a few people in the audience before the program gets started. (This isn’t really a “trick,” because it’s something I enjoy doing anyway, but it is a good technique to remember.) By doing this, I gain what I call some “friendly faces.” Then, during those few seconds when I’m waiting for the crowd to settle down before I unleash my opener, I make brief eye contact with them, just a quick nod or smile, and now I have people I can turn to in case the audience gets hostile, or in case I get a little nervous — and yes, I do still get nervous sometimes. My friendly faces are my anchors — they