Here is the full text and summary of author Richard Greene’s talk: The 7 secrets of the greatest speakers in history at TEDxOrangeCoast conference.
Listen to the MP3 Audio here:
TRANSCRIPT:
It’s 1903 and this extraordinary guy named Teddy Roosevelt is standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. And at that time people wanted to create hotels and spas and turn the Grand Canyon in 1903 into a profit-making Disneyland of the environment.
And he stood and said no and he created a tipping point for the environmental movement and for the world. He said:
“Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.”
The world would have been a different place today without those words, those tipping point words from President Theodore Roosevelt.
Fast forward. His fifth cousin President Franklin Roosevelt, 30 years later, 1933 in the midst of a huge crisis, the Great Depression of America, said a few words to create a tipping point towards healing for the United States.
“First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” – President Franklin Roosevelt
The world would have been a different place without those words at that time from that man.
So in my 30 years of studying public speaking and great speeches, I found that there are 7 secrets that great speakers do that other people don’t. And it’s my belief that every single human being can be a great speaker and that their words can create a tipping point, and that their words and their essence can change the world.
The first secret is about words and understanding that words can be the best, the most amazing in the world but they only actually touch people and communicate 7% of the impact that one human being has on another.
Voice tone, the variation in your voice, the enthusiasm, the love, the passion that comes through your voice, 38%, your body language, or you’re looking into someone’s eyes, or you’re looking over their head and not connected.
So words, voice tone and body language, those are the three vehicles, the three pathways that great communication happens in.
Secret number 4, what most people do is they throw so much data out trying to prove that they’re smart trying to get all the content out.
Secret number 5 is fascinating. If you are afraid, are any of you afraid of public speaking? 41% of the world across cultures is terrified almost to the point and often to the point of actually turning down speaking appointments, whether they’re political leaders or business leaders or charitable leaders, they turn down opportunities to shake the world because they’re scared.
There are a lot of reasons why people are scared but in my experience, the number one reason is that we don’t know what public speaking really is. We don’t know the true definition.
The true definition of public speaking is that public speaking is nothing more than having a conversation from your heart about something that you are authentically passionate about. If you think it’s a performance, you’re going to be zero percent you and 100% actor and we don’t get to see and experience and feel who you are.
So I want you to write the word SPEECH down on a piece of paper and I want you to put a circle around it. And I want you to put a line through it. I don’t want you ever, ever to give another speech. That’s not what great speakers do. They don’t give a speech, they don’t give a performance, they don’t make a presentation to the audience. They have what? They have a conversation with — it is a circle, it brings us all together. We are a web connected to every other person. That’s what great speakers do.
When I first met Princess Diana, she looks me in the eyes and says:
“You know, I’m so scared of public speaking and I wish that I could do what Charles does”.
Now this was when they were actually breaking up, so it’s even more difficult for her to admit that.
And I said, “What does he do?”
She said, “Well, he just stands up there and he tells this funny joke and then he moves on and he’s completely unfazed by it.”
And I told her that Prince Charles doesn’t have what she has. And what she had was what touched and moved the world. People connected with her on a human level and that all you need to do, Your Royal Highness, is just share from your heart, that huge heart that you have and your gut and people will love you even through the speech that scares you, they will feel you, they will know you, they will connect with you, and that it is far more effective than giving a speech, than telling a funny joke but not sharing your heart.
So secret number 6 and you’ll notice this in some of the speakers is that we actually have five parts of our brain. Those five different senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and feeling translate into four different actual communication languages. Speak one of them, you’re not going to be very good. Speak two of them, you’ll be average no matter who you are. Speak all four, no matter who you are, you’re going to rock the world, because you’re going to be giving every person in the audience something that they can connect to.
And visual is the energy of energy — it’s the language of energy. It’s Robin Williams, I have used him as an example and I’m going to continue to use him as an example, how amazing was Robin Williams.
Auditory is the ability to translate details and what you see, what you think, what you feel into a story into words. Ronald Reagan was a great example of that.
Auditory digital, that’s the Albert Einstein, the Bill Gates, the analytical statistically-driven kind of information. You don’t have that, you don’t have a foundational credibility. People are going to go wow! That person is very charming but there’s no there or there.
And kinesthetic is the James Earl Jones, the Morgan Freeman, the Barry White, oh baby. It’s the Poet Ali, it’s that connecting thing that is inside of each and every one of us, that is the most important thing in being a speaker and being a communicator.
And then 7, you can just have this and nothing else and you will still rock the world as so many people do. And that is your authentic passion. What is it that is effing cool that you just have to share it or so effing compelling and I use that middle word, you can use whatever version you want, because it’s a visceral thing, it’s not intellectual.
So let’s go back on our chronological tour of great speeches that have created tipping points in the world.
Now this person, Lou Gehrig didn’t create a tipping point in terms of the global geopolitics of the world but he created a tipping point in terms of understanding the human spirit and his own. Here it was, as you all know he was diagnosed with ALS. He tried to play, he couldn’t play, they then — he had to end his career and Yankee Stadium held a day for him. Lou Gehrig Day was in 1939. He gets out there and he, like so many of you, was petrified of public speaking. And he’s there, he’s there and then just when it’s time for him to go on, he starts backing away, and said, “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.”
His manager comes up to him, puts his arm around and said, “Lou, they’re all here for you, my friend. They’re all here for you.” And walks him up and he goes. And this is what he says.
“Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” – Lou Gehrig
Everyone who studies public speaking puts that speech in their list. It’s just unbelievable, the sense of gratitude that this man had in the middle with his own personal crisis.
But let’s go to the next year, a huge tipping point about to happen for Great Britain and their battle against Nazi Germany. Three days before the speech, King George goes to Winston Churchill and says, “Please, let’s — I want you to be the Prime Minister. We’ve got to do something. We’ve got to face this threat.”
And this is Winston Churchill, it’s just the audio, they didn’t have video in the House of Commons in 1940.
“I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”” – Winston Churchill
The world would have been a different place without Winston Churchill and those words and that level of conviction, leadership and resolve.
Let’s move forward now. I have three from John F Kennedy and you’ll see why. This one you all know about. He was following an old General Dwight D Eisenhower. He’s in his forties, a whole new era for America and the world. You’ll be familiar with the first part of this but probably not the second.
“My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” – John F Kennedy
The world became a different place because of that speech. And that new president. And he proved it several times. Couple years later at Rice University, he is talking about his authentic passion to put a man on the moon. Listen to the level of detail here and notice that this is such a visionary leader that he even commits himself and the United States America when we don’t even at that point know how to do it.
“We shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun — almost as hot as it is here today — and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out — then we must be bold.” – John F Kennedy
How amazing was that? Right. Sadly, he didn’t get to live to see that but he made it happen through his vision, his leadership and creating that tipping point with that speech. And then as you know, the famous speech, he is in Berlin, the West Berliners are suffering mightily. He goes in and says they’re not alone.
“All free men, wherever they may live are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner!”- John F Kennedy
Okay. So next year after that, or that actually later that year, Dr. Martin Luther King, I think you’ve all been aware of this. No one would doubt that this, this speech half of which he ad-libbed, ad-libbed the speech, shook the world and created a tipping point.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!”- Dr. Martin Luther King
If only it were true and we’re making progress because of that speech.
Barbara Jordan, someone you may not know, a Texas congresswoman, was the last person to speak at the Watergate Committee talking about whether we were in fact going to impeach Richard Nixon. She was a freshman congresswoman, it was around midnight and yet her words with that incredible voice tone of hers shook the world and catalyzed the movement against Richard Nixon.
“Today I am an inquisitor. And hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now. My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.”- Barbara Jordan
Barack Obama.
“Tonight is a particular honor for me because let’s face it. My presence on this stage is pretty unlikely”- Barack Obama
And that’s it right there. That speech was a tipping point that changed America. Whether you like him or not, that one speech in 2004 changed America.
We don’t have audio of this but one of my favorite speeches ever is a speech that was given by Albert Einstein. He says:
“The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced, there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and simplicity are but a feeble reflection. To me, it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is.”
And he did that and created a shift where we understood how matter and energy are the same and created a new paradigm and some people even think that it mirrors this ancient symbol which was the symbol and is the symbol for God called OM and if you look at it, if you look there’s a backwards E, there’s an equal sign, there’s an M, which is on its side, there’s the C and there’s a supernumerary that also looks like a square. E equals MC squared thousand years ago reflected in Albert Einstein’s discovery in 1906.
I want to play this. This is the most powerful in my opinion, the most powerful couple of minutes of oratory, recorded oratory, recorded tipping point speech-making in the history of the world. Feel it and notice this is the last speech he gave before he died. He died and it was — obviously he knew, he died the next day.
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life – longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”- Martin Luther King Jr.
So are you afraid of public speaking. If so, you are along with half of the people on the planet. The way over that is to see it as a conversation from your heart and to ask yourself this one question: What is my dharma?
What is it that I am passionate about that I want to share with the world, something that my unique DNA which is contained in every one of 50 trillion cells carried in 50,000 atomic bombs worth of energy, that’s what Einstein said, will allow me to be out in the world, make a difference and give speeches, share my passion and make the world a better place.
Every single person I’ve worked with has the ability in their own way to break through to make the world a better place to bring that passion out and to create a tipping point that will change every single thing on the planet and indeed make the world a better place. And I encourage you to please step through the fear, share your passion, share who you are authentically and make that difference.
Thank you all so much.
Want a summary of this talk? Here it is.
SUMMARY:
In Richard Greene’s compelling talk, “The 7 Secrets of The Greatest Speakers in History,” he delves into the art of public speaking by dissecting historical speeches that have left a lasting impact on the world. Through these speeches, he identifies seven secrets that have distinguished great speakers from the rest:
1. Words Are Only a Fraction: Greene emphasizes that words alone contribute just 7% of the impact in communication. True communication also involves voice tone (38%) and body language. Effective speakers understand the importance of these three elements in delivering their message.
2. Less Is More: Instead of overwhelming the audience with data and content, great speakers focus on delivering a single powerful message or headline. Clarity and simplicity are key to making a speech memorable.
3. Overcoming Fear: Greene acknowledges that fear of public speaking is widespread, affecting 41% of people worldwide. To conquer this fear, he redefines public speaking as having a heartfelt conversation about a passion, dispelling the notion of it being a performance.
4. Multisensory Communication: Recognizing that humans have five senses, effective speakers appeal to all four communication languages: visual, auditory, auditory digital, and kinesthetic. By engaging these senses, speakers can connect with a broader audience.
5. Authentic Passion: Passion is the driving force behind powerful speeches. Speakers must share something they are genuinely passionate about to create an emotional connection with their audience.
The talk also highlights several historical speeches that embody these secrets and have left an indelible mark on the world:
– Teddy Roosevelt’s defense of the Grand Canyon preserved it as a natural wonder.
– Franklin Roosevelt’s reassurance during the Great Depression instilled hope in Americans.
– Lou Gehrig’s gratitude and resilience in the face of ALS inspired the world.
– Winston Churchill’s resolve in the face of Nazi Germany’s threat rallied Britain.
– John F. Kennedy’s call for civic duty and the moon landing vision changed America.
– Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for racial equality sparked a movement.
– Barbara Jordan’s passionate words contributed to the downfall of Richard Nixon.
– Barack Obama’s unlikely rise to prominence demonstrated the power of hope.
– Albert Einstein’s revolutionary ideas reshaped our understanding of the universe.
These speeches exemplify the seven secrets, showing how words, tone, and body language can create tipping points in history and inspire positive change.
In conclusion, Greene encourages individuals to overcome their fear of public speaking and share their authentic passion. By doing so, they can harness the power of communication to make a difference in the world. His talk serves as a valuable guide for anyone seeking to become an effective and impactful speaker, reminding us that words have the potential to change the course of history.
Related Posts
- I’ll Die Before I Quit: Chad Williams (Full Transcript)
- Valerie Mason-John: We Are What We Think at TEDxRenfrewCollingwood (Transcript)
- Jules Evans: How Philosophy Can Save Your Life at TEDxBreda (Full Transcript)
- Faster than a Calculator by Arthur Benjamin at TEDxOxford (Transcript)
- Why Are These 32 Symbols Found in Caves All Over Europe by Genevieve von Petzinger (Transcript)