Secrets of Dynamic Communication summary

Sitting down to write a speech can be incredibly overwhelming. How, for example, can we possibly choose where to begin talking about the ever-changing discipline of science or the universally discussed theme of love?

This is where the first part of the SCORRE-method comes in, by helping us narrow our passion into a subject that gives our speech focus.

You’d hardly think that a 10 to 15 minute speech could be boiled down to a one-liner. Think again! The objective sentence is a tool that does just that, and though it’s just a single sentence, it should also reflect careful choices in its construction. Why? It’s the essence of your speech, a vehicle for your overarching message and at the heart of the SCORRE-method.

The ingredients are threefold: a proposition, an interrogative question and answer, and a key word.

After successfully working through the first three letters of the SCORRE-method, we come to the two R’s and a final E - rationale, resources and evaluation.

If our speech were a house, then what we’ve achieved so far is perhaps its architectural plan. The design created through our subject, central theme and objective sentence requires a real and solid foundation to build on.

The SCORRE-method allows us to achieve the bulk of the hard work involved in creating a speech. However, by performing some further steps, we will be rewarded with a goosebump-inducing speech that sticks with the audience for days after. The opening and conclusion are vital tools in this way.

The first moments of your speech are arguably the most important, but don’t let this alarm you. All that is required of you is to take this chance to grab the audience’s attention in any original way, before briefly introducing the topic.

We all have limited time in our busy lifestyles, and you may be feeling a little reluctant to set aside substantial amounts to prepare your speech.

Certainly, the SCORRE processes of perfecting the objective sentence and interweaving an evaluated rationale with resources are time-consuming ones. But if you don’t give up time to create your presentation, why should anyone else want to give up his or her time to listen to it?

When giving a speech, think of your message as the product you’d like to sell. The audience is your customer – how are you going to engage them?

A speech isn’t all about performing. What’s more important is an awareness of what you’re trying to communicate and whom you’re trying to communicate to.

Now that we’ve considered the importance of the physical landscape that we present in, let’s turn our attention to the emotional landscape of our speech.

We can’t be sure that our audience will relate to every proposition in our speech. However, by engaging our audience on an emotional level, we can ensure that each audience member will connect with our presentation, regardless of his or her background or prior experiences.