I gave this lecture on December 16, 2023.
The Complete Speech
INTRODUCTION Imagine walking into a new car dealership expecting to check out the latest models of a luxury line that had had your eye for years. You had fantasized about putting the top down and taking your new sports car out on Pacific Coast Highway with your wife or girlfriend and having the time of your life. So, you walk in and see four models on the showroom floor. But as you walk among them, you notice that the first is missing a tire, the second lacks paint, the third has no steering wheel, and the fourth—once you open the hood—doesn’t have an engine!
They are all cars—that is plain to see—but they are all missing an element that renders them incomplete. They either don’t look right or run properly. Certainly, if you are going to pay many thousands of dollars for an upscale automobile, you want to drive a complete car off the lot!
SPS In the same way, if people have sacrificed their time to listen to us speak, whether for six minutes or an hour or more, they expect to hear a well-thought-out, complete message. When a speech is missing a necessary element, it lets the audience down, and they leave the event somewhat disappointed, unfulfilled, or in some way unsatisfied. We have to make sure to give them as complete a speech as possible.
Our Spokesman Club Manual defines a #7 Complete speech as the combination and culmination of the previous speeches plus all the added, more mechanical things like eye contact, body language, facial expression, gestures, and vocal variety. It is putting everything that you have learned so far into one package that you deliver with all the confidence and skill you can muster. By all rights, it should turn out to be the best speech you have given so far.
Generally, this speech’s topic is not terribly critical. Any subject should lend itself to a well-rounded treatment. You should consider it thoughtfully so that it is conducive to expressing all the elements that need to be included. So, it needs to be a balanced topic, by which I mean that the speech should use the necessary elements in proper proportion rather than overemphasize one at the expense of the others.
This speech should contain seven essential elements:
- Your Personality – You will do well if you convey your best self in this speech. You should be your most engaging and credible, using a style that feels most natural to you. Do not try to put on a persona because it will appear fake, and your speech will flop.
- A Focused Purpose – Make sure your SPS is clear and stick to it religiously. You want your listeners to come away with no doubt about what your main point was.
- Clarity – Remove anything that might cause confusion or skepticism. Cut all digressions. Avoid long or complex sentences. Be direct; don’t hop around and back again.
- Vivid Description – Make the audience imagine what you are speaking about in living color! Elevate your vocabulary a tad to use just the right words to invoke a photorealistic vision in their minds.
- Pertinent Information – Provide technical facts and figures that make your case, but do not overdo it! Most of the time, less is more. However, check to ensure all your information is true and relevant.
- A Call to Action – Give your audience something to do with what you present to them. Little good happens unless knowledge and principles are put into actions and behaviors.
- Polished Mechanics – Do your best to overcome any nervous habits and verbal tics your evaluators have pointed out. Look at your audience—don’t read your speech! Strive for perfection!
CONCLUSION The #7 Complete speech is your first attempt to put it all together. Every speech from now on will need to be complete like this one. When a speech is complete, the speaker is most persuasive. Is not our ultimate goal to persuade people to accept and practice the truth?