Public Speaking – People love UNIVERSAL THEMES

Public Speaking – People love UNIVERSAL THEMES

This is an AI generated transcript so please forgive any errors and spelling mistakes. 

Hi. When you speak, one of the themes that run through your presentations, are day love, hate, gratitude, fear. Whatever they are, Let’s talk about that today because I want you to not be afraid of universal themes because they come back again and again. And quite often we feel that we need to be creating something outside the box and doing something really different, but universal themes can have a huge impact on your audience.

Before I go into that, let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Shola Kaye, I’m a public speaking coach based in London. I’m also a professional singer and an international keynote speaker.

And some great news that came in just recently, which is that I heard that this, this video blog, which is being used also as a podcast, the podcast has been voted as number eight in the top 25 public speaking podcasts on the internet. Now, I’m not sure quite how that happened, because this podcast hasn’t been going very long as he listened to this, maybe this is years in advance, and it’s been going for ages. So it goes down the line. It’s been going for ages, but it hasn’t been going for a huge amount of time. And there are podcasts that are below me on the list, which I have been listening to for many years. And perhaps I’ve been listening to them before I could even say the words public speaking. Anyway, for whatever reason, this podcast has been voted number eight. And You know what, at first I had a bit of a imposter syndrome moment where I thought, how could this be this is wrong. And I thought, you know what, I’ll take it. Here I am, number eight, in this particular ranking of podcasts, super duper. Thank you for helping being one of the listeners, and helping me to achieve that because I wouldn’t have made a podcast, unless I knew that someone out there might perhaps one day, want to listen to it. So Thank you for that.

But let’s get back on to this discussion of universal themes. A few months ago, I was the judge at a public speaking contest. And at that contest, it was mainly university students who were competing with each other. And you might think, well, here I am in my sort of the sort of latter part of my life and advanced age, right, right number of years, etc. As it ripe old age, they say, What can I learn from listening to a bunch of university students? But I came away from that day with a tonne of notes, and also a lot to reflect upon.

Public speaking – themes that unite us

And One of the things that was so interesting was hearing them talk about some of the conflicts and the adversities, and the challenges that they were facing. And obviously them sharing that in their presentations. But What was so fascinating Was that at their a different time of life, etc. The same universal themes for cropping up in their presentations, where I would regularly hear from people of my own age, and different age groups and different experiences, different nationalities, etc, etc. And it really brought home how much we have in common with each other as human beings.

And quite often, when we speak, we try to find a different angle, or a different storey, or something that’s novel, and that no one’s heard before. But I want you to recognise the power of those universal themes. And how saying the right thing at the right time, even if it’s something that we’ve all heard 1000 times before, if you say that the right time, to the right person, it can be extremely profound. It could be enough to change getting emotional, It can be enough to change someone’s life. Because that’s the power behind this public speakers. And it’s it’s so important to to recognise that and take it seriously. Because we might say something that’s really throwaway. But it’s enough to really change the directory of the direction we take the direction of someone’s life, Right needs to come down and stop being an emotional state.

Public speaking – the right message, at the right place and right time

Okay, so one particular student at this presentation, I think he was specifically talking about the power of gratitude. And that, for me, was just very important at that particular time. It made me think, gosh, yeah, there’s so much to be grateful for. And even though perhaps the storey that he was sharing wasn’t one that I’ve never heard before, maybe it was quite a common storey, but just his own take on it. That message, for me, at that moment, had a real power.

So I want you to recognise the power in your own messages and in your own storeys. And to never, ever downplay how important now. Because its speakers cause a complete, I’m getting so emotionally this, but I guess it is I care. But as speakers, We all been given an incredible honour, to have people’s time to have people’s attention as we stand in front of them. So never ever think that your storey is one that shouldn’t be told. And that your message is one that you shouldn’t share. Because as I said, if you’ve got the right person in that audience at the right moment, something that seems really trivial to you are really obvious, can be enough to change your life.

Public speaking – when emotion takes over

So I’m going to cut this one short, so I can go and compose myself. I got so emotional. But as I say, I think emotion could be a good thing because it really does show that you care about your topic. This is that a subject for a whole other video. But the idea being that when you speak if you do get emotional, you want to know that you can get control back, because there’s a there can be a fine line between being self indulgent. And, and, and being moving, being able to move other people. And you don’t cross that and come across as somebody who’s can turn the water on and off at will, that you want to show that you care. So if you do care, share your message with people. It’s important. If it can move you, It means it can move someone else if it’s the right time in the right place and the right moment.

That’s it for me today. Sorry for getting so emotional but I want you to know that I really care. I really care about you, your speaking and I want you to be the best possible speaker that you can be.

Before I sign off, I want to also share that I have my online live event. And so if you go to SholaKaye.com/live-event, then you’ll see the dates and the times for the next one. If there isn’t one there, then you’re presumably will hopefully get a link to my ondemand last class is primarily meant for people who want to speak to grow a business or for people who want to speak for business. But there are some tips there that you can take away and use whatever stage you are at with your speaking. So please do go along to SholaKaye.com/live-event. And hopefully I’ll See you at a live event or you can get a bit more of me at my, my ultimate last class.

That’s it for me, I’m going to go and powder my nose and wipe my eyes and and get back to normal. But please do share your message. It’s important.

Take care.