Keynote Speech presented by Steve Godin
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Principles of Public Speaking Special Awards Banquet
Extended Learning Institute
Northern Virginia Community College

Good Evening. In the interest of brevity and in excited anticipation of the awards to follow, I will keep my remarks short. The keynote speech is supposed to provide wisdom and guidance, wrap up the course, and send you out into the world with a “go get em” attitude. I hope to inspire you with just a touch of that attitude, as I give you my perspective of what I got out of this course.

Unfortunately for me, I came to this course with a fair amount of experience in public speaking. I was overly confident, and figured I had “been there, done that, and had the tee shirt.” I had taught many courses to classes ranging from 3 to 24 students. I had conducted fire prevention talks on several occasions to groups of up to 80 first graders at a time. I had presented technical and business cases to panels with 2-star admirals and corporate officers. I took the course solely to “check the box” for my degree requirements because I thought I already knew enough about public speaking. Well needless to say, I was wrong.

I learned in this course that almost anyone can get up and talk. Almost every human being has the ability to make coherent sounds come from their mouths. I learned that a lot of what I was doing before was “talking.” That is not to say that the students didn’t learn, the kids didn’t love it, or the admirals didn’t buy it, it means that I could have better communicated my ideas by Speaking, vice just talking. Now that I have had the opportunity to be assessed not only by a professional, Ms. Peck, but also by you my peers, I now know that I still have a lot to learn – we all do.

The anagram SPEAK that we have learned from this course truly idealizes the traits of a good speaker. We have learned not just WHAT the traits are, but HOW to apply the traits of Sincerity, Preparation, Enthusiasm, Adaptation, and Knowledge. We have learned that body language, facial expressions, and word emphasis can have as much or more impact on our audience as our words. I have already taken some of these traits and applied them to recent presentations and seen almost instant success.

Just as important as applying these traits to speaking, we have learned what I believe to be a more important skill – how to be a more effective listener. Before this course, I knew that I was an ineffective listener. I could sit there and look interested, but I was really just nodding my head and thinking about being out on the boat, riding on the fire engine, anyplace besides where I was at. It is our responsibility to each other as human beings to be effective listeners, to dedicate our time to taking in the important message our fellow speaker is trying to convey. If there were nothing important to be said, why would the speaker be up there? There is something to be learned from every single speech – something to take away and make our lives better. I now make it a priority to focus more on listening at every opportunity – from listening to the kids in my classes, to listening to my peers, and even as much as it pains me, to listen to my wife.

Now that we have an understanding of public speaking and listening, it is our duty and responsibility to make something of it. We have only touched the tip of the iceberg of public speaking. We must practice these principles we have learned not only in speeches to large groups, but also in our everyday communications. Take these principles and make your next speech at work BETTER. Take these principles and add more FEELING to your readings in the church. Take these principles and INSPIRE the other leaders at your kid’s scout meeting. Take the time to better your communication skills – there is a lot to be taught and learned in the world – take the time and communicate it the best way possible.

To wrap things up, I opened this discussion telling you how I didn’t think I needed this course. I was way wrong, and have learned so much in a short 12 weeks, but still have a ways to go. I challenge you all to take the SPEAK traits and apply them in your education, work, hobbies, and even home lives. Being able to verbally convey your thoughts adequately is paramount to any success, whether you are pursuing engineering degree, marketing your business, or teaching Sunday school at your church. Thank you all for teaching me the importance of public speaking, and more importantly, good listening. Before I depart the podium, I’d like to leave you all with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr that I believe fully encompasses the importance of being able to speak well and that is – “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Speak well in your future endeavors, and Good Night.