Inspire your audience with a vision

Make an impression with your year-end speech

Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. These three extraordinary speakers are currently the focus of the "We have a dream" exhibition at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. Want more than just good food and unwrapping gifts this New Year? Get inspired by these visionaries, and venture into a catchy Christmas or New Year's speech!

The word 'vision' is a key concept in our presentation training programs. But what exactly is a vision? Sometimes a vision can feel a bit corvee-like: "Oh yes we have to have a vision too." However, those who delve into it will discover that a vision can add power to any speech.

The Connecting Effect

In essence, a vision is a description of needs. Literally: I see something and I feel the need to go there. The golden rule here is: the deeper the need, the more unifying the effect. Need for a banana, for example, not everyone will recognize. Need for food will. Need for flexible working is not recognizable by everyone. Need for freedom is. In the vision section of a speech, we give the audience insight into precisely those deeper motivations.

Martin Luther King also does this. He talks about the equal treatment of white and dark people. But he does not leave it at a concrete advice. In the famous ending of his speech "I have a dream," he keeps focusing on the deeper needs of what it is actually about. He uses words like freedom, brotherhood, justice. The combination of (1) a concretely described wish image AND (2) the universal needs that are met by that wish image is what makes the speech so motivating.

Three tips for infusing a New Year's Eve or New Year's Eve speech with a vision:


1. Align the vision with the needs of your audience

Think carefully about who your audience is. What do they need, what are their needs? Can you mold those into a need they all recognize. Are you looking back on that successful family weekend at Christmas? Then also name the associated needs at play: sociability, sharing and humor.
In this video, Nelson Mandela addresses the U.N. on human rights. And he reminds us of what that means: food, shelter, education and health.

. Use words that your audience also uses.

In the feature film "Gandhi," Gandhi explains nonviolence to an audience that especially feels like fighting. He interweaves their own slang in articulating his vision. So keep it simple.

. Be concrete in outlining the promised land.

We need images and concreteness to see the words before us, to be taken with them. Martin Luther King does this wonderfully in his speech "I have a dream," in which he echoes freedom from all the mountain peaks at the end. So use images in your speech as well, accurately describe the people and objects, then we will start to see it for ourselves.

Learn more about speech and presentation? Sign up for one of our training courses or contact us at 020-4204068/ info@speaktoinspire.nl