Say it again (and again and again), Sam

So apparently Katy Perry made it into space.

The 11-minute flight was the first all-female space flight in something like 60 years, apparently.

Pretty cool, and full marks to all 11-women for what I can imagine is an out of this world experience.

(See what I did there?)

Anyway, the funny thing is, I only heard anything about it afterwards.

I’m not saying it wasn’t publicised beforehand – I’m sure it was.

But that’s actually the point. You see, one thing I’ve learnt over 9 years of speechwriting and over 1,000 speeches is that no matter how much you think ‘everybody knows’ something… they probably don’t.

For speakers, that translates to you’re the only person who hears all your talks.

The legendary copywriter and marketer John Carlton tells a story of an add he’d written for a client that was consistently bringing in high profits. After a while, the client wanted to change it to ‘freshen it up’.

Now, that’d make sense if the numbers showed that the sales were going down, which would mean the ad wasn’t working as well as it used to. But the ad was doing just as great as ever.

So what was the problem?

The client kept seeing the same ad. So they thought the ad was old.

But the market didn’t. not yet, anyway.

It reminds me of when I was writing for the Premier of NSW (roughly the equivalent of a state governor if you’re from the U.S.).

The government had been hammering the opposition in parliament for weeks, and in parliament they were winning. The newspapers were reporting it. So all the advisors just assumed that everyone knew about it. But one day the chief of staff came in and told everyone how he’d been at a barbeque on the weekend and mentioned the government’s political victories in parliament to another guy there… and this guy had zero clue what he was talking about.

The point is, YOU are in your world – your audience isn’t.

You need to get into their world, not draw them into yours.

The same goes for your talk, speech, or presentation.

You might think you need a new message. You might think people are tired of hearing it.

But the odds are, they don’t even realise you’ve said it before.

This applies to me, too.

When people hear that I write speeches, they immediately assume I must write for politicians.

I have, and I do. but most of my clients are professionals – lawyers, accountants, marketers, not-for-profits, and corporate clients.

People who have to give a talk at a business lunch, an industry summit, or a networking breakfast.

CEOs who need to speak at an internal ‘town hall’.

I also teach people to speak and write better. I’ve had the largest corporate regulator in the world ask me to help train their staff on clear and effective communication. I’m trained scientists, students, preachers, lawyers, and more.

I’ll bet you didn’t know I did all that, did you?

You see, even I need to be reminded of the oldest rule in the book. Say something, and keep saying it.

Never assume your audience knows what you’re thinking. They probably don’t.

Never assume anyone understands what you do when you give a job title. They probably don’t.

That’s why when people ask me what I do, I tell them I help professionals speak with more authority and influence.

That at least gets them asking more.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you today.

Talk soon,

Alexander

P.S. In case the message wasn’t clear — keep repeating your message.