Inspirational Speech

Here's the best way to learn how to give an outstanding inspirational speech without any fear.

First we need to understand what the word "Inspiration" means.

A Useful Definition Of "Inspiration"

There are a lot of definitions of the word but the most useful one for our purposes is:

The act or power of exercising an elevating or stimulating influence upon the intellect or emotions.

So an inspirational speech needs to be uplifting and stimulating for the hearts or minds of the audience. You have delivered an effective inspirational speech if you've made them ponder or if you've moved them. They don't necessarily have to take any action.

If you want to split hairs it differs from a motivational speech which needs to get the audience to do something.

For example I heard a very inspirational story from a Chinese man who came from abject poverty in rural China to become an international ballet star. Aspects of his talk moved me to tears. The brutality of his treatment as a kid by the ballet instructors. And the emotional re-union with his parents when they attended one of his performances, and how the show was delayed until his parents arrived late because of a traffic jam -the way he described seeing them walk in to the theater after decades of separation as the audience stood and applauded.

It was one of the most inspirational stories I've ever heard but I didn't feel the need to rush out and do anything in particular (not even buy his book :).

I enjoyed the spectrum of emotions I experienced during his presentation, and some of the meaning beneath his words has stayed with me to this day. No doubt others took different messages away and that's fine. The point is that an inspirational speech will often affect us in a deeper, more 'real' way than any other style of talk.

That's why they are my personal favorite.

So don't worry about too many rules. Speak from your heart and be real and your speech will probably be inspirational anyway. Seek to uplift and/or stimulate your audience or as one of my mentors put it once "Leave me laughing, leave me crying, leave me thoughtful. Just don't leave me the same as I was before you spoke."

Inspirational advice wouldn't you say?

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