The Motivated Speaker E-Book

Ruth Milligan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 269

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Master the mindsets and practices of the world's best public speakers

A team of veteran communication and speaking coaches delivers a groundbreaking new framework to becoming a great communicator. Thanks to the authors' decades of experience, readers will discover the six essential threshold concepts needed to give talks like the best TED speakers and Fortune 500 leaders.

Their practical and accessible approach will help you establish powerful habits in your speaking practice. You'll understand what's preventing you from being influential and persuasive, and build a new foundation toward being a highly effective communicator.

This trailblazing book goes beyond cliches like “overcome your fear” and obvious advice like “don't read your speech.” It dives deep into the transformative, integrative, and challenging ideas that will enable you to level up your speaking.

Included here are:

• Deep explanations of what it takes to become an effective communicator
• Insights into the dispositions, behaviors, and skills that great speakers consistently demonstrate and how to develop them in yourself
• Expert guidance on how to use the latest technologies to augment your public speaking development

A comprehensive framework for learning public speaking, The Motivated Speaker is the perfect resource for working professionals and leaders who want to learn to speak persuasively, confidently, clearly, and compellingly.

Leseprobe

In Praise of The Motivated Speaker and Its Authors

“The Motivated Speaker is a transformative guide for anyone eager to unlock their communication potential. Ruth, Acacia, and Blythe masterfully introduce six threshold principles, offering fresh insights into learning the art of effective speaking. Packed with relatable stories and practical wisdom, this book inspires and empowers readers to become confident, impactful communicators. The lessons and speaker stories felt extremely familiar and are a great motivator!”

—Sarah Milks BethelHead of Global Supply Chain

Paula's Choice Skincare/Unilever

“We turned to the expertise of Articulation to enhance the posit::conf() experience for our 1,500 attendees. Over the past four years, their talents have helped our annual 90+ speakers (no matter their experience level) really upskill their presentations and meaningfully improved the overall conference experience. The Motivated Speaker offers a rare chance to learn from these coaches and apply their techniques to elevate your own speaking engagements.”

—Hadley WickhamChief Data Scientist

Posit

“In my years working with Ruth Milligan, both as a speaker coach and co‐curator of TEDxColumbus, I've witnessed firsthand her expertise in helping speakers find their voice. The Motivated Speaker distills the Articulation team's wisdom into an insightful, practical guide for anyone seeking to become a more effective communicator. Many of the tips I learned from Ruth I use to this day!”

—Nancy KramerFounder, Public Board Director, Chief Evangelist

IBM

“For those without access to a coach, The Motivated Speaker is a gift. My work with Acacia taught me to be comfortable in the ‘messy’ process. The experience had such an impact that I brought Articulation in to help my entire team. I anticipate my copy of the book will be dog‐eared and a staple in my speaking tool kit for many years to come.”

—Dennis GarbarinoSVP and GM Global Downstream

Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company

“My coaching from Articulation dramatically changed my entire approach to practicing and presenting my science and making it accessible to any audience. I brought them into my institution, excited for my colleagues to learn the same impactful skills. It’s a delight to see so much of their experience now accessible to everyone through this book and these concepts—in the same way we’ve been enjoying it for the last decade.”

—Lara McKenzie, PhD, MA, FAAHBPrincipal Investigator

Center for Injury Research & Policy, Abigail Wexner Research Institute

Nationwide Children's Hospital

“Practical and endlessly engaging, reading The Motivated Speaker felt like being coached by a team of the most compassionate and insightful mentors in the field. The authors have accomplished something remarkable: they’ve distilled the challenges and joys of public speaking into six transformative concepts that anyone can grasp and apply.”

—David Staley, PhDAssociate Professor

The Ohio State University

“I reached a point in my career when I realized that continued growth was not just about being an expert in my domain, but also my ability to compel others to believe in an idea, strategy, vision, opportunity. Working with Ruth on the principles outlined in this book not only helped turn my words into ideas worth telling, but her insight moved my words from just being heard to being remembered.”

—Stephanie DomasSpeaker, Author, and Chief Information Security Officer

Canonical

“This book is a must‐read for anyone looking to conquer the public speaking stage—whether you're a rookie finding your voice or a seasoned speaker who’s maybe just a little too confident (like I was before working with these amazing authors). Packed with sharp insights and practical tips, it’s a fast track to unlocking your full potential and truly owning the spotlight.”

—Tim Raderstorf, DNP, RN, FAANPresident

Raderstorf Consulting

“Any speaker looking to improve their communication skills would benefit from the concepts in this book. Despite my extensive public speaking experience as a Senator, CEO, and Governor of Guam, I gained valuable insights from the experience of being coached by Acacia for a TED‐like talk. Her guidance helped me embrace my storytelling abilities.”

—Hon. Lourdes A Leon GuerreroGovernor

State of Guam

“Accessible to both novice and experienced speakers alike, The Motivated Speaker clearly and succinctly highlights what makes speaking before an audience a challenging yet rewarding adventure. It delineates the individual elements of preparing and presenting speeches and offers practical advice to increase one’s aptitude and influence. The text is punctuated with scores of authentic examples of the troubles and triumphs experienced by speakers. Short of taking a college course in public speaking, this book will get you closer to your speaking goals.”

—Paul Mongeau, PhDProfessor

Hugh Downs School of Human Communication

Arizona State University

“Having worked and collaborated with the Articulation team for nearly two decades, I continue to be blown away by their versatility, creativity, and relentless spirit of innovation. The art of communication is ephemeral and ever shape‐shifting. This book offers a needed road map for anyone navigating today's communications.”

—Laurie KamererFormer VP of Communications

Victoria's Secret

“An engaging, accessible, and informative look at what it takes to be an effective speaker—so relevant as we seek to retain human communication and connection in a world increasingly driven by technology. The stories ‘from the trenches,’ culled from the authors’ years of experience, bring the concepts alive and help ground the reader’s understanding. If you’re interested in delivering better, more compelling presentations, The Motivated Speaker is a must‐have resource.”

—Betsy AllenWriter, Editor, and English Instructor

James Madison University

“Ruth and her team have proven that you can learn to be a great speaker no matter when you start in your career. This book gives you a front row seat to how they draw the best out of anyone wanting to be an impactful communicator.”

—Edward O'ReillyPartner

Citadel

“The Motivated Speaker, which realigns the mindsets and practices of becoming a great communicator, should be required reading for any speaker. I’ll put it on my shelf between Dale Carnegie and Chris Anderson. I can also celebrate the origin of this work on our campus from a chance connection between Dr. Wardle and the authors, two of whom are enthusiastic alums. For all of them and this brilliant manuscript, I can only add a resounding … love and honor!”

—Mackenzie RicePresident

Miami University Foundation

“While I wish I had this book for the younger me, it couldn’t be more relevant and useful. With less time than ever to convey ideas and responses or make connections, these threshold concepts are essential for any speaker.”

—Geraldine WeiserExecutive Director Client Solutions and Programs

Global Corporate College

“Working with Ruth and her team at Articulation to prepare for a TEDx event transformed the way I approach public speaking. They helped me distill my core message, ensuring it would resonate with the audience. Together, we restructured the presentation into a compelling narrative that made the message more impactful from my opening breath until I exhaled to the sounds of the audience clapping wildly. My time with Articulation not only changed the most important speech of my life that day but every speech that followed.”

—Larry SmithAuthor, Speaker, and Founder

The Six‐Word Memoir Project

“In my role, I invite physicians, scientists, and scholars to translate their leading‐edge work to broad audiences of potential supporters and advocates. I’ve been a longtime client and champion of Articulation’s work in helping with this effort, and this book allows me to keep their thinking and counsel at close reach.”

—Patty Hill‐CallahanVP for Advancement

Mount Saint Mary's University

“This is a powerful and brilliant guide for all who seek to communicate and be communicators. Effective speaking is not necessarily natural—just like anything of substance, it is a craft to be honed through habit and intention. The authors have created a framework from their extensive experiences that should be read and re‐read.”

—J. Nwando Olayiwola, MD, MPH

Physician, Author, and Speaker

Senior Vice President, Advocate Health

RUTH MILLIGAN

ACACIA DUNCAN

BLYTHE COONS

THE MOTIVATED SPEAKER

SIX PRINCIPLES TO UNLOCK YOUR COMMUNICATION POTENTIAL

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ISBN 9781394338030 (Cloth)ISBN 9781394338054 (ePDF)ISBN 9781394338047 (ePub)

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To the speakers who have given us their trust and who continue to inspire us.

The Spark

In 2023, Dr. Elizabeth Wardle, PhD, the esteemed director of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence at Miami University, delivered a talk to a group of Miami women alumni. It was a Saturday in May right after classes finished for the year, and this event was designed to spark curious graduates with ideas that Miami faculty and staff had been exploring. Ruth was in the audience and also giving the keynote address for the event on best practices for being a great communicator.

That day, Dr. Wardle opened her talk by asking, “When was the last time you wrote something in general for no one in particular?” Even a grocery list is a form of writing, she demonstrated. The list you put together for your spouse may have descriptions of the kind of potatoes you want: two dozen, small, red. You are mediating their activity toward buying the right kind of potatoes you want for dinner. If you just wrote “potatoes” they may come home with one of those jumbo bags of tater tots.

Dr. Wardle explained how anyone can be taught how to write, not just those who are English majors. Math majors write proofs, computer scientists write code, supply‐chain majors write procedures, construction systems majors write requests for information and change orders. We learned her life's work was re‐engineering how you teach writing in part using a theory called threshold concepts. Dr. Wardle explained how she taught faculty from across the university how to integrate writing into their specific curricula.

According to Erik Meyer and Ray Land, the researchers who coined the term, “A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress.”1

Think for a moment about cooking. What do you have to understand in order to actually cook? We think of two things initially: cooking requires heat, and cooking requires ingredients that interact. Neither of those ideas are what you do to cook, but without understanding each of them, you won't be a good cook. And they have multiple implications and interactions, all of which contribute to the success of actually cooking. If you burn cookies, you will reflect on your understanding of how heat contributed to the outcome. But if the cookies didn't rise properly, you would lean on your understanding of the ingredients you used. It is that understanding AND doing that brings clarity and permanence to the learning.

Threshold concepts, according to Meyer and Land, are:

both ways of thinking and practicing

transformative and likely irreversible: we change as a result of them

troublesome: we struggle when we learn them

necessary: if we want to move forward in an area, like speaking, they are concepts we must encounter

recursive: we encounter them again and again and perhaps learn something different each time they are encountered

integrative: they allow us to perceive connections between concepts and ideas

challenging enough that learners may exist in a liminal space while they seek to understand them.

2

Ruth came back from the event totally sparked. It made her want to interrogate what the corollary threshold concepts are for learning to speak. So she posed this question to the team at Articulation at the following Monday meeting:

“When was the last time you said something in general to no one in particular?”

Aside from the mumbling you may do as you crawl through a morning routine before caffeine, every time we speak, we do so with the intention to share knowledge, entertain, influence, or persuade.

For nearly 15 years, our firm, Articulation, has fielded calls from thousands of people like you asking us to help improve your speaking, and the speaking of your executives, your leaders in training, and your teams. We have assembled a huge toolkit of effective activities and exercises we use to help you and your leaders build better skills. We know how to make you uncomfortable by listening to your own voice, and recording and watching yourself on video to help you determine what you really want to improve. We also help large conferences prepare their speakers to level up the audience engagement and resonance of thousands of workshop and keynote talks. We coach in little steps, knowing that big change all at once is very hard. Our focus spans structured thinking, storytelling, style and delivery, executive presence—all leading toward ideal congruence between the vocal, verbal, non‐verbal, and emotional traits. When these elements come together, speakers become compelling communicators who make an impact, whether it's winning a pitch, getting buy‐in for a new strategy, changing hearts, or moving others to action.

But until now, we haven't really understood threshold concepts and their role in both understanding and doing that enable you to be a good speaker. In parallel, we came to the perhaps obvious but not often articulated conclusion that there is indeed a difference between being a great communicator and crafting a great communication.

So we got to work and with Dr. Wardle's help, we studied, sorted, tested, and narrowed down to six threshold concepts that apply to public speaking. We digested the book she co‐authored, Naming What We Know, which informed our concepts. There of course is a clear connection between writing and speaking, but her book and this work also help to clarify the unique attributes of each. For the better part of a year, we also shared these six concepts with clients, blogged about them, wrote posts and emails to test if they “stuck” with not only our clients and followers, but also with us.

We now wonder how we've come this far without them. Every time we coach a speaker, design a class, deliver a training, we are calling back to these six concepts. Every time a talent executive calls about a leader who needs development, they unknowingly start with a story that demonstrates that the speaker fundamentally missed one of the concepts in learning to practice and prepare.

During this study, we have come to deeply embrace all six. We believe that if you practice the rituals, habits, and patterns associated with them, we can nearly guarantee you will be a better speaker.

We are intensely proud to present this work and book as a collaboration. When we began the work there was never a mention of a book as an outcome. But we hope as you read it you'll realize this is more than just a book of our thoughts; it's a book with true guidance, especially for those who were not granted access to any form of public speaking teaching, training, or coaching. It is also for those who did have access but not much practice, feedback, or chance to improve.

By the time you finish this book, we hope you will come to understand the necessity and power of a threshold concept in learning anything, and especially these six for learning to be a speaker and communicator. We are indebted to Dr. Wardle for unknowingly sparking our curiosity for ourselves, and now in turn, as a service to you. We know and believe everyone can become a great speaker if you just take a moment to learn … how best to learn.

To that end, here's how to understand this book—what it is and what it isn't.

This book is for people who are motivated to become great verbal communicators. It's not the only book you need. But it is the one you've been missing. It will explain the threshold concepts that you will need to encounter and wrestle with to become a great speaker, presenter, panelist, and more. The threshold concepts will not teach you these things, but they are elements necessary for learning.

This book is not designed to explain great communication, like how to engineer a talk, organize a story, and distill data into insights. We have assembled our best resources of books that address content at the end of the book.

We distinguish between communicator and communication since there are distinct dispositions, mindsets, behaviors, and skills that are required to be an effective communicator regardless of your verbal or spoken communication. That is why this book keeps the speaker and the speaker experience at the center of our narrative.

Many scholars before us identified public speaking as the intersection of verbal (what you say), vocal (what it sounds like), and non‐verbal (what you look like when you say it). We will argue a fourth prong: emotional, how you are feeling (inside and out) when you are speaking. This drives your disposition, mindset, and ultimately, ability to control your stress response. We will reference all four of these throughout the concepts.

And, as we shared, understanding threshold concepts can forever change the way a person thinks and behaves. To that end, after each concept, we share some best practices—mindsets and strategies that can help you incorporate the threshold.

After the concepts, we briefly spell out the most important skills that you will need to build on your communicator's journey. In this way you can use the threshold concepts to inform your practice of each skill.

We also attempt to address the use of slide visuals. We recognize that, since PowerPoint was developed in 1987, smart thinkers, strategists, and designers have written many books on slide design. Our focus is on what an audience needs to see when also listening to someone speak. Because the brain really won't let you both listen and read at the exact same time.

Very few secondary schools teach public speaking or sponsor debate clubs, while college requirements for speech communication have greatly diminished. Companies don't often have a Toastmasters chapter (where speaking can be practiced) or consider core speaking skills in training and leadership programs. The gig economy and working from home has relegated speaking to a tiny camera into a video conference thumbnail window, which is in and of itself an entirely new genre of presentation.

To that end, we have included very practical tips for individuals, educators, and corporate executives alike who teach or manage people. Maybe this will come as a surprise, but developing these threshold concepts has taught us that the same rules for learning to speak apply whether you are a tenth grader or “grade level” ten at a company.

In an election year, a key headline about Vice President Kamala Harris was, “Can she handle an unscripted interview?” meaning at the time, she was yet untested in the genre of spontaneous vs. scripted speaking. One could argue it was President Biden's speaking performance at his only debate with former President Trump that solidified the lack of confidence in his candidacy. Trump is now known for “the weave” of his narrative, in and out of clarity. Clear, compelling speaking is still the most visible and reliable sign of clear thinking, leadership, empathy, understanding, and problem solving.

Meanwhile, the other daily headlines that continue to dominate are about AI, but it will be many moons before AI will physically speak for a person. We agree there are some effective and ethical uses of AI that we will outline. And while technology tools are advancing quickly, we also have specific recommendations on how to think about using them for improving, practicing, and getting more refined feedback when you speak.

Speaking genres, audiences, messages, channels, goals, and outcomes will be different with every single communication. But being a great communicator takes the same patterned, habitual practice. Welcome to that practice.

About Us

We are full‐time executive communication coaches practicing together in the same Columbus, Ohio–based enterprise, Articulation. Ruth has a background in speechwriting, public relations, and communications consulting; Acacia and Blythe have backgrounds in business and training while both of them are also deeply rooted with both degrees and practice in theater as actors, writers, and directors. We write from the front‐row seat that is our daily work, engaging with executives of all levels, walking alongside their struggles and celebrating their successes that are both a necessary part of being a great communicator.

Authors’ Notes:

We interchange the words “speaker” and “communicator” throughout the book. We know when speaking you are always communicating; but when communicating it may not be a formal speech or talk. And sometimes you are doing both in one setting: giving a prepared talk (speaking) and then answering questions (communicating). So we’ve agreed to use both terms, but please know they are interchangeable depending on the audience, event, genre, venue, and goal.

You will also notice we use the word “talk” throughout the book when referring to working with a speaker. In our practice we use “talk,” “speech,” and “presentation” interchangeably when discussing any consequential moment where a speaker is delivering a message in front of an audience.

It was very difficult for us to not end up writing a book just about storytelling, a central focus of our work. While we address story structures in Principle #2, we decided to keep our focus on the process a communicator must practice to get to great storytelling. We reference several resources throughout the book to help those interested in storytelling as a stand‐alone subject.

The book is written from the collective voice of the three of us. However, in order to make the threshold concepts more concrete, we have chosen to share numerous stories from decades of coaching a wide variety of speakers. Names, genders, organizations, and other identifying details have been changed to maintain the anonymity of our clients.

The Threshold Concepts for Public Speaking

Speaking is habitual (not natural)

Speaking is messy

Speaking is social

Speaking contains multiple genres

Speaking is embodied

Successful speaking requires feedback

Notes

1

.  Meyer, J.H.F., and Land, R. 2003. “Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practicing with the Disciplines.”

Improving Student Learning Theory and Practice — 10 Years On

( ISL10): 412–42. Oxford Brookes University.

2

.  Ibid.

PRINCIPLE 1Speaking Is Habitual

It's awfully convenient to think speaking is natural. If you’re not that great, that’s okay. As in, some people have “it” and others don't.

But that's entirely untrue.

No one is born speaking.

And while your capacity for language development grows with age, you don't learn it without another human speaking to you. As a quick primer and evidence, here are the key steps we all experience from birth:

Listening and Imitation:

Babies attempt to imitate sounds they hear.

Mama

,

dada

, a dog's name—all things they hear often or are taught to say first.

Social Interaction:

Parents and caregivers are the first teachers of talking, singing, reading out loud, and of course, screaming and yelling.

Feedback and Reinforcement:

When babies attempt to make sounds or words, what do parents and caregivers do? Ignore them? Hardly! They smile, talk back, ask more, and most importantly, provide encouragement to keep trying.

Exposure to Language:

The more words a baby hears, the more they are influenced toward language development. Dare we say also, if they are in a French‐speaking household, they most certainly will not learn, say, German.

Cognitive Development:

As the brain develops, so does the capacity for more understanding and language production.

Okay, enough brain science for today.

But … but … “That person is such a natural‐born speaker,” you may say.

“They were not born one,” we say.