I was at the sound studio. My producer is a good friend, and we’d gotten to the stage where we were winding down my little project of the week, and just talking about late happenings. He works with a very successful motivational speaker; a man who sells book after book, publishes his blogs and newsletters to a hungry worldwide audience, and lives a great life of positive messages. As a nationally-known personality, the work also involves a lot of audio work. This is where the interesting part came in; he goes into the studio with very few notes, and records for hours – straight. Then he goes home and transcribes the audio into his next book. As the story came to me, the work is 98% complete as the thoughts flow to the microphone, organized and ready to be heard and read. Stream of consciousness, straight to audio-book and straight to the page.
For me this input arrived as a story of an invaluably notable source, a seasoned pro who is accustomed to constantly researching and mentally coding his materials. He digs, he stays current, he travels a lot, he stays focused on his messages. He is always on point, always speaking, delivering and maturing his thoughts for various deliveries of the stage and the page. Thus, I am not talking here about someone unacquainted to the preparation process. This was an insight into operating at a high level of performance, where the person and the material are not separated by the process. Before he speaks, his message becomes integrated to his human media.
This method hit me rather clearly. In his process, the communication arrangement matures and organizes. It must be adapted to the known mental structures of introduction, form, background, and along with stories, insights and passions. It becomes focused, understanding it’s goals, and then taking that hours-long journey with the speaking vessel down familiar paths. In other words, complex thoughts are completely ready to roll when the mic is turned on. What is so outstanding about it is it’s volume – the amount of final material delivered in each sitting. Naturally, there is a post-process and some minor re-dubs to be re-recorded, but very little, I was told.
This process runs contrary to the advice I dispense to new and aspiring speakers. I always encourage that one approach organizing thoughts carefully by writing and editing. It helps to solidify a new speaker’s confidence in their material by adding structure and therefore comfort to an intimidating process. I’ve seen countless speakers who have gone from clumsy to powerful by way of the writing process. The personal paybacks of writing a speech are endless, and results in a capture which could make for a remarkable chapter in that next book. It also causes focus on the value of the message.
In my own speech development practices, I have often tried something similar to the approach above, but hardly as effective. Maybe it's memory, or attention span. I let the mind chew on the topic and then I turn on my recorder and spit it out as best I can. Then it's to the headset and computer to refine those thoughts. The process results in something more like a 50% rewrite, but I usually manage to get the bones of the speech in the right places. With the audio-driven process, I can quickly identify gaps that need more thought or more research. My little recorder process pays off, after a few re-writes.
I took this insight about one pro and his recordings to heart. I’ll challenge my own processes to stretch toward a more complete, more organized and thorough original recording. I think I’ll write, to him, and inquire for a recommendation for memory-enhancing vitamin supplements.
Comments