Public Speaking Sucess Tip - Create Colorful Characters to Spice Up Your Stories!

By Joanne Chen

How would you like to mesmerize your audience every time?

One of the best advice that I can give you is this:

Entertain, inform, and inspire your audience with stories.

How does one tell a good story?

In a story we have several key players, the narrator and the characters. Instead of just you narrating the whole thing (which would make it ho-hum exposition), let your characters tell the story. How? Through dialogue and your physical and verbal portrayal of these characters. Before you can do so, however, you will need to have a clear understanding of your characters.

Here are the steps to creating a vivid portrait of your chosen character:

1. Pick a major character from a story that you plan to tell for a speech.

2. Download the "Character Analysis Sheet."

3. On a separate sheet of paper, write down answers to the questions/prompts posed. As you can see on the handout, I've organized related items into clusters: "Vital Statistics," "Physical Traits," "Possessions & Activities," "Take a Peek Inside" (psychological elements), "Backstory," "What Else Is Important to Know about Your Characters."

There are many more questions you can ask. Be as detailed in your answers as possible. This is the type of analysis that I had to do (and chose to do) when I acted in plays and dramatic scenes. After completing this exercise, I would have sheets of materials to work with.

4. Look through your answers and pick a couple that will help you portray the character in the most interesting fashion that still advances the story.

In one of my past speeches, I was sharing with my audience about a significant encounter with three characters, all of whom I met within a ten-minute time frame. The three characters were: a tall, burley, clean-shaven young man; an opportunistic, eager little boy holding an ice cream cone; and a white-whiskered, limping old man. These descriptions were all pertinent to the story, of course.

I had specific body posture, movement, and voice dedicated to each character. I also put in my own reactions - physical and verbal - to each. Throw in a couple of dialogue and vivid descriptions, and I had my audience at the edge of their seats.

All due to the fact that I had done my character analysis homework.

I encourage you to do the same for your speeches. You will find that the more detective work you do to give life to flesh-and-blood characters, the better a storyteller you are, and the more impactful your speech will be for your audience.

As a speaker, performer, and coach, Joanne Chen is known for her passion, creativity, empathy, sense of humor, physical comedy, and dramatic storytelling. Her Life Purpose is to awaken people to the joy of sudden inspiration through speaking. Check out more public speaking success articles at her Blog of Sudden Inspiration (http://www.JoanneChen.com/blog).

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