Becoming a speaker with... Martin Luther King
5 lessons from Martin Luther King
I have a dream
To find your speaking style, the one you are most comfortable with, and to enjoy your speeches, we believe in observing the greatest speakers . Through their speeches, they teach us many lessons and thus help us to progress rapidly.
To say that Martin Luther King made history with his fight for equality is an understatement. A committed pastor and tireless speaker, he travelled the United States several times a week throughout his life to speak. Some of his speeches are masterpieces and will remain in the pantheon of public speaking. The most mythical of these speeches is undoubtedly "I Have a Dream", delivered on 28 August 1963 in Washington D.C. during a major March for Jobs and Freedom.
Martin Luther King also had a tragic fate with his assassination in Memphis in 1968. That same evening, he gave a prophetic speech - "I've been to the Mountaintop" - in which he stated that the struggle for racial equality went beyond his own person and would continue for many years to come. I take five lessons from Martin Luther King from his speeches.
Martin Luther King's Lesson No. 1
Be optimistic and give hope for change
No matter how difficult a struggle may be, a leader must never give up, never give in to despair. This is the responsibility of a great speaker. Indeed, scientific studies have shown that great leaders focus on inspiring their audiences by emphasising their vision of the future rather than the challenges, present and future. Remember that wonderful line from his I Have a Dream speech.
"I say to you here and now, my friends: even though we face difficulties today and tomorrow, I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I dream that one day our country will stand up and live fully the true reality of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal." »
Better still, to move an audience to action, it is necessary to use positive, complimentary language. Martin Luther King used words like opportunity, victory, justice and peace in all his speeches.
To encourage your audience to make a difference, present an inspiring vision with words that convey your optimism.
Martin Luther King's Lesson No. 2
Using the power of images
You are probably familiar with the famous saying: "A picture is worth a thousand words". Martin Luther King knew that he had to be concrete in order to convince and reach his audiences. By using images from everyday life, he created a strong bond with his audience and was able to understand their concerns and put himself in their shoes.
At the beginning of the I Have a Dream speech, he evokes the image - through a spun metaphor - of the bank cheque that black Americans have come to ask the state for, a cheque on which appears the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In his latest speech, I've been to the Mountaintop, he also states:
"I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there. »
These concrete images are easy to understand and therefore have a strong impact on the audience, particularly by facilitating memorization.
To make an impression, you need to be (very) concrete. To do this, use a lot of images, for example, comparisons and metaphors that will speak directly to your audience.
Martin Luther King's Lesson No. 3
Repeat important statements
Martin Luther King was a master of all public speaking techniques, and as such he often used the anaphora, which consists of repeating one or more words at the beginning of a sentence. These repetitions simply make a stronger impression because the more you hear something, the more you remember it.
It is also a great way to give rhythm to a speech, like a chorus in a song. For example, he said "I Have a Dream" or "Let freedom ring" eight times in a row at the end of his legendary speech on 28 August 1963.
Remember to repeat the core of your message so that the audience will remember it more easily and be able to share it with more people.
Martin Luther King's Lesson No. 4
Knowing how to detach yourself from your notes
Martin Luther King prepared his speeches at length, often late the night before. The night before I Have a Dream, with the help of his faithful friends, he wrote and rewrote entire paragraphs in his hotel room. The first few sentences paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln's fight for freedom. But it was not until four o'clock in the morning that the final version was finally completed...and no mention of the "I have a dream" passage was made!
On the day, thanks to the video of the speech, we can clearly see Martin Luther King detaching himself from his notes after having consulted them for 10 minutes. The whole end of his speech will be an improvisation where he no longer concentrates on reading but on the message he wants to convey!
It is crucial to prepare notes before you speak, but it is also important to be able to detach yourself from them in order to connect directly with your audience and express yourself more convincingly.
Martin Luther King's Lesson 5
Always consider the context
Cicero, the great orator and rhetorician of ancient Rome, said in his book De Oratore that the environment in which we speak - particularly the place - is a crucial element in successful speaking. Martin Luther King spoke in churches, in public squares, in crowded halls or on official platforms. Each time, he took care in his introduction to recall the context in which he was speaking, with a nod to the place, time or people who had invited him.
On a day dedicated to the struggle for civil rights , Martin Luther King spoke at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for I Have a Dream. Behind him stands a statue of former US President Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in 1865 and who also gave a historic speech at Gettysburg. He then uses the first words of this speech to pay tribute to him and to follow in the footsteps of this great moment: "Five score years ago...".
Do not prepare your speech without taking into account the context in which you are going to speak. The place, the audience, the potential interventions of other speakers, the duration... are all elements to be taken into consideration to show that you are not repeating exactly the same words everywhere you go.
Eloquence
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