Have you ever noticed your audience nodding off during a story that you know should be keeping their interest? Have you ever struggled to reduce the word count and time of your presentations? Have you ever wanted to find ways to really bring your characters to life in your speeches? One of the most frequently overlooked aspects of storytelling in any kind of speech is dialogue between characters. David Reed will discuss the fundamentals of turning your snooze-inducing monologue into a truly engaging dialogue between dynamic characters with just a few simple techniques. After joining Toastmasters in 2011, David became a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) in just 18 months. Before recently relocating to District 55, David became the 2013 District 2 International Speech Champion and was a 2013 World Championship of Public Speaking Semifinalist, where he took 2nd place in heat #4. David has also placed at the division level in several evaluation and humorous speech contests. He sold his first paid speaking engagement in Budapest, Hungary, in January 2014 to deliver the keynote at the annual meeting of an international corporation. David has taught storytelling fundamentals to many different companies, Toastmasters clubs, and youth audiences. Never turn down stage time!

1. Talk to Yourself
Bring Your Speech to
Life
David Reed, DTM
District 55 Toastmasters
2014 Fall Conference
Holiday Inn Express
Austin Midtown

3. What just happened?
• How many characters were there?
• Could you clearly distinguish between the characters?
• Who were they?
• What did they look like?
• How many lines of dialogue were there?
• Was there any narration at all?
• How much narration would have been required to replace the
dialogue?
• Do you want to know what happened before AND after?

4. Why replace your speech with dialogue?
• Say more with fewer words.
• Say more in less time.
• Deliver a heavier emotional impact.
• Be more relatable to a broader audience.
• Be more memorable.
• Spend less time memorizing your speech.
• Keep your audience awake and engaged!

5. What is a dialogue?
• Two or more characters speaking to one another.
• Not necessarily successfully communicating!
• Dialogue v. Monologue
• How many characters is too many?
• What are examples of characters in a speech?
• Are you a character in your speech?

6. To Create a Character: Change two things.
Voice
1. Tone
2. Pitch
3. Rate
4. Volume
5. Quality
6. Accent
Body
1. Position
2. Orientation
3. Posture
4. Pose
5. Gesture
6. Movement
7. Prop

7. Your turn! #1
• Situation: Riding in the backseat on a family roadtrip.
• Sister: “Hey! Stop touching me!”
• Brother: “I didn’t touch you. Touched me first!”

8. Your turn! #2
• Situation: A job interview that isn’t going well.
• Interviewer: “So, tell me. When did you stop beating your wife?”
• Interviewee: “Um. Er. What? Come again?”

9. Your turn! #3
• Situation: A dark alley in crime-ridden Gotham City.
• Bad Guy: “Hey, who the heck do you think you are?”
• Vigilante: “I’m Batman.”

10. Your turn! #4
• Situation: A moonlight beach in the Caribbean.
• Him: “Sweetheart, will you marry me?”
• Her: “Seriously? You propose to me with HER ring?”

11. Your turn! #5
• Situation: The principal’s office.
• Principal: “What do you have to say for yourself?”
• Student: “Well, I, uh, like, didn’t mean for, um, that to happen. . .”

12. Things to consider
• What is your storyline?
• Why do you need a narrator?
• Who are your characters?
• What is your setting?
• What is the point of your dialogue?

13. What questions do you have?

14. Dirty little dialogue secrets
• You are not on the witness stand.
• Nobody knows the Real Story™—except you.
• In order to better “tell the truth” you must adjust the facts of your
story to better support your point.
• There MUST be conflict and emotion.
• You must simplify your story to point where YOU think it’s boring.
Your audience will NOT think it’s boring.
• If it’s trite and it works, it’s not trite. Jerk tears from your listeners
whenever possible, if you dare.
• Dialogue is the one place where vernacular is GOOD!

15. David Reed, DTM
• I’m not cheap, but. . . I am available to coach you as a speaker
in San Antonio or Austin for a nominal fee.
• david@wanted2speak.com
• 425-765-0487 mobile