Soundbite 02: Use this one word to transform your speech: “you”

You can engage your listener with your very first word. Really! Just one simple word – so often underused – which makes all the difference. How often do YOU use it? Join Speechless co-hosts Maryam Pasha and Simon Bucknall to learn how to harness the power of “you”.

Transcript

00:00:00] Simon Bucknall: Welcome to Speechless Soundbites Practical Storytelling Tips in under five minutes. In this week's speechless soundbite, we explain how to harness the power of a simple word you, because no matter how hard you work on a piece of spoken communication, if it's not focused on the audience, it's not gonna stick at something as simple as the word.

[00:00:18] Simon Bucknall: You can make all the difference. You ready? Let's go.

[00:00:25] Maryam Pasha: The thing that surprised me the most, sometimes Simon, when I'm working, especially when I'm running workshops, for [00:00:30] example, and I've got like a whole day or three hours with a group of people and I'm, I'm communicating often quite a number of different tools they can use. Cause often people want me to come in and give them, like a whole tool is people will come up to me afterwards and they will tell me that like the first thing I said or the simplest thing I said.

[00:00:48] Maryam Pasha: Is the thing that resonated and stuck with them for the whole day and maybe weeks and months after, and is the thing they're applying, do you have a similar experience? Yeah, absolutely. Yes. If you succeed in making, whether it's a speaker [00:01:00] or a workshop facilitator, or indeed as a coach, if you succeed in making one thing, really stick with somebody.

[00:01:05] Simon Bucknall: Frankly, you've succeeded where most people fail. Mm. And of course, well, as you and I both know from our years of experience, time, and again, come back to Right, what is the core message? What is the key thing you really need to, uh, hit with this? And people, oh, well there's all these different things.

[00:01:17] Simon Bucknall: There's this and there's that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it fine. But most of it's gonna be forgotten. Yeah. At least with the spoken word. Absolutely. 

[00:01:22] Maryam Pasha: Yeah. I mean, I actually have to say this, I'm a bit harsher with sometimes with my coaching clients, where I'm like, either you don't do the work and [00:01:30] people remember nothing.

[00:01:31] Maryam Pasha: Or you do the hard editing. You do, the choice is and you pick the thing and then there's a chance. Yes. And often people are like, Oh, like they didn't realize that the choices are so stark. Yes. Between nothing and maybe one or two things that you want. 

[00:01:46] Simon Bucknall: Absolutely. And the simple test for anyone listening to this podcast right now is this, is to think about, say the last 12 months or even the last six months, maybe even the last month, and think, right, how many presentations you just think about, how many do you remember?

[00:01:59] Simon Bucknall: [00:02:00] Of the meetings or the presentations that you've been in the last month or six months, whatever, pick your own timeframe. So how many of you been in, how many do you remember? And I think, how much do you remember? And chances are it's not gonna be much. Yeah, right. It's probably gonna be just one or two things.

[00:02:14] Simon Bucknall: Yeah. And, and I think with this, and the same will be true with this podcast in, in any given episode, there may be all sorts of different ideas that we talk about and that a guest might contribute. But actually from my experience as a coach, is that one idea that really sticks and gets used and actioned.

[00:02:29] Simon Bucknall: It [00:02:30] beats 12 ideas that get jotted down and end up in the big round filing cabinet, otherwise known as the bin. And, and I know this in my own experience, I mean, back in 2007, I remember being in Phoenix, Arizona having just missed out on the final of the world Championship of public speaking. And I previous win of the competition coming to me and saying, Simon, I saw your speech.

[00:02:47] Simon Bucknall: I thought it was great. I said, oh, thanks very much. He said, would you like some feedback? I said, yeah, of course. He said, watch the video. Do a you count. I said, what count? The number of times I used the word you in the speech. He said, yeah, because there, it'll show you how audience [00:03:00] focused the speech was.

[00:03:00] Simon Bucknall: So I went back, watched it Eight uses of you in my seven minute, 12 second speech, cuz they're all filmed at that level. I thought, that's not bad. And then I went and watched his winning speech, Darren LaCroix and he won the whole competition back in 2001. The speeches on YouTube, it's called Ouch. He used the word you 15 times in the first.

[00:03:18] Simon Bucknall: 90 seconds. I thought, whoa, I'd never even considered the power of a simple pronoun for engaging an audience. Now, that was one thing, and that's what, no, that was in 2007. That's a few [00:03:30] years ago. Boy has that stuck with me Now, that was a conversation. That wasn't a coaching session, it wasn't a workshop, but my goodness, the scaled up value of that one idea over the last well, Many, many years has been immense.

[00:03:44] Maryam Pasha: And I've tell you, I've heard this story before and I remember it. I still, sometimes when I'm looking at stuff, I think, have I said you enough? But I I apply it all the time. Yeah, it's absolutely true. So I think as a listener, if you are thinking, [00:04:00] oh, what should be my goal listening to these episodes, I, I think your goal should be to take.

[00:04:06] Maryam Pasha: Away the thing that resonates with you the most that you feel like you can most quickly apply. Yeah. That you feel like you can master quickly. Yeah. And then go do it, and then come back and listen to the episode again in like six months. And maybe we'll take away something different. But I definitely think that.

[00:04:22] Maryam Pasha: Trying to master everything that we might talk about is gonna just set you up for failure actually. You wanna pick up a couple of things that you feel [00:04:30] excited about trying? Absolutely, actually. And put those to use as quickly as possible. 

[00:04:34] Simon Bucknall: And our responsibility will be to make sure that there is at least something available for each of the listeners. Right. 

[00:04:38] Maryam Pasha: I'm confident that's it. I'm confident. 

[00:04:40] Simon Bucknall: Me too.

[00:04:43] Maryam Pasha: So to recap, here's why. The power of you is not to be underestimated. First, the simple pronoun makes sure that you're centering your talk on your listener, their needs, an agenda rather than your own. Making your talk a million times more engaging. Second, why not see if you can get it into your first sentence.

[00:04:59] Maryam Pasha: How many of you can you [00:05:00] get an overall. And third for a masterclass on this watch, Darren Laqua speech called Ouch on YouTube. Thanks for listening to this speechless soundbite. Until next time, speak less. Stay more.