Ladies and gentlemen,

Today, we're speaking about speeches. This is quite normal in Berlin. In this city, you can listen to hundreds of speeches every day. Because Berlin is the political center of Germany.

Even now, few people know that this is the result of a speech. A speech that was part of an historical debate.

With the reunification in 1990, Berlin had become the new capital of Germany, but not the seat of parliament and government. Both remained in Bonn. And Bonn, which had been chosen as a provisional solution in 1949, had won a lot of friends in the meantime. Most members of the German Parliament wanted to stay in the cozy atmosphere of the small city in the Rhine area. They argued it would be too expensive to move to Berlin. And Bonn, host for half a century, would not deserve to be deserted. Jobs would be lost. The region would bleed dry.

On Thursday, June 20, 1991, the German Bundestag had to decide whether to stay in Bonn or go to Berlin. The political leaders had encouraged every member of parliament to choose freely. When the debate began at nine o'clock in the morning, most of the parliamentarians did not support the relocation to Berlin. At the end of the day, late in the evening, the majority voted in favor of it. Dozens of members of parliament had changed their minds.

It was one speech in particular that was decisive in this reversal of opinion. It was only a five-minute speech - but a speech which remained in the memory of everybody who was involved in German politics at that time. The speaker was Wolfgang Schäuble. He spoke not as Minister of the Interior (which he was at that time and is again now) but as a simple member of parliament.

Schäuble's key sentences were:

Dear colleagues, I hear people saying we will lose too many jobs, that the costs for moving and travelling are too high and that the region should not be weakened. But we are not deciding on jobs today, we are not deciding on moving or travel expenses and we are not deciding on regional policy. What we are deciding on is the future of Germany. Everybody here is not only a representative of their constituency or a region, but a representative of the whole German nation. If we want to strengthen this nation, if we want to overcome the division of Germany and the division of Europe, then we have to go to Berlin!

For 40 years nobody was in doubt that Berlin would be the seat of parliament and government after a reunification. For 40 years, Berlin had always stood as the symbol for unity, liberty and democracy. And for 40 years, Berlin was the focus for the solidarity and the sympathy of the free world. We would not be reunified without Berlin. So I ask you: join me voting for Berlin!

The minutes of the session of the German Bundestag say, "Sustained applause by members of all parliamentary groups. Members of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats stand up. Member of Parliament Willy Brandt congratulates Wolfgang Schäuble."

At that moment, six hundred parliamentarians in the audience and millions of people watching the debate at home felt the power of speech.

Normally, speakers are less famous, situations are less dramatic. But every day thousands of speeches with significant impact are delivered. Speeches that cause change, define strategies, motivate people or convince hesitators. A CEO explains an investment and gets the support of his employees. A manager convinces the board to put his proposal into practice. A CFO impresses analysts by detailed forecasts. A supervisory board achieves a capital increase.

It's very likely that you will have to deliver similar speeches and presentations during your career. But will they be impressive, moving, passionate, provoking, brilliant, spirited and eloquent? The answer is: it depends. In my opinion, it depends on your attitude towards speeches. Basically, there are two alternatives.

The first is you say to your colleagues and your secretary:

Next week, I have an obligation to deliver a speech. I hate the idea. A lot of people will listen to me. I fear they will be bored by what I have to say. And I have no time to prepare the speech. Don't we have some charts from last year which I can present again? And why can't I send my assistant to the conference? If he makes a fool of himself, it's not such a drama. After my presentation, dozens of people will ask questions. How awful. I'm really scared. God, please help.

Will there be help forthcoming? No, nobody will help. It's already too late. You are caught in a self-fulfilling prophecy. If an impending speech is a burden for you, the speech will also be a burden for your audience. One thing's for sure: at that conference you are not going to give an impressive, excellent speech. Your presentation will be average, a matter of duty. The only consolation is that your listeners won't have expected anything else of you.

The second alternative is you say to your colleagues and your secretary:

In three weeks' time, I have the opportunity to deliver a speech. I love the idea. A lot of people will listen to me. I'm sure they will be interested in what I have to say. It will take some time to prepare the speech. But I'm going to present something really useful. I'm happy that my boss doesn't want to speak at the conference himself. Afterwards, everybody will know who I am and will ask questions. Fantastic! WOW, I'm really looking forward to it!

If you belong to this group, it's very likely that your speech will be a huge success. I call this group 'the believers'. People belonging to it believe in the power of speech.

Believers know at least two things. They know why they want to speak and they know how they can make their speech successful.

So why is a believer so keen on speaking rather than listening and relaxing and dreaming and sleeping and checking emails and gazing into space - the usual activities of so-called 'listeners' at conferences or meetings? Why don't all those warning signs saying, "Stop! Attention! Don't do it! It's hard work! It's risk! It's dangerous!" appear in the believer's head?

Well, the first reason is influence. When you are invited to an event as a speaker, you are not going to be an anonymous part of the audience. You don't have to listen to somebody else's theories. You don't have to wait until the audience is allowed to ask questions or to comment on a presentation. You don't have to express your ideas in a few brilliant sentences in a question-and-answer session. No, as a speaker you can freely develop your lines of thought. You can put the focus where you want it. You can set the agenda. And you stop other companies, ideas, goods or concepts being presented in that time period. If you don't agree to give the speech, a competitor might use the opportunity. No, you should 'identify the space and occupy the place'!

Influence is one thing. The second reason is profile. On stage, everybody can see you. You don't have to make sure that people recognize you in the audience or in the line at the lunch buffet. Those who did not know you before know you now. No need to introduce yourself. And as your name is associated with the name of your company, it's obvious that you are an important person - otherwise the company would not have chosen you as its representative. But, as a speaker, you are more than a representative or even an expert. You are going to be a star for a limited time. Everybody who is on a stage is a star in people's eyes. Well, maybe not a star in show business, but a star in their respective industry. During this star period, people will be happy to ask questions or just speak to you. They will volunteer their business cards. And make appointments. People will come to you and say, "Wonderful speech. Thank you. Here's my business card. We should meet." People like to be in the vicinity of stars. Try building the same instant rapport without being a speaker - it's impossible. You also automatically establish contacts with other speakers or participants in a panel discussion. It's very easy to have a chat with them, because you and they are equals…at least for the time that you're on stage together.

The third reason for speaking is competence. When people see you on stage, they believe that you are competent. They might get a different impression during your speech - but just being a speaker gives you an air of competence. It's the same when you see a doctor in a white coat - your first impression is: this man is competent. And it's extremely important that people think that you are competent. Sometimes, board members and senior management participate in conferences. When they see that you are a speaker or a panelist, they will automatically think that you are competent. They will keep your name in mind. This is true even for those senior executives? that do not participate in the conference, but only read the invitation and the agenda. At some conferences, the organizer prints 30,000 copies. This means your name and your photo is distributed 30,000 times in the industry. By the way, headhunters also read conference programs. And, after a speech, people can find your name, your photograph, your CV and your presentation on the internet. Journalists looking for somebody competent will phone you and ask for an interview. They may even invite you onto a talk show.

There is also a fourth reason: convenience. Being a speaker at a conference (as opposed to a mere attendee) means that they refund your travel expenses, you don't have to wait at the registration desk, you get better food, they give you little gifts, they put a red dot on your badge giving you access to the VIP lounge, you can use the limousine service and you are totally free to leave the conference when it gets boring. Everybody understands that. As a star, you must have another twenty appointments that day. Stars are always busy.

So, my conclusion is this. If you want to acquire influence, build up your profile, demonstrate competence and benefit from convenience, speak!

But how? How can you use this great opportunity to conquer the minds and the hearts of your audience? Well, I will give you a very simple answer today.

The interesting starting point is that people in an audience are not expecting sensational rhetoric when somebody is going to deliver a speech or a presentation. On the contrary, listeners are used to mediocrity. So, in your first twenty-five speeches, you do not have to be excellent - you only have to be distinctly above average. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

To be king in this sense, you should comply with my five 'how-to-be-king-and-influence-people' rules. These are: avoid redundancy, create feelings, simplify statements, be yourself and 'P squared 2 plus R'.

Let's start with 'avoid redundancy'. Last week I participated in a conference which a business newspaper had organized. The first speaker, the marketing manager of an international food company, who had been announced as the 'keynote speaker', arrived ten minutes late. His first words on stage were, "Good morning. Sorry to be late. Does anybody have a Mac adapter?" Because his brand new, super-light Macbook Air was state-of-the-art, but - sadly - not compatible. By the time the trial-and-error process of connecting this miracle of modern technology to what were old newspaper publishers' presentation devices had finished two minutes later, the listeners had already had a good look at all the files on the speaker's desktop and still had enough time to discuss if the wallpaper photo of the speaker's wife and two children had been taken in Florida or Hawaii. This was an exciting, convincing and fascinating start to a keynote speech and exactly what I mean by redundancy.

A speaker's problems start immediately, with the title of the presentation. A lot of speakers spend between three and eight seconds thinking about it. That's why in conference agendas you read titles like 'The reform of international public law and its historical, social, political and geographical impact on the future of underdeveloped regions in the Congo delta'. Titles like that motivate people to plan their midday sleep exactly for the time of your presentation.

The second problem is that the moderator often doesn't know much about the speaker and says things like, "OK, our next speaker is Michael. Michael is with ... let me see, yes, Bertelsmann, aha ... and in his CV I read that he comes from Gutersloh, which appears to be a little town in the middle of nowhere. Like many others, Michael is going to talk about the future of media, so let's see what his idea is. Michael, would you like to start?"

The third problem is that most speakers make things even worse by starting their speech on the same 'redundancy' level. "Yes, Peter, thank you very much for that kind introduction. Good morning. My name is Michael Smith. Thanks for the invitation. Oh, I see some people standing ... come up here, there are plenty of seats in the first row. OK. Now, when I was asked if I would like to give this speech, I agreed spontaneously. But, well, in thirty minutes it's impossible to cover this topic completely, so I've reduced my 85 charts down a bit. I'll be skipping three of them, but don't worry, you'll get them all afterwards in printed version. And you can ask questions after my speech if you want. And over lunchtime, as well. Yes ..."

Isn't that a truly wonderful, amazing, thrilling beginning? In 'Advice for a Bad Speaker', Kurt Tucholsky recommends:

Never start at the beginning, but always a good three miles before that. With something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, before I get to the subject of tonight's talk, let me briefly..." Here you've got almost everything which constitutes a bad start: an awkward address, a beginning before the beginning, an announcement that you are going to speak and what you are going speak about, and that little word "briefly". This is how you immediately win the ears and hearts of your audience. Audiences just love this: having your speech forced upon them like a tedious piece of schoolwork.

Many speakers make the same mistake at the end of a speech. They say things like, "Well, I'm going to end my speech now. Of course, half an hour was too short to discuss all the aspects - so you'll be getting all the charts as printouts. On the last chart, you'll find my phone number, the website and my email address in case you want to contact me. Of course, you can ask questions now. And over lunchtime, as well. Thank you very much for your attention and for your patience."

Kurt Tucholsky writes:

Announce the end of your speech a long way ahead, so that your listeners don't suffer a heart attack out of joy. ... Announce the end, start your speech from the beginning and add on another half hour. This can be repeated several times.

Everything I have told you in the last three minutes is redundant. Let's start from scratch. The title of the speech has to create attention, curiosity and suspense. Call it 'Media tomorrow: how TV, newspapers and radio are changing.' Or 'The power of speech: the five 'how-to-be-king-and-influence-people' rules'. Don't be too precise; precise titles allow people to guess what you want to say. And if you are too precise you may run out of arguments. A more general title makes detours possible.

Before travelling to the conference you should contact the moderator. Give him a short introduction in written form. A good introduction is something like this:

Our next guest is an expert in the future of electronic media. He is Vice President, Business Development at Bertelsmann, one of the largest media companies in the world. And he says, "Tomorrow's media will be completely different." Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Michael Smith!

There are several tricks hidden in this example. Number one: always end with the first and last name of the speaker. If you do that, people will applaud like mad - it's a reflex, you can't stop it.

Number two: limit the introduction to three sentences. These are tailored sentences for each conference, strongly linked to the elements of your speech. Nobody is interested in where you were born, what your father's profession was and the fact that, after high school, you spent half a year with Australian aborigines. People are interested in what you are doing now and what you are speaking about. That's all.

And number three - the most important trick - is that you wrote these sentences yourself. It's a ninety-five percent probability that the moderator will accept your words - and, yes he will even be thankful for them.

At the beginning of a speech, start with content. Skip all organizational matters, do not comment on latecomers, do not complain - and yes, do not even say, as most speakers do, "Good morning. Thank you for inviting me". A good start is something like this:

New York. The New York Times announced today that the weekend edition of its famous historical newspaper will be the last one to be published in printed form. From now on, text, pictures and videos will be distributed via the internet, displayed on mobile electronic devices and enhanced by user-generated content. Publisher Frank Miller said there was no chance for the printed press in the future. He stated, "Paper is dead. And journalism as well." Ladies and gentlemen, will we, one day, listen to this radio message? Will the newspaper die? Will the internet take over completely? My answer is: yes.

And at the end of your speech? Just repeat your core message and say, "Thank you very much". You will see that you will get some resounding applause if you do that. Resounding applause which starts a tenth of a second after your last words. But you will only get this response if you give a clear and (very important) short signal indicating the end of your speech. If it is not clear or short, the applause will be much less impressive.

My second piece of advice is 'create feelings'. The most important feeling is the one which you need to create with your very first words. At the beginning of your speech, your audience should feel, "Hey, this is going to be interesting." The best way to create that feeling is to tell a story. You can begin every speech with a story. There are always numerous possibilities. If you're speaking on a legal topic, describe a case. If you're speaking about the past, sketch an historical event. If you're speaking about the future, describe a vision. The New York Times example showed that the story doesn't have to be true. You can even invent a taxi driver who told you something interesting. The decisive point is that the story should be somewhat long and detailed. Let's assume you want to talk about how Steve Jobs assembled his first computer in a garage. If you just provide the pure fact that this is what he did, nobody will be impressed - the story is too short and not detailed enough. If you describe how the garage smelt, how big it was and how there was an old oil can full of holes in it which nearly ruined the first Apple motherboard, then you create feelings. But you need details to create an image.

How many details? I'll give you a second example. This one is taken from Stephen King's book "On Writing". King says, "Writing is telepathy". Let's do a test. Imagine a table. The table is covered with a red tablecloth. There is a cage on the table. The cage is the size of a small fish tank. A table. The red cloth. The cage. In the cage is a white rabbit. The rabbit has a red nose. And on the back of the rabbit, clearly marked in blue ink, is the number 8.

King writes, "Do we see the same thing? I think we do. There will be necessary variations, of course: some receivers will see a different shade of the red table cloth color than others. Likewise, the cage leaves a lot of room for individual interpretation. But we all see the same image. Which number is on the back of the rabbit? Yes, you remember: it's the number 8. And the color of the ink is - blue. Interesting. We are together. We are close. We are having a meeting of the minds."

There is a second time in your speech where you should create feelings. It's at the end of the main part of your speech, before your very short final summing up sentences. When you are invited to speak at a company event, ask the organizer, "What should people feel at the end of the speech?" Most organizers don't understand the question. They often answer: "Feel? Well, people should feel, 'I'm well informed now'". But being 'informed' doesn't move anything on. OK, I'm informed about the new product, thank you and goodbye. Imagine if these people were to say, "Hey, this is a great product. I absolutely must have it. I want to order it immediately. Where do I sign?" These are real feelings. By the way, a lot of speakers want to create feelings, but choose the wrong approach. Let's assume you want your employees to feel pride in working for your company. The first option is that you explicitly say, "You should be proud to work for our company." No, this does not work. A feeling is something that must come from your listeners themselves. The second option is that you describe in very simple words what makes your company unique. But you do not use the words 'pride' or 'proud'. Then you have a good chance of creating the desired feeling.

My third recommendation is 'simplify statements'. There are two aspects to this. The first regards language. Avoid the passive form, build short sentences and use verbs instead of nouns. I'm going to concentrate on the passive verb today and would advise that you read William Strunk's 'The Elements of Style' and Gary Provost's '100 Ways to Improve Your Writing' for the other two aspects . Here is Stephen King again. He writes:

I think timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe. There is no troublesome action to contend with; the subject just has to close its eyes and think of England, to paraphrase Queen Victoria. I think unsure writers also feel the passive voice somehow lends their work authority, perhaps even a quality of majesty.

Only so far, Stephen King. Let me add: it's not only anxiety. Lack of thought leads people to use the passive verb as well. Last year's revenue was exceeded. Whose success was this? The apartment was cleaned. By the Holy Ghost? The machine could be sold. Without the influence of a human being? By the way, I also find passive verbs very often employed in internal speeches. Action failed to be taken. The targets could not be reached. Market leadership was lost. Some people seem to think that leading a company has nothing to do with responsibility.

Stephen King continues:

I won't say there is no place for the passive tense. Suppose, for instance, a fellow dies in the kitchen but ends up somewhere else. "The body was carried from the kitchen and placed on the sofa" is a fair way to put this, although "was carried" and "was placed" still irk the shit out of me. I accept them but I don't embrace them. What I would embrace is "Freddy and Myra carried the body out of the kitchen and laid it on the sofa". Why does the body have to be the subject of the sentence, anyway? It's dead, for Christ's sake! Fuhgeddaboudit!"

The second aspect of 'simplify statements' concerns content - the content of the speech and the content of the charts. A lot of speakers think that they have to discuss each element in great depth. This leads to a race through a field of knowledge. Yes, in a race like this people learn that the speaker is competent, but that's all they learn. As a speaker, you can only convince and create feelings if you concentrate on the most important facts.

The same is true for charts. Most charts have too much content. The result is that the audience is not looking at you but constantly in the direction of the screen. That's not a speech, that's a slide show - in its worst sense. Your parents were often invited to slide shows. They had to watch other people's slides all evening. The next morning they told you, "The Millers have been on vacation. Somewhere at the seaside, we think ...".

So, please concentrate on the most important facts. Do not demonstrate knowledge. Do not get lost in detail.

My fourth piece of advice is 'be yourself'. There are several components to this as well. First of all, unless you are a high level CEO or a politician, do not attempt to talk about things you are not familiar with. This can have awful results. Remember Luke 14: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled". That's especially true for speakers. On the other hand, do not wait until you think you have totally understood everything - otherwise you could be waiting till you retire. Find a compromise - for example, by specializing on certain subjects.

Next point: do not give a speech in a language you don't speak fluently. Well, OK, you can say one sentence - something to the effect that you're glad to be in Paris and sorry you can't speak French - but that's it. Erwin Huber, at that time chairman of the CSU of Bavaria, once tried to give a whole speech in English at an international conference. Everybody very much enjoyed the speech - but hardly understood a word.

Two other really important things to remember. If, in a panel discussion or after a speech, somebody asks something and you don't know the answer, please say, "I don't know - I'll have to look it up" and never, ever try to guess. And don't shoot immediately. You have the right to think about every question. So don't be afraid of silence. People will recognize that the person on the stage is not a machine, but a human being. People love human beings and hate machines.

My last piece of advice is about preparation. No, I'm not saying, "Prepare yourself", I'm saying, "Do much more than that". My formula is 'success equals P squared 2 plus R'. 'P' stands for preparation, 'R' for routine. You may have plenty of routine - but if your preparation is not excellent, you will fail.

Take me, for example. I have a lot of routine. But my secret is preparation.

OK, I have to admit that sometimes things can go wrong nevertheless. Recently, I chaired a conference about internet advertising. I had to introduce a marketing guy from the Mars company. I was confident he would be speaking about Mars Bars and Snickers, the company's famous chocolate and peanut snacks, so my intention was to say something like "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you all love these products and enjoy eating them several times a week". This would have been somewhat offensive, since the marketing guy was actually responsible for Cesar's, Whiskas, Sheba and Pedigree - dog and cat food.

In my experience, it's often the small things that go wrong. For example, you might be a bit lazy, and quote from hearsay. If you use quotations, look up several sources to make sure that the quotation is correct. Use the internet - but use written sources as well. And don't mix up authors, locations and times. I remember one of the representatives of a large music company who, at the end of his speech, quoted a German minister. He said "Minister Emel said in 1960 that he was expecting only five computers to be built. You see, 'to err is human'. Thank you very much." After the applause died down, somebody put their hand up and said, "Minister Emel was a minister in the Third Reich and a member of the Nazi party. So he can't have held office until 1960."

Another problem can occur if you don't pay attention to the pronunciation of names of people, countries, cities or companies. Recently, in her speech at a media conference, an editor from the well-known German publication Handelsblatt spoke about the bundled offering of television, internet access and telephony by cable operators. Fifty times she pronounced it 'traiple' rather than 'triple' play ...

As I said, my secret is preparation. I take time to prepare a speech or presentation. One minute of speech equals thirty minutes of preparation. I rehearse the speech with a pencil in my hands, marking where I make pauses and where I should put some emphasis. And I ask other people to have a look on it.

You might ask, should I write a speech or should I just use notes? Well, that depends. A small audience? Use notes! An audience you are familiar - colleagues, employees, for example? Use notes! A seminar, workshop? Use notes! So why don't I have notes now? Why am I using a script? Well, the answer is simple: my English is not good enough for me to be able to rely on it to always find the right words.

So what are typical script situations? An important event, conferences where there are guests, the annual press conference - to give just three examples. Ninety percent of all speeches that come to mind are speeches with scripts - thoroughly planned, written, corrected and rehearsed.

Avoid redundancy, create feelings, simplify statements, be yourself and 'preparation squared' - these are my five recommendations for excellent speeches. My five 'how-to-be-king-and-influence-people' rules.

Don't underestimate presentations and speeches. Don't see them as a burden, see them as an opportunity. You will acquire influence, build up profile, demonstrate competence and benefit from convenience.

Maybe your challenge will not be as great as Wolfgang Schäuble's. Maybe you will never be asked to deliver a speech with historical impact. But I'm sure that it won't be long before you find this entry in your electronic agenda: Friday, ten o'clock, Berlin, 300 people, 30 minutes. And your reaction will be, "WOW!"

Thank you very much!