Ep. 4 Five Key Questions Behind Creating Darren's Winning Speech "Ouch!" (Part 1)

Anyone can give a presentation, few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time, stage time, Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation? Ahas, let's dive right in.

Yes. Welcome, welcome, welcome to episode four of the Unforgettable Presentations podcast. Episode four. I am Mark Brown, certified public speaking, professional CSP and world champion of public speaking. And I get a real thrill today because today I get to put my co host, Darren Lacroix, CSP and also world champion of public speaking, in the hot seat. How are you, Darren?

Doing great. I'm excited about this because I actually went back and studied my own speech and I was like, man, that was actually pretty good. And as you and I know, Mark, a lot of people still talk about that speech, which would never have happened if it wasn't for you or for videotape. You know, just people talking about the quote, unquote, the fall and still decades later. That blows my mind that people still talking about it decades later.

Well, the thing is, when a speech is unforgettable, there's always something that makes it memorable. And you're quite right, the fall in your speech does make it unforgettable. And for those who are wondering, what is he talking about? You can always go to YouTube and look for Darren Lacroix's World Championship speech. And you will get to see physically, visually, what that was all about and why after 19 years, people are still talking about it. And today we'll look at Darren's speech critically. We want to find out the key questions that uncover the gold in this unforgettable presentation. Enough preamble, Darren. We need to kind of jump right in and talk about the key questions that brought about this presentation. And the key questions began back in the summer of 2001 when you're still hoping to find your way at the very top of the chain to qualify for the World Championship. And you might want to help us out by helping our audience understand the process that led you to me and eventually to the World Championship.

Thanks, Mark. And for everyone listening to this highly recommend, grab a pen, pull out your phone, get ready to take some notes, because these questions are gold and I never heard of any of them before Mark Brown. But Mark, I'm actually going to back us up to 1998. And the reason that I actually entered the speech contest. So this episode about the 12 questions and the one statement, and it was actually a previous mentor that led me to you. And his name was Dave Fitzgerald. And he had noticed that I was trying to build a speaking career. I still had a day job, and I was trying to find that story. What's that story? You know, I heard in the National Speakers association, they say, you got to have your signature story. I'm like, what's a signature story? What's that story that you're known for? And I just kept searching, searching, searching, trying to find it. And Dave Fitzgerald, my comedy mentor, said something brilliant. And he said, darren, stop trying to find that story that launches your career, and instead take the stories you already have and make them so good, someone will pay to hear them. And Mark, I gotta be honest, I didn't know what that meant. I really didn't understand what the process was to take a story and make it unforgettable. I had no idea. So it immediately changed my perspective. And at that time, trying to build my speaking career, I was working, working, working, speaking as often as I could do, working my day job to pay my bills and pay my parents off and pay my business debt. So the one thing I wasn't doing that he was noticing was improving my craft. Even though I was speaking anywhere and everywhere, I wasn't actually taking my stories and trying to make them unforgettable. So that was a brilliant perspective. And then finally he had passed away. But I carried that statement in my head, and that encouraged me to join the World Championship Speech Contest. I didn't even know it went to the World Championship level. I just knew I needed to force myself to. To work on the stories I was already telling. So I pulled out one of my stories of my keynote speech, and I put it into the Toastmasters Speech Contest format. If you're not familiar with the contest, it's five to seven minute speech. And so it forced me to focus, and I needed that. And I had no idea how bad. And there's six levels of the World Championship Speech Contest. And so the first story I took, and it brought me through the fourth level, and I won because the story got better and it forced me to focus. And I found a coach along the way. His name was Dave McElhenney. And I thought, well, if I could just get a few tips. I didn't realize how bad I needed the help.

Garrett, real quickly, you said something. You already gave us a nugget And I think some people missed it. You said you were giving a keynote speech. You had these stories which you were telling over and over again as part of your keynote. But based on what Dave told you, you decided to work on the make it better, reinsert it into your speech, and thus make the speech better. And everybody please, and carefully catch this. You may be doing something very well right now, but if you invest the time to improve on parts of your presentation over time, what is a good presentation now can become better, it can become unforgettable. If you're willing to put the kind of work in that Darren was. You may be good now, but always trying to improve will make it even better. So what happened next, Darren?

Yeah, and I just missed that. I didn't even know there was a way to take a story and make it world class. I just thought, here's a story. So I would tell it. So whenever I saw like a Tony Robbins or Brian Tracy tell this amazing speech, I would have like or story. I would have story envy. I would be like, oh, man, I wish that would happen to me. And it was this horrible, tragic thing that was a life lesson. I'm like, I really don't want that to happen to me. But we think that other people have stories and we don't. And what the lesson was for me is to. You have them inside you, Mark, as you say, everyone has a story and someone needs to hear it. But I didn't know. I didn't know that. So Craig Valentine, our fellow world champion friend, says if you want to master peace, you have to master the pieces. I was using the speech contest and I just thought, you know, you won your state, which is the fourth level, you're king of the world. That was done. But I didn't care. I was trying to build my career. And then you have to create a new speech at the fifth level. And so I worked, I pulled out my second best story and I worked on it, worked on it, worked on it with my whole goal to put it back in and, and make the keynote better. In the speech contest, back when Mark and I competed, you had to have a third speech. I remember being at the regional convention and Mark Brown, the world champion, was speaking what he outspoke 35,000 contestants from 14 countries. And I'm sitting at the feet of the master, literally taking notes, hinging on every word. And that's how I met Mark Brown. And after Mark's present presentation, David McElhaney, who was my coach, introduced me to Mark. And the big question so question number one, write this down. This was life changing for me, though I had no idea at the time. Mark, would you coach me? I had no idea what I was in for. I thought that was just a simple yes or no question. I didn't know it was gonna change my career. Not just a speech, but my career. My. If, Mark, I have to tell you this, and you may have heard me say this before, but those 77 days from when I met you to when I delivered in August 25, I became a different person and a different presenter. Forgetting win or loss. Thoughts on that?

Well, what's interesting is you identified a key to make yourself better, not just your presentation. You said, will you coach me now? I really appreciate that. Not because you came to me. Well, I could be Darren Lacroix coach, because years earlier, I had been approached by David Brooks, the 1990 world champion, and he offered to help me if I was willing to accept his help. There's more detail on that story in our previous podcast, episode three, where we talked about my speech contest.

Yeah, if you haven't listened to that yet, please go back and listen. We dissect Martin speech along with Ed Tate, and there was so much content, it was ridiculous. You got to check out that podcast.

But the cool thing was I acknowledged that I could use the help of someone who had been where I wanted to go. And many of us, we tried to work on our own to accomplish a goal and to make ourselves better from a place of ignorance. I don't say insult anybody, but you don't know what you don't know until you work with somebody with the expertise, the accomplishment and the achievement. I had that in David Brooks. And I competed in the World Championship in 94 without a coach, lost, didn't place, and this man helped me. And one year later, I can state unequivocally without any reservation, I was a different speaker in 1995 than I'd been in 94 because of the guidance of this coach, David Brooks. So I found myself in a position to pay it forward and support you. And you were willing to ask the question, would you coach me? And it was not a difficult yes for me because I saw something you were willing to learn. You were ravenous. You were epitomizing a principle you teach now, 19 years later, of being a sponge. You sat literally in the front row with a legal pad and a pen, and you're writing down everything I said. If I said, today is Tuesday, you wrote down today is Tuesday. You said Tuesday, right, Because you wanted to Learn. We laugh about that now, but that sponge like attitude, Everyone please hear me. When you find the source of knowledge, inspiration, information and education, it's available to you. Take advantage, learn all you can. Be that sponge. Because in so doing, you're on your path to developing and delivering your unforgettable presentation. So for me, that was an easy yes. And then the fun began.

The mentor wants to see the eager person who's actually going to do something. And I have to admit, Mark, back then, at the very beginning of my standup comedy career, I was a sponge. But then back in 2001, after doing it for what was nine years, at that point, my ego started getting in the way. And my ego started getting in the way in a big, big way. I was eager to learn from you, but I thought if I just wrote out version 1.0, if you just gave me a couple little tweaks, I would win. There was no question. I had this experience nine years. I did stand up comedy. I was a part time professional. Oh, man. Two biggest problems in my opinion in the speaking world is number one, at the beginning, self doubt, which I used to have big time. And then number two, after you get a little confidence, few people ask for pictures and tell you how great you are. Then ego becomes a second problem and we need to unlearn that. We need to let go of that. For those of you not familiar with the speech contest, again, there's five levels. You win the fifth level, now you're going to the World Championship, which is the sixth level. But back then, I had to create a brand new speech. I was out of my good stories to build my keynote speech. I really only had two that I could pull out and use in the Toastmaster format. So now here I am, the biggest opportunity in my world and I had a blank piece of paper and 77 days to create the best speech, the most important speech of my life. And that's again where Mark changed me. And he helped me uncover the gold inside me that I didn't even know was there and I didn't know where to look.

Now what's interesting is at some point all of us find ourselves as speakers at a place where we need to say something pointed. We believe we must share something really valuable. And I got nothing. I mean, I want to get, I want to write the speech of my life. It's a world championship. It's my great big opportunity. What do I do? After week out and I remember seeing this excitement, this agitation, all this. If you don't know, Darren Lacroix, he's a physical bundle of energy. It's like, don't give the guy sugar or coffee in the morning. It's just crazy, okay? But he has this potential to blow you away. But he had this doubt. What do I tell this audience? I have my great stories. I've used them. Now what do I do? And that led to me asking him a question. I said, darren, for a moment to find your message.

Like what?

Yes.

I don't know what that means.

What do you mean? Well, you want to be able. You have a Privilege, Darren, of seven minutes to reach in that room, 2,000 people live and countless thousands other by videotape. Okay? You have to make sure you give them something valuable. So I said, do you have any kids? And Darren said, nope. Well, I said, okay. You have any family, like nephews or nieces? Yeah, I got nephews. Okay, good. Choose a child, one you love dearly, and put them in the fourth row of the audience. But answer this question. If you were to die tomorrow, what would be the one life lesson that you would choose to leave with that child? I said, wait, Darren, don't answer me right away. Take a few days, get pen and paper, literally. Write out all the things, lessons that you have learned that you want to live with this child. Think about that. What would that one lesson be if you were to die tomorrow and get back to me in two days and let me know what you find? I believe you'll find the core message of your speech. Now, when I asked you that question and gave you that instruction, what was going through your mind? Darren?

It didn't make sense. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, what's the winning message? What's that unforgettable idea? How do I stand out? And the genius of that question was you were pointing out and helping me discover inside of me what I cared about. You know, for anybody, if you want to be unforgettable, it kind of starts figuring out what you care about. What's that message that is burning inside your heart and your soul that you want to tell? Because there's so much work to be unforgettable, it's got to be that thing that you care about, or you'll never put the effort in to be unforgettable. And, Mark, you also said something, you said, even if it's a overused universal message, like, write it down anyway, because it could lead to something else. In the motivational speaking world. We've heard about the Thomas Edison, the Ben Franklin, trying to Thomas Edison Trying to invent the light bulb and tried 4,000 times, but you said, write them down, which was really good because it led to other ideas. So I literally had three and a half pages of ideas, some of them universal and overused. I knew I wasn't going to use them because of your guidance, but I wrote them down anyway. And it was probably halfway down the third page that I kept coming back to this one idea and this one idea. If I could only. And I have two nephews and I love them both dearly, but you said, choose one to personify both of them, really. So the older nephew, I think he was 8 at the time, I just felt he could understand it more. So I just chose my eldest nephew, Michael. And Matthew, if you're listening, I love you too. You're amazing. I was just following orders and I had to pick one, right?

Blame the bacon guy. I love it. Blame me. I'll take it.

I kept coming back and you said, and this was so important, Mark, you said, you gotta choose one and if you're gonna die tomorrow. And that forced me to go deeper than I've ever gone in my life. You know, I love humor and I wrote the book Laugh and Get Rich. And I love business and I love humor. But, ooh, this made me go deep and I kept coming back. If I could only give him one. Lesson is I became a comedian because I was willing to fail. And I circled that and Willing to Fail became my, let's say, working title, if you will, because that was the message. If I could just get one thing across, you can learn anything if you're willing to fail.

Now, Darren, real quickly, you also made one more point. And I'm glad you asked our listeners to get a writing instrument and the means of recording some of these points. You said asking you that question forced you to go deeper inside you. And the point is, in my experience of 25 years of speaking, I've learned that the deeper you go inside, that's where some of the most powerful messages reside. That's where some of the most poignant stories and the truths that you gain from them are living. And we have to go deeper. Invest the time and the effort to be vulnerable, be honest, but let our experiences and our deepest emotions drive those messages forward. And when those are delivered honestly and passionately, audiences respond. And this idea of willing to fail, you want to tell your 8 year old nephew whatever it is, be willing to fail and go for it. That was the seed, the germ from which this out speech had sprung. And I Want to get asked that question. And it took you a while to get back me, but then you did. And you had the idea, you had the seed, you had the example you wanted to work with. But that was just the beginning of a process.

And I had one more thing with that, Mark, which was the energy and excitement. So you unleashed that along with the other. We need that energy to be able to do the work it takes again to be unforgettable.

But the thing is, it's part of a process. One does not sit down overnight and come up with a perfect, unforgettable presentation. Now, there may be somebody out there who has done that and more power to you, but the process of preparing and then presenting a presentation that comes from within you. The passion that you have, the concern you have, the conviction that you have, that general that shows even in a humorous environment, that shows you put the effort in. You went through a process of preparing this as your gift to the audience, as your message to the audience, as a part of who you are, giving of yourself to your audience. And that was the beginning of a process that had some twists and turns along the way. Additional questions had to be asked and answered for this presentation to become what it finally did. 77 days after we first met, because you came to me at Reader's Digest in New York, having driven how long from Boston.

If I could set this up, Mark. And by the way, if you're a corporate presenter or a pastor, we're talking about a speech contest, seven minutes. And we're talking about a life lesson. But if we can translate that, if you're a pastor, each week you have to deliver another brand new presentation. So you may not have the time and energy that we're talking about, but the principle still can work. The principles that we're covering still can help a corporate presenter deliver. The importance of changing the 401k plan. Like, you still gotta distill it down to what's the one idea they gotta walk away with, that this is actually gonna benefit your family. So even though we're talking about a motivational message, pastors, corporate presenters, the ideas still work. We just gotta apply them to your situation. So here's our situation, Mark. David McElhenney, my other coach who introduced me to you, I wrote out version 1.0. I was so excited. We drove from Boston to New York where you had worked, and we went to Reader's Digest where you worked at the time, and we went into one of those little corporate theaters and it was just Watercolor historian.

Yeah.

It was just a beautiful setting. You could, like, smell the new carpet. And it was just the three of us in the room. And I remember being so thrilled and this turned into a story that I didn't want to give you the speech ahead of time. I wanted to see the joy on your face when you read the greatest speech in the history of Toastmasters. And as I handed it to you, I remember just, like, waiting like a little kid on Christmas, just till you open that gift. And as you read the speech and I saw your energy drop, and you looked up and you said, oh, Darren, we have some work to do. My initial was like, what, are you kidding me? This is the greatest speech I ever wrote. From a deeper place than I ever created a presentation. And you and David McElhenney had to remind me that I came to you for coaching, because then I was, like, mad and yelling at you that I'm like this. What are you crazy? You're wrong. Oh, my gosh. Ego was in the way.

But see, I appreciate that, because thing is, you were driven all that way with the best that you had at the time. But the key. But no, the key was this. Beyond the fighting and the grumbling and the complaining, you realize that this was an opportunity for somebody who had been where you want to go to share their expertise and their knowledge with you, to help you along a path to improve what you already had to make it even better. Could the speech have won the contest? I'm not sure. But I saw potential for so much more. Okay, your words, not mine. But I saw potential for so much more. If you're willing to go through the process and do the things to make it even better. I mean, your original story had the territory with George Washington in it, and you mentioned a couple of things that went through in your life. But I began to see that the audience really wants to find out the depth of your experience. They want the supporting evidence of stories to magnify your message about failure. So I had to ask some other questions. You had Dr. Goddard's failure, which is good, and the territory and all that. But I always tell people, as much as your audience wants to hear you, they really want to know you. They want to know a little bit about you, your family, your life, and your experience. Because your audience wants to believe. Please hear me, friends. Your audience wants to believe it. In some way, they are like you. And if you can accomplish, you can learn, you can achieve, you can grow, you can discover. And maybe I can, too. That's why I know it's nice to talk about people like Neil Armstrong going on the moon and Barack Obama being the first black president of the USA and Mother Teresa. It's wonderful to hear these stories, but your audience wants to know, what about them? What do I have in common with them? But better yet, what might I have in common with you? And how can your story touch my life in a meaningful way that I can then use what you have been through to improve my own life? So when I asked you about that, what's your story about failure that we need to really hear about, how did you respond to that? How did that help you to craft this unforgettable presentation?

Well, that was such a brilliant question. And I didn't understand all that you're teaching us now. I had no clue in 2001 because this was way beyond what I had ever learned on my own. As we heard on episode two with Mike Rayburn, he said, the problem when you're self taught is the teacher's not that good. You gotta check out episode two with Rayburn. That was brilliant and so much fun. So when you asked me this question, I can still picture that moment when I had stepped away from you. I was quote unquote on the stage and you and David McElhenney were sitting in front of me. And I remember scratching my head and really trying to. Trying to be coachable. I'm finally getting the idea. After I got out all my ego argument, I really said, okay, I gotta listen to my coach. And he asked me a specific question and I gotta find it. And I remember this little, like in the back of my mind, this little idea popped up. I said, well, Mark, you know when I used to do stand up comedy, I had this little joke about my Subway sandwich shop. And I'll always remember your reaction. You're like, well, let's hear it. And I had to think for a minute and go back to my old comedy routine because I really hadn't talked about it that much because it, that was stand up comedy. But it was. And that came from the Judy Carter book. And she asked good questions that went into my brain about where's your content? And she had asked about that failure. So you were bringing me back to that moment. And so I had this joke about the Subway sandwich shop. And I told the joke. Do you remember your reaction?

Tell us, Darren.

That's perfect. I don't know if that was an exact quote, but I remember your excitement. Like, how did you not consider that? Because when you and I are presenters and we're Learning this, we don't know what's gold because we're not a world class coach. Because I didn't have that perspective. So the gold was inside me. And when I said it, you were so clear that that had to be in the speech. But to me, I didn't get it.

But see, that little bit, that comedy bit that got you great laughs and got you a fantastic laugh in the contest contained within it the seed of your own failure. And that was exactly in line with your message. What are you willing to do if you knew you couldn't fail and your own failure in a previous part of your life was perfect to solicitify and support your message. But you couldn't see that because you saw it only as a comedy bit that got you a laugh. I saw it as a part of your life story, a part of your life's journey. That would be a wonderful tool to reinforce your message and give the audience value they could walk away with and say, wow, if that guy can get up from that failure, what can I not do? But my perspective was different. So I was happy that you should because it was like, Bing. And even now, Darren, even now you and I both know because we work together quite a bit. We do full day programs together at stage time and we have somebody come up and deliver a part of their speech or go to a coaching session and we go, are you kidding me? What? That's it?

And we both end like, they stand there dumbfounded. Like they're like, what are you talking about?

But now you understand now how I felt that day so many years ago when I saw the value of, of the personal story that may be a throwaway to you that I saw gold in there. So please everyone make a note of this. There may be gold in your life that you don't see yet, but a qualified coach can help you unearth that gold and make it shine for your audience. So, Darren, tell us about that real quick.

Let's take a listen to the clip. So this is how it ended up in the world championship speech. And it was pretty much word for word for from my standup comedy time because I had worked it out over the years. I had it succinct or the reason it was also powerful is because it was already so tight and so well written because of years of work perfecting it. So this is what it turned. This is what it sounded like in the championship speech. After four years of business school, I went out, I went for the American dream. I bought a Subway sandwich shop. Oh, yeah, you're all impressed. I can tell. I don't want to brag or anything, but in six short months, I took a $60,000 debt and I doubled that debt. That's right. I turned Subway Sandwich up into a non profit organization. I financially fell on my face. So the financially fell on my spouse is a tie back to the joke, to the message.

Exactly. Because the falling on your face came earlier in the speech and it was an instant link for the audience to get that connection. So the humor was there, part of your old comedy routine. But all of a sudden now it fits in the context of your speech, which is about what are you willing to do if you couldn't fail? And it's a personal story that the audience can then connect with because now they're thinking, what is my failure? What should I be getting back up from? Have I stayed down too long? Brilliant. In the first couple of minutes, you already had the audience by the heart, by the throat, by the eyes and by the mind. Because now they're thinking, wow, maybe I need to get back up from my failure. And it was well done. Because I took time to say, Darren, do you realize that you could use your failure story to reinforce your message? Duh. And it's not just about a third party. Dr. Robert Goddard. And even in his case, and even in his case, you have to dig a little deeper into his life and experience to find more value to his story. Part of your story, which really is part of our story as your audience. But it took a while to get there.

Yeah. And as you create your unforgettable presentation, understand that you may know the story. And here's what I needed to do. I grew up in Auburn, Massachusetts, where Dr. Goddard had launched the first liquid fuel rocket in history. And I knew I was going to use that metaphor because it hadn't been overdone in the motivational world. And it had a direct personal contact tie to me because that's where I grew up. And I learned that story over and over again. I mean, in my pack a chog grammar school, there were pictures in our McDonald's. Mark, I don't know if I even told you, in our McDonald's there was Dr. Goddard wallpaper.

Wow.

Like all over the McDonald's showing pictures from back then. And it was part of our. Part of the decor, if you will, at McDonald's, right across the street from the high school. All of us went, you know, after school. So it was a very much a part of me growing up. But here's one of the smartest things I did do. And I don't remember if this came from you or David McElhenney, if you can shed light on that. But I realized if you have a story or an idea, you've got to go and research more. Because to tell the story in a succinct manner, we've got to find the exact specifics and details to get our point and story across in a memorable or unforgettable way. And that was so crucial. So what I did, Mark, is I went to Clark University, which is where he taught, which was in Worcester, Massachusetts, and they actually had a museum to him in the basement of one of the buildings there. And I went to the museum. Now this is research for all of us. We got to do some more research. If you really want to be unforgettable, what else can you learn that can help you tell your story? So I learned Dr. Goddard invented solar panels. So he was trying to find a way to propel the rocket once it broke through the Earth's atmosphere. So that was cool and interesting. I did not know that didn't make it into my speech. I also learned that he invented bazookas, which are a shoulder launched rocket. Yeah, I thought that was cool. That didn't enter into my speech. I also found that the first book this High man to Go to the Moon was autobiography of Dr. Goddard. They literally took that with them to the moon in honor of Dr. Yeah. Oh, wow, that's cool. Again, didn't make it in my speech, but it was cool and I enjoyed the process. That's why too, I'm saying when you're passionate about it, it's required to have the energy to go deeper, to find that one nugget of gold. And what I also found, Mark, was they had newspapers there and there was a headline in the New York Times that basically, after his first rocket launch, which only went 41ft high, the new York Times made fun of him. And the headline was Moon Rocket misses target by 238,799.5 miles. Talk about sarcasm. I also learned years later that his wife actually battled with the New York Times and they finally retracted it in a small little article after he had passed away. But that nugget helped me tell the story in a succinct way that I was trying to make the point that there's gonna be strangers who tell you you're crazy and you're stupid when you have an idea. That's just part of the process. And then I talked about, you have family members who love you and care about you, who are still gonna tell you you're crazy and you're stupid when you have a big dream. So, Mark, I'm gonna play the clip now from that. And that was, let's see, 28 seconds. So I'm trying to find a way in a very succinct amount of time. And this took a lot of work to get down to this, 28 seconds to get the point across that strangers are gonna tell you you're crazy. Here we go. There are strangers out there, people who don't even know you, who will make fun of your first step. When the local press found out about Dr. Goddard's ridiculous idea to reach the moon and his first flight the next morning, the headlines read, moon rocket misses target by 238,799 and a half miles. Ouch. But those strangers are part of your process.

There is one really key nugget we want everyone to catch here. It sounds paradoxical, but Darren invested the time to learn more so he could say less. I'll say it again. Darren invested the time so he could learn more to say less. What I mean by that is he could have said so much more about Dr. Goddard and his effort to get the first rocket to the moon. But by going through all that research, going to the library and the books and the articles and the newspaper headline, he found just the right sound bite that would connect Dr. Goddard's experience to Darren's own, where he says that there are people who don't want you to fail and those who make fun of you. That one headline in the New York Times was the one piece that Darren used to reference Dr. Goddard. And then he went back to his own family and his own experience. He was able to connect himself and Dr. Goddard with through this one little bit of information that took him a long time to find by doing all that research. But he had to learn more to say less and find the one nugget that was most appropriate to help to make his presentation unforgettable. The lesson is you got to do the work, put it in, do the research, and find the nugget that the audience so desperately needs that they will not forget because you have made it unforgettable. It's a really interesting process. And Darren, I know, was not just a researcher about Dr. Goddard or researching about rockets. Darren was, I told you earlier, a sponge learning from me. But he was also a researcher of the actual contest. He wanted to know how to be better, how to make this so memorable. The audience Won't forget it. And when his mindset shifted from just a little few tweaks to become a champion, he began to think about how do I make my presentation better? And what did the other champions do to become so good? And I believe, Darren, you began to ask not just me, but you began to ask yourself the question, what do the best of the best do to be champions? What do they, what are their attributes that make them unforgettable? And when you began to ask that question, what process did that lead you to?

Yeah, so I had not been, I had heard of the International Speech Contest when I first started on the journey, but again, I was using it to improve my stories. And so I didn't even know the title world champion was even part of the game until I won the regional contest. And they said, oh well, if you win the next level, the regional, you then go on to the World Championship. I'm like, well what, what is that? Because I had just heard the International Speech Contest. So then, and it wasn't until then that Dan Jones, a friend of ours, introduced me that there's tapes. So I listened to the first audio tape was Annabella Benson.

Now for younger listeners, audio are about the size of a credit card. Never mind, go ahead.

So I listened to an audio of Arabella Benson who won the World championship. And I would thought it was a cool speech. But then when I had won the regional level, that's when I met you. And when I knew I was going on, that's when I became a super sponge. So I was hungry and eager before that. But then I was like, okay, I'm one of the nine top finalists in the world. One in nine. I live in Vegas. That's a pretty good odd, but I can't take anything for granted. And that's when my whole brain kicked in, said I'm going deeper. So, so I rounded up through the help of my district back in the New England area, all the different videotapes. Again, younger viewers go check that out.

Google it. VHS, Google VHS and Betamax.

So I've rounded up 10 years of contest videos. That's nine contestants, 90 world class speeches. And I studied all of them. And then I created like an old mixtape, if you will, of just the winners. And I went over the 10 winners over and over again. I was trying to see what was the difference between the person who came in first and the person who came in second. What was that tiny little difference that made all the difference. And I discovered that it really was the pause and the confidence and the delivery was one of those issues. But in my studying, I kept asking, so here's a question again. If you're taking notes, write this question down if you want to be unforgettable. I kept asking myself, what's my 11? On a scale of 1 to 10, what's my 11? How am I going to stand out from this crowd? And so I watch people. I remember David Nottage, who was a former world champion, and I really resonated with him and his style. I'm like that, okay, he can be him, which is this kind of very animated delivery, which is how I deliver. And he did this.

Forgive me. I gotta say this. If anybody is a fan of rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean, the British comic, that's a lot like what David Nottis looked like when he was doing his speech called Get Up. I just throwing it out there, and I'll leave it there. Go ahead.

I'm not sure if his is online, but he was get his mother. He became his mother. Get up.

Get up.

And he used the analogy of learning how to ride a bicycle. And his mother would just be like, when he would fall. Get up. Get up. And then when he went through his divorce, then he heard his mother's voice. Get up. And I just loved that, and it resonated with me. And he talked about going down on his knees and falling. And in all of my studies, early on in my standup comedy career, I studied Robin Williams, and I just loved his playful style. And people talked about going down and falling down, but no one ever did it. So when I was working on my speech, I said, I'm gonna be the guy who goes all the way down on the stage and falls down. But it's gonna be part of my message. I'm gonna connect it. It's not just so it was my 11, but it was also to push my message forward or reinforce my message. And I was worried about that mark, too. And I went to you and David Brooks and the other world champions, and I said, I have this idea of falling in my speech. And I remember your coach, David Brooks, saying to me, he said, darren, you may win by it, you may lose by it, but you need to stand out. And I think, yeah, if you are a professional speaker, if you're a pastor delivering a message, you got to make it memorable. If you're a corporate presenter and you're selling your business or your service, like, you gotta stand out from all the other pitches they got, how are you gonna do that? So ask yourself, what's your 11? And that was a powerful question that led me to the idea of the fall.

You know, Darren, it's very important you say that because you could be a trial attorney doing opening arguments or closing arguments. How will your jury or will the judge remember what you say unless you craft your presentation in a powerful way that's meaningful, not gimmicky, but meaningful. And friends, do not lose sight of the key questions Darren asked Before he asked what's my 11? He wanted to find out what makes the best of the best stand out. What are the characteristics? What are their techniques? He said specifically the pause was one thing he discovered, but he couldn't discover that unless he first asked the question, what makes the first place, second place and third place winners stand out? Is it their authenticity? Is it their vulnerability? Is it their conversational style? And if you look at Toastmasters World championship videos and there are Several available on YouTube, you will see, yes, in many of those cases, the conversational style of a Lance Miller in 2005. You look at personal style Darren Tay. There's so many different things you can do. In my case, I sang, I could have. I talked about the Disney film Beauty and the Beast. Watch episode three. Listen to that one. Listen to episode three. But I chose to actually become the beast, become one of the characters and sing about the beast as the character did in that movie. And it was pretty powerful. So you had to ask what makes the different. What makes that presentation strong? What technique do they apply that nobody else did that was genuine, real and effective? You add that to what makes me my 11, and you all of a sudden now you're really building on the process of developing an unforgettable presentation, and that's really, truly quite powerful. So are you willing to study, do the research and ask those questions?

And Mark, you touched on it. We talked about this last week on the episode three when we dissected your speech like you used singing. That was one of your 11 because of your great voice. Well, I ain't gonna sing, but my comedy background and my willingness to go all in, my willingness to do the fall like that was my playfulness that I got by loving Robin Williams and studying how he was so animated and that that I could do. So I used my 11. So everyone's got to figure out, what's your 11? How are you going to stand out? All right, Mark, what is my 11? I just think that's a powerful question. I hope that insight has been helpful to you. So what we've decided to do is to make this two separate episodes to make sure it's digestible. So tune in with Mark and I next week when we go over seven and a half more questions that help create my presentation. Ouch. Through Mark's help.

That's right. Seven and a half questions. It is so rich in content and the process that Darren has gone through. Trust me, you want to get your pen and paper again, your notepad again, your Evernote pad again and keep taking notes. Because coming up next week we'll take you through the rest of the journey that Darren took to create his unforgettable presentation.

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Sam.