One of the new rules of Public Speaking is to be authentic.
A buzz word nowadays, but what does it mean to be authentic when you give a speech? In short, it simply means to speak your truth, be coherent between who you are, what you do and what you say.
To highlight the importance of authenticity and because a short live example demonstrates more accurately than a long article, here is a video of 2 speeches delivered by 2 different speakers.
Both speeches contain up to 44% of the same semantic, buzz words and structure. Now, let's put the words, politics and the content on the side for the time being, and let's concentrate on the delivery.
One speaker is authentic, the other one is not! and the difference in the impact is HUGE!
For inspirational speech, if you do not speak your truth, be coherent between who you are, what you do and what you say, the vibes you are sending are fake and the audience will not buy it. Your public feels the fraud as if you are giving them a gift that does not belong to you.
Michelle Obama truly believes what she says and lives it. The impact is that she is credible, she is influential and she inspires. Looking back at her legacy and what she has been working on throughout her duties as First Lady, she concentrated on promoting the value of working hard and being educated. Her words, her personal value and her actions are coherent. As an audience, we trust her; we hold her words in high regard and we stand ready to follow her in her call to action.
I do not know Melania Trump as she has been discreet and underexposed in the media so far. However, her speech is not who she is, this is not her story, this is not her voice, the passion is not present. By not telling her own story leads me to think that she lacks credibility, and without credibility, trust cannot be established.
My name is Cécile Bastien Remy, if you want to learn to speak with authenticity, tell your story and have your voice be heard - contact me!