Lance Miller: Speaking With Conviction

Lance Miller, World Champion of Public Speaking recently published a letter on Speaking with Conviction: 

The speaking world is filled with clever catch phrases, 6 second sound bites and speeches written for their political correctness or sensational impact. But I have found that NOTHING communicates, NOTHING penetrates and NOTHING motivates more than a speech based on the convictions of the speaker.

 

"Speaking with conviction" has almost become a catch phrase of its own.  

I have watched people try to speak with conviction, try to create a little conviction on the spot, like putting some extra salt on their popcorn.

This is the speaker who is acting like he has conviction. This all too often ends up with the speaker trying to convince the audience, that he is convinced, in the rightness or correctness of the subject.

Webster's defines conviction as: "a:

a strong persuasion or belief", "b: the state of being convinced."  

Webster's also defines conviction as, "the act or process of finding a person guilty of a crime especially in a court of law."

So we see that we can have conviction, but we can also get a conviction. To get a conviction, to prove someone guilty of a crime, the prosecution must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

When I ask myself, "Do I have conviction?" I am really asking, by the definition, "I have handled any reasonable doubts that I have on this subject?"   

Having conviction is not about convincing the audience of your conviction, it is about convincing yourself.

If I have doubts in the correctness of what I am saying, I will withhold myself from the audience. I will assume a slightly defensive position, based on the possibility of someone calling me out on my doubts.

To impact an audience, I have to speak without hesitation or reservation. I cannot do that if I doubt what I say.

Speaking with conviction is not something you do, as much as it is something you are.