Episode #94 How To Liven Up A Speech You Need To Read

Why Do Executives Lose Audience Engagement When Reading a Speech?

Business leaders in 日本企業 (Japanese companies) and 外資系企業 (multinational companies) often face high-stakes situations—shareholder briefings, industry conferences, board meetings—where linguistic precision feels safer than spontaneous communication. Reading a script can ensure accuracy, especially when speaking in a foreign language.
However, strict adherence to text reduces eye contact, lowers energy, and weakens executive presence.

Mini-Summary: Reading ensures accuracy but often sacrifices connection, reducing credibility and influence.

One of the most common mistakes in プレゼンテーション研修 (presentation training) is treating the script as a barrier rather than a support tool. A simple technique is to replace certain sentences with bullet points, allowing the speaker to deliver ideas freely while maintaining full audience engagement.

This hybrid approach helps executives—especially those speaking Japanese or English as a second language—communicate naturally without losing structure.

Mini-Summary: Convert parts of your manuscript into bullet points to regain eye contact and strengthen audience connection.

Yes. Using slides strategically allows you to shift focus away from the script and toward visuals. Pictures, graphs, or keywords act as memory anchors, reducing the need to read verbatim.

For speakers delivering content in a foreign language, slides can display perfectly crafted text in Japanese (日本語) or English while the speaker communicates the message in a more natural, conversational tone.

Mini-Summary: Visuals lighten the cognitive load and help speakers appear more confident and natural.

Stories activate emotions, memory, and imagination—critical elements for leadership communication in Tokyo’s business environment.
Executives should choose stories involving familiar people, places, or events. For example, referencing known figures like former Prime Minister Mori or Bill Clinton during a G7 meeting works because the audience instantly recognizes the context.

In training, we emphasize crafting stories that transport the audience to specific places, seasons, or moments—an essential part of Dale Carnegie’s global method for more than 100 years.

Mini-Summary: Use culturally familiar stories to create emotional connection and increase message retention.

Absolutely. Rhetorical questions create tension, curiosity, and participation—essential for keeping listeners attentive every five minutes, which is the natural rhythm of audience attention cycles.

In both Japanese (日本語) and English presentations, well-placed questions align everyone on the same mental track and make the audience feel involved, even without a spoken answer.

Mini-Summary: Use a few carefully timed questions to refresh attention and strengthen speaker-audience alignment.

Leaders do not need to become captives of the script. With bullet-point hybrids, visuals, stories, and rhetorical questions, executives can maintain linguistic precision and human connection—whether speaking in English, Japanese (日本語), or any other language.

Mini-Summary: Engagement techniques enable confident, compelling communication without abandoning accuracy.

• Maintain linguistic accuracy without sacrificing eye contact by combining full sentences with bullet-point sections.

• Use visuals to reduce dependence on your script—especially when presenting in a second language.

• Tell culturally familiar stories to deepen emotional connection and improve recall.

• Insert rhetorical questions every five minutes to reset attention and create involvement.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.