The public speaker that I have chosen to analyze is Ray Lewis in his “Pain Creates Greatness” speech. Ray Lewis is a former Baltimore Ravens football player that is considered one of the best linebackers in NFL history. He was not only a star on the athletic field, but his motivational talks and speeches have become so popular that he is now a frequent public speaker. Many of his speeches are available for viewing on the internet.
Fig. 1. Stevens, Matthew. “Watch Ray Lewis Do Famous ‘Squirrel Dance’ at NFL Honors Ceremony.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 4 Feb. 2018, ravenswire.usatoday.com/2018/02/03/watch-ray-lewis-do-famous-squirrel-dance-at-nfl-honors-ceremony/.
The speech “Pain Creates Greatness” is about 17 minutes long and in it, Ray talks about his journey through a rough early life, his transition to becoming an amazing athlete, then getting hurt, and finally overcoming the adversity of his injury to become one of the greatest athletes of our time. The section that I am analyzing for this post starts at about 6:23 and ends at 8:23.
In my view, Ray Lewis is an absolutely incredible speaker. He connects with his audience in a way that you can really feel, even in a Youtube video. His words are truly from the heart and I believe that his message could not be said any better.
Fig. 2. “The Ultimate Ray Lewis Career Highlights.” News RSS, www.baltimoreravens.com/video/the-ultimate-ray-lewis-career-highlights-old.
Ray Lewis is passionate and you can tell from his words, his delivery, his hand movements, and even his body language when he speaks that his message is real and meaningful. He uses his personal stories, good and bad, to more intimately explain his point and help you really understand what the experience was like for him and why his message is meaningful to you. When Ray really wants to stress a point, his voice gets louder but yet more emotional. In this current section, he is speaking about his family. When he is telling us about his conversation with his mother, he makes it feel as if we are witnessing the actual conversation. When he delivers his speech, he gives each person their own voice tone. When he is speaking in his mother’s voice, Ray’s voice is lighter, with an accent.
Another element that I think helps guide Ray’s speech is his use of a few well-chosen “props”. The section begins with Ray asking his mom for a stack of cards. While he is explaining this conversation to the audience, he is holding a deck of cards in his hand. Later on, as he begins to talk more about the cards, he holds them up to demonstrate to us that he really did these things. It helps his audience connect to that moment, as though we were holding the cards too. Ray is careful not to use too many props or the wrong type of props, which would be distracting.
Fig. 3. “‘Wins and Losses Come a Dime a Dozen. But Effort? Nobody Can Judge Effort. Effort Is between You and You. Effort Ain’t Got Nothing to Do Wi… | Game on! | Pinterest | Football, Football Quotes and Sports.” Pinterest, Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/76842737367913633/.
Lewis’ speech is exceptionally well-organized. Each point flows to the next. Each topic lead to more examples, or another related topic, without any cuts or choppiness. But Lewis also makes sure to take his time in his speech. He purposely pauses at certain points to make sure his words are absorbed. For example, when he talks about his mother, he leads into the conversation with a quote from her. He used small breaks in between to emphasize her words and to emphasize the importance of all the things she did for him too.
I find Ray Lewis to be an amazing public speaker with an inspirational message. He uses key speaking tactics to draw his audience into his world. His use of gestures, inflection, tone, volume and even props help to push his speech even further into greatness.
Here is the link to his speech. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.