Listen to the audio version of this post here.

Ushering us toward better speaking.

Usher is famous for singing and songwriting. Turns out he’s pretty darn good at speechwriting too.

You and I don’t have a team to help us prepare for a presentation. Usher does.

Still, in the end, he was the guy standing on stage at Emory University, getting an honorary doctorate and giving a commencement address. And because he let The New York Times follow the speechwriting and speech-giving process, we can pick up a few ideas that we can apply when we’re planning a talk.

The plan is indeed important.

Usher knew he needed one; improvising a 20-minute speech wasn’t going to work. But, he also knew he wanted a framework that would leave room for his performer’s instinct in the moment.

And he told his team he wanted “gems,” quick lines that might resonate sharply with individuals in the audience.

The early draft was pretty standard graduation stuff, beginning with a bunch of thank-yous to university honchoes.

Usher edited those out to start instead with some of his guiding principles. Then, in the moment, he started with an ad-libbed, “I put on for my city.” Then, as the crowd cheered, and he touched the stole of his commencement gown, “Literally put on for my city.”

That was smart. You and I know that those first few words set the tone for the entire talk—if they’re bland or boring you can lose your audience and never get them back.

Focus on the audience is crucial.

I ask my clients, “What do you want them to think? How do you want them to feel? What do you want them to do as a result of what they hear from you?” We should be able to answer those questions before we start putting the words together for any presentation.

Here’s how Usher put it. “There’s a beginning, there’s a middle and there’s an end, and within that process, what do you choose to make people feel? Do they smile? Do they think? Do they laugh? Do they cry? Are they angry? Are they motivated?”

Well worth thinking about, no matter who you’re speaking to.

A personal story helps us connect and make our point.

As Usher’s talk came together, “he worried that the script sounded ‘too corporate.’” He told his team it needed more grit and “more touchpoints that humanize me.”

And he came up with a solution for that himself, inserting a story that he’d never told publicly before. When his family moved to Atlanta, Usher was so far behind academically that his classroom teachers couldn’t really help him. So, his new school put him in remedial classes, which felt like a judgment about his ability.

He hoped sharing that disheartening experience would help his audience understand the reality of education in America. And when he delivered his speech, he felt the audience responding to his story. It seemed that making himself vulnerable landed in a poignant, powerful way.

Beyond the words, the sound of a talk matters. A lot.

In a way, Usher has an advantage over the rest of us when it comes to setting the tone for a presentation. He’s a singer, after all. “In the same way I’ve figured out how tone and algorithm and cadence works in music,” he said, “it does the same in speech.”

As his talk came together, they sent the script to Emory so it could be loaded into the teleprompter. Rehearsal and revision continued, though, Usher reading the words out loud. Even the day he’d deliver it, he was still assessing how the speech sounded, “paying attention to the beats,” as he put it.

Interestingly, he told NYT he actually “felt more comfortable with speechwriting than songwriting. But this process was still much like rehearsing a dance.”

You may not think of your sales presentation or your talk about a new project for your team as a dance. Usher’s observation about tone and cadence is worth keeping in mind, though.

As you write notes for your talk, be sure you’re writing for the ear and not the eye. Use shorter sentences than you might in an essay or a written report. And natural, conversational language, the kind of words you’d say if you were simply sharing your ideas with a colleague over coffee.

Spoken English is less formal, less structured than written English. And when we speak the same way we’d write, it sounds stiff and unnatural. Our audience is more likely to just tune out.

So how did Usher’s graduation speech turn out?

He was happy with the final script and with his ad-libs in the moment. “I love the fact that it was honest, that it was conversational, that it was authentic,” he said. “Even the adjustments in the last minute, that’s me. That’s who I am.”

For all of us, that’s exactly what listeners want. Yes, they want your information. Your experience. Your opinion. More than any of it, they want you.

When you can drop the need to impress them and be your real self with an audience, you’re likely to make a much bigger impact than if you’re just standing there saying words that anybody could say.

One last piece of advice from the singer, songwriter, and now speechwriter …

“Understand what you’re talking about. Who you’re talking to. And maybe a seed of what you’d like to be planted in the ears, minds, and hopefully spirits of the people listening.”

That can feel like a tall order. It’s worth the effort though.