The Script Of Your Life
A speech by Dave Sanfacon(Second Place, World Championship of Public Speaking)
August 23, 2003
This speech is a favorite of mine. I heard it delivered and was impressed with Dave's warmth, openness, liveliness; His authenticity, his engaging style, his sense of fun; And his simple, serious message delivered with conviction. Dave was "All-in" While living and giving this speech - and we in the audience enjoyed watching Dave enjoying himself connect with us.
Copyright (C) 2003 Dave Sanfacon. All rights reserved. The speech can be viewed at https://youtu.be/0l3zktqfX5U.
[Covers his eyes with his hands.]
Ladies and gentlemen,
How many times have you heard the folklore
The best way to begin a big speech
Is to picture your audience naked?
Here it goes [uncovers his eyes - screams - steps backwards.]
Jumping Jupiter! - Not a good idea -
And that's just one of 4,279 suggestions
I received from the folks back home -
On how to improve this speech.
This little nugget came from my mom -
"I love your speech, Honey - the ending stinks."
My Mom!!!!
And from my brother -
"Cool speech, dude - it needs more sex."
Even ex-president Bill Clinton chimed in -
[Impersonating Clinton's voice ... ]
"Your brother's right, Dave - it does need more sex!"
[Gives a Clinton "thumbs up."]
Mr. Chairman, fellow Toastmasters, fully-clothed friends,
What I'm trying to say is this -
Do you ever feel as if someone else is writing your script?
The script of YOUR life?
The question of a scriptwriter begins at a young age.
For me it was the 5th grade - Miss Kettle's class.
I was taking one of those standardized tests
That would magically reveal my career destiny.
At the end of the class Miss Kettle proudly read the results -
[Using schoolteacher's voice ...]
"Jeffery Spencer, brain surgeon - lovely;
Andrea Stevens - astronaut - brilliant;
David Sanfacon - oh - this can't be -
Beekeeper - lovely - Show me the honey."
Who's writing the script?
But isn't that where it all begins? -
The classroom,
The standardized tests
The standardized desks
The standardized standards.
It's as if we're all stung at an early age with the need to -
Belong where others belong
Believe what others believe
Become what others become.
Ladies and gentlemen - who is writing the script?
Good question.
And as we grow older -
The question turns around and it becomes -
Do we even want to write our own script?
Aren't there thousands of other scripts out "there"
That we can simply borrow?
At the age of 20 I found such a script.
It was called The Art of the Deal,
An autobiography of Donald Trump.
Bye-bye beekeeping.
Hello buildings! - Hello Towers! - Hello Manhattan!
Viva Las Vegas! - Greed is good! - Masters of the Universe!
Ladies and gentlemen - Dump the honey - and show me the money!!!
So I shed my beekeeper's uniform for a suit and tie
And I went to college and majored in economics.
That's right -
One major where you can say "trickle down" with a straight face -
And I was on my way
[Starts marching across stage]
Bachelor's degree in one arm -
Donald's book in the other.
And I got that job in real estate banking.
Imagine -
A 25-year-old bachelor
With a new wardrobe
A corporate credit card
Cross-country business trips
Bombay Sapphire martinis
Three weeks' vacation.
I - was living my dream.
I was - or was I?
Imagine the shock one feels
When flipping through the back chapters of his life
And realizing - I didn't write this.
Imagine the shock one feels
When he realizes that for most of his life
He has been nothing more than the ink -
The ink inside of a pen -
Being guided by a bunch of
Unknown, Unnamed, Unauthorized biographers.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Have you ever surrendered your pen
To satisfy the expectations of others?
Who is writing the script?
It has been 10 years since I graduated college
And set out on a life -
Based on other people's dreams and expectations
And you know what?
So what? - So what? -
Because today
I'm no longer interested in other people's expectations.
What I'm interested in - is eliminating expectations -
And bringing something completely new and original to the table -
ME! - ME!
I have the absolute privilege of standing on the stage today before you
And sharing with you firsthand a script rewritten -
My script -
The script of the speaker - the script of the performer.
This is where I belong.
And I have no clue where this is leading - none.
But you know what?
I can't wait to find out -
Because it's - my story!
It's not - Miss Kettles' story.
She's still stuck back here in the chapters of Act 1
Wondering how my honey harvest is going.
My story - not Donald Trump's story.
He's stuck over here in Act 2 -
Getting a $1,500 pedicure and haircut.
Where does that leave us? Act 3.
Ladies and gentlemen
The rest of your life is a blank page -
Waiting to be filled in.
This - the stage of our life.
It is the page of our life.
This - this is ours - the body of our script.
We get to write it - We get to decide - How cool is that?
And where do we start?
We start at the top of the page
And - just like any writer -
We start - by imagining the possibilities
And - then - creating our story -
Page after page of possibilities.
You are going to like what you see -
If you write the script.
And in the end when it is all said and done
We get to go to the bottom of the page -
My life - my story -
I get to sign my name - Dave.
Ladies and gentlemen
Your Act 1 and your Act 2 may be over.
Act 3 begins when you walk out of these doors today.
Are you ready?
The script of your life -
Act 3 - Scene 1 - Action!!!
Brian Woolf's comments:
Several months after this contest David Brooks, Toastmasters 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking®, stated that this was the best-written contest speech of the previous three years. A huge compliment, from the doyen of the Champions.
The structure of Dave's 848-word speech is clear and easy to follow - It opens with a curiosity-arouser (hands over eyes) and a question (how many times have you ... ?), two opening formats that always immediately connect. With fun conversational banter, Dave leads us to the speech's point: Who's writing the script of your life - you or someone else? Dave illustrates his question with two vivid vignettes: standardized schools and imitating others. He follows by describing his adoption of the latter's glitzy lifestyle - but found it lost its glamour when he realizes he's not living his life but someone else's. That triggers Dave walking away to write and live his own life's script - and invites us to do likewise.
But it's not just the structure that makes this speech special. It's the speaker's vitality (and impishness) that flow through his words and actions, his continuous conversation with the audience on a subject relevant to each of us, and his enjoyment in sharing his discovery about life. It's his authenticity, credibility, and charisma that make us open to him and his message. And it's his mimicry of Bill Clinton (and others) that amuses us, his apt repetition (eg, the standardized tests ... desks ... standards) that impresses us, and his Marching Song (Hello Buildings ... Hello Towers ... Hello Manhattan, etc) that inspires us.
To me, this speech is a standout and worthy of further study.