A Short Guide to Effective Public SpeakingWritten by Stephen D. Boyd
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If you are delivering a persuasive speech, in addition to your own stories include testimony of experts whom audience respects and whose views reinforce your points. Add a key statistic when possible to show seriousness of what you are discussing. For example, if I were discussing need for improved listening to better serve your customers, I might add that although we spend half of our communication time in listening, our listening efficiency is only about 25%. By using stories, testimony, and statistics in your persuasive talk, you add depth to your evidence. Look at audience as you speak. If it is a small audience, you can look at each person in a short period of time. If it is a large audience, look at audience in small “clumps” and move from one clump to another. One way to insure good eye contact is to look at your audience before you start to speak. Go to lectern and pause, smile, look at audience, and then speak. This will help you maintain good eye contact throughout your presentation as well as commanding immediate attention. One of ways to have consistently good eye contact is not to read your speech. Use note cards that have key words on them. The word or phrase should trigger thought in your mind and then you can speak it. If you are including a quotation or complex statistics, reading from your note card actually lends credibility. If you write out your speech you will tend to read it and lose eye contact with audience, as well as not being as enthusiastic in delivery as when you speak from note cards. Include a “wow” factor in your speech. Something in your speech should make your audience think, “Wow!” It could be a story, a dramatic point, an unusual statistic, or an effective visual that helps audience understand immediately. With a “wow” factor, you then have something to look forward to in speech that you know will have an impact on your audience. You’ll become a more enthusiastic speaker because “wow” factor will get you as well as your audience pumped for speech. Consider using a touch of humor in your speech. Don’t panic at this suggestion; you are not becoming a comedian but rather lightening up a serious speech so that people will be more accepting and interested in your ideas. Humor will help you to be perceived as an amiable person, and it is hard for people to disagree or be bored if they are smiling at you. Until you have lots of experience, keep your humor short. Perhaps inject a one-liner or a quotation. Yogi Berra said a lot of funny things. “You can observe a lot just by watching” for example. Tell a short embarrassing moment in your life that you might have thought not funny at time. Now that you can laugh at experience, you understand old adage, “Humor is simply tragedy separated by time and space.” Don’t poke fun at your audience; you should be object of any shortcoming, showing that you can laugh at yourself. Avoid long stories or jokes. Even seasoned speakers know that funny stories soon become unfunny if they go on too long. Probably least risky use of humor is a cartoon. The cartoon is separate from you and if people don’t laugh, you don’t feel responsible. (Be sure to secure permission to use it.) Finally, leave audience with something to think about. People remember best what you say last. You might summarize your main points, or you might complete statement, “What I want you to do as a result of this presentation is....” But beyond that, make your last words a thought to ponder. For example, I might end a speech on becoming a better speaker with “As Cicero said centuries ago, 'The skill to do comes with doing.'” A more modern guide to effective public speaking was penned by some unknown sage: "Know your stuff. Know whom you are stuffing. Know when they are stuffed." One never becomes a “perfect” speaker; developing public speaking skills is a life-long experience. But points discussed here will get you started in becoming speaker you want to be and speaker your audience wants to hear.
Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is a professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky. He is also a trainer in communication who presents more than 60 seminars and workshops a year to corporations and associations. See additional articles and resources at http://www.sboyd.com. He can be reached at 800-727-6520 or at info@sboyd.com.
| | Starting a Software Product CompanyWritten by Will Spencer
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in PDF format at http://www.entrepreneur-support.com/Starting_a_Software_Product_Company.pdf
Will Spencer is the webmaster of http://www.entrepreneur-support.com and the founder of a 5yr old IT firm with $3M in yearly revenues.
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