Aspiring and professional speakers, alike, are always interested in honing their speaking expertise. There is always room for improvement and innovation in everything we do. There are so many things that we do as speakers which become second nature over time. But for
newer speaker, sometimes a gentle reminder of what we are supposed to be doing is in order. These ten points will serve as a way to bring back to mind what we should be mindfully aware of as we prepare for and deliver our speeches. 1. Select your topic.
Make sure that your topic is defined well. The more narrow topic, easier it will be for audience to grasp it’s essence. When a topic is too broadly defined, it can be more difficult to create succinct talking points that will summarize your speech content. Your speech should be interesting and meaningful to audience, as well as focused on meeting their needs or expectations.
2. Building blocks for success.
As speakers, we all learned there are three main building blocks which comprise a speech. The first component is speech introduction where objective is to capture audience attention. Ask a compelling question, offer a quotation, cite a statistic, or begin with a challenging statement. Follow this up with main points you intend to convey within body or content part of speech. The second building block is content. This is where you will fill in details of key points that you alluded to in your introduction. Each point should be supported with factual data, if appropriate, stories, quotations, or statistics. These details will further reinforce your speaking points, making it easier for audience to retain information, while at same time, deepening their learning experience. Finally, conclusion or closing of your speech is where you will summarize points that you made during your speech. Draw conclusions from your prior points, relate them back to your introductory remarks, and then close with a strong sentence or two.
3. Analyze your environment.
In order to effectively communicate with your audience, you need to know some things about them. First, you need to know who they are. Understanding who they are will allow you to tailor appropriately your vocabulary, approach, and delivery. Are you speaking to a company or to a professional organization or to a public group? Are you speaking to adults, teenagers, or children? Second, you need to determine audience expectations. Why are they coming to listen to you? What are they hoping to learn? What do they plan to do with what they learn? This will help you in selecting a speech topic that is focused on solving a problem or fulfilling a need. Third, you need to understand your role. Are you a keynote speaker, a workshop presenter, a speaker invited to provide entertainment? Your role will influence your approach and visual aids that you use. And, fourth, you need to know where you are presenting, actual physical environment. Will you be speaking in a small conference room, a large auditorium, in a place of worship, or possibly in an open area at a convention? There are many aspects that influence your speaking environment. The more you know prior to speaking , easier it will be to deliver a powerful speech.
4. Say it well.
As a speaker, your craft is based on words. There are so many things to remember about speaking well. First, be careful of words you select. Opt for simple words, rather than complex ones. Instead of using word “demonstrate”, use word “show”; instead of word “numerous”, try word “many”. Make it easy for your audience to understand you by using words with less syllables. Of course, you must tailor terminology to your specific audience. The words you use in a speech to chamber of commerce will be different than words you will use when speaking to a more specialized group like attorneys or doctors. Second, use short sentences. They have more impact and audience will retain content more easily. However, make sure you vary length of your sentences so your speaking doesn’t sound choppy. Third, employ various techniques of vocal variety. Change your voice volume to emphasize certain points. Depending on subject matter, you might use a regular speaking voice, but in another part of speech change over to a commanding voice or one with a humorous tone to it. And, by all means, avoid speaking in a monotone voice as it will certainly bore your audience. Obvious as it may seem, practice your speech several times to check your articulation. Make sure you are pronouncing each word fully, beginning to end.
5. Timing is everything.
Suffice it to say, beginning your speech on time is important, but ending it on time is even more important and a hallmark trait of a professional speaker. An audience will stop listening when your speech is scheduled to end. If you don’t finish on time, you might be out of luck as your audience has probably stopped listening. Respect your audience, otherwise you might not be invited back to speak again. And, respect speakers who are scheduled to speak after you. If you have difficulty with timing, you need to practice more and reduce your speech content. Summarize points more succinctly, take out filler words, or even eliminate speaking points which are not vital to content. When you are presenting your speech, have someone in audience give you time signals when you want to be alerted to amount of time left. Or, you can turn your watch so that face of watch is on your inside wrist. When you are gesturing, you can casually glance at your watch to gauge your time. Either method will allow you chance to eliminate material to complete your speech on time.
