Home -> Internet
Marketing Online
A Short Guide to Effective Public Speaking
Delivering an effective presentation to 20 or to 200 people
is difficult. Because listeners have better access to
If you would rather spend your time preparing your content than reading a book on public speaking, this is an article especially for you! From my experiences in delivering over l500 speeches during the past 20 years, here is a quick guide to giving an effective and interesting presentation your very first time. Begin with something to get the attention of the audience.
This might be a startling statement, statistic, or your own story.
Listeners pay close attention when a person begins with, "Two weeks ago
as I was driving to work a car pulled out in front of me.." You could
begin with a current event: "You might have read in the paper this
morning about the flood that.." A question is another way to make
people listen. "How many of you feel our society spends too much
on medical care?" might be a way to begin a presentation about curbing
costs. Whatever technique you use, when you grab the attention of
the audience you are on your way to a
Second, be energetic in delivery. Speak with variety in your voice. Slow down for a dramatic point and speed up to show excitement. Pause occasionally for effect. Don't just stand behind the lectern, but move a step away to make a point. When you are encouraging your audience, take a step toward them. Gesture to show how big or wide or tall or small an object is that you are describing. Demonstrate how something works or looks or moves as you tell about it. Show facial expression as you speak. Smile when talking about something pleasant and let your face show other emotions as you tell about an event or activity. Whatever your movements, they should have purpose. Structure your speech. Don't have more than two or three main points, and preview in the beginning what those points will be. With each point, have two or three pieces of support, such as examples, definitions, testimony, or statistics. Visual aids are important when you want your audience to understand a process or concept or understand a financial goal. Line graphs are best for trends. Bar graphs are best for comparisons and pie graphs are best for showing distribution of percentages. Tie your points together with transitions. These could be signposts such as "First," "Second," or "Finally." Use an internal summary by simply including the point you just made and telling what you plan to talk about next. "Now that we have talked about structure, let's move on to the use of stories," would be an example. When you have an introduction, two or three main points with support for each, appropriate transitions, and a conclusion, you will have your speech organized in a way that the audience can follow you easily. Tell your own story somewhere in the presentation--especially
in a technical presentation. Include a personal experience that connects
to your speech content, and the audience will connect with you. You
want
To add interest and understanding to your speech, include
a visual aid. A visual aid could be an object, a flip chart, a PowerPoint
presentation, overhead projector slides, or a dry erase board. Whatever
visual you are using, make sure everyone can see it. The best way
to insure this is to put the visual where you will be speaking, and then
find the seat farthest from it and determine if you can read the visual
from that seat. Introduce the visual properly rather than simply
throwing it at your audience; explain what the visual will do before you
unveil it. Don't allow the visual to become a silent demonstration.
Keep talking as you show
If you are delivering a persuasive speech, in addition
to your own stories include testimony of experts whom the
Look at the audience as you speak. If it is a small
audience, you can look at each person in a short period of
One of the 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 the 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 the 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 the audience understand
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 the time. Now
that you can laugh at the experience, you understand the old adage, "Humor
is simply tragedy separated
Finally, leave the audience with something to think about. People remember best what you say last. You might summarize your main points, or you might complete the 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 the 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 the points discussed here will get you started in becoming the speaker you want to be and the speaker your audience wants to hear.
Site URL : Home Business Income Opportunity Stay At Home Business
| Affiliate
Selling | eBay
Work At Home | Network
Marketing Opportunity
(c) www.gotothings.com All material on this site is Copyright.
|