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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 successful speech.
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 help the
audience link emotionally with what you are talking about, and the
personal experience does that. With almost any topic you might choose,
you have at least one “war story” to relate to the topic. When you tell
the story, simply start at the beginning and move chronologically
through the narrative, including answers to the “W” questions: “Who,”
What, “When,” "Why," and “Where.”
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 the
visual. You are still the main event and your visual is an aid. Look at
your audience, not your visual. When the visual is not in use, hide it
from the audience. Humans are a curious lot, tending to keep looking at
the object and losing track of the speaker—you!
If you are
delivering a persuasive speech, in addition to your own stories include
testimony of experts whom the audience respects and whose views
reinforce your points. Add a key statistic when possible to show the
seriousness of what you are discussing. For example, if I were
discussing the 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 the
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 the
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 the lectern and pause, smile, look at the audience, and
then speak. This will help you maintain good eye contact throughout your
presentation as well as commanding immediate attention.
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
immediately. With a “wow” factor, you then have something to look
forward to in the speech that you know will have an impact on your
audience. You’ll become a more enthusiastic speaker because the “wow”
factor will get you as well as your audience pumped for the speech.
Consider using a
touch of humour 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. Humour
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 humour short. Perhaps inject a
one-liner or a quotation. Yogi Bare 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 by time and space.” Don’t poke fun at
your audience; you should be the 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 the least risky use of humour 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
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.
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