10 Tips for Giving a Great Speech
Posted in Communication
Speak from the heart. What you say and how you say it are important, but why you say it is even more important. When you speak from your own conviction, you improve the possibility that your listeners will accept what you’re saying.- Have specific objectives for the speech. An objective should target behaviour or thought. What does the speaker expect to accomplish: Convincing listeners to support a cause? Getting listeners to use a specific service? Getting listeners to modify their behaviour? Entertain the listeners with laughter? Providing information to lead them to a decision?
- Write it out. Prepare your speech by writing it out. You’re not going to read the speech verbatim, but you need to have a clear idea of what you’re going to say and how long it will take to say it. Once you have it down on paper, practice, revise, practice, revise, and so on until you have clear in your mind what you’re going to say.
- Connect with your audience. Communication works best in an active, not a passive environment. If you want to get your message across to your audience members, you have to connect with them.
- Know your audience. Before you start thinking about what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it, you need to know who you’re talking to and why. Keep in mind, the audience should benefit from your speech. The audience is giving up work or personal time to listen to you, but it’s because you’re going to have something to say. Make it worth their while. Give your audience both what they want to hear and what they need to hear.
- Check the room setup. The arrangement of chairs, the sound system, the lighting and the overall climate of the room can make a big difference in the way a presentation is received. You may not think you have much control over these items, but think again, because you do. You should always get into the room as early as possible to check the set-up.
- Be yourself. Whatever your natural personality is: formal, “laid back,” understated, hyper, use those traits. Talk—don’t lecture—about the material.
- Kill the verbal pauses. Get rid of the sounds and words that acts as verbal crutches when you’re not quite sure what to say next: Ah, Er, Um, And (elongated and not used as part of the sentence construction), So, Well, Actually, Basically, Etcetera, You know. Practice your material so you know it well.
- Tell a story. People don’t want to sit through a dry recitation of facts, statistics, policy, etc. They want to hear how what you have to say plays out in real life. Learn to tell stories. You don’t have to be clever, just share your life with your audience.
- Close with a call to action. What do you want your audience to do now that they’ve heard your speech? Now it’s time for your call to action. This is not the place to add new facts and statistics. Now it’s time to open up and speak from the heart. Summarize your speech and leave the listeners with a call to action.
Related Posts:
9 Key Steps for Preparing a Speech
How to Improve Your Public Speaking
How to Give a Speech
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These are great tips. I have one more. The only way to become a polished speaker is with consistent practice. The one of the best ways to do this is by joining a Toastmasters Club.