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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 information
since the
internet became commonplace, audiences expect
more content from speakers today. In addition, because
of the entertainment slant of most media today,
audiences want a presentation delivered with animation,
humour, and pizzazz.
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
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 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, 'Humour 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.
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
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