- Start strongly. Write your opening lines carefully and rewrite then until you like them a lot. Make sure you start strong. It grabs people’s attention. It also gives you confidence to know you have captured the audience early. I remember once starting a speech with a quote from the Business Review Weekly. It said something like: “60% of people in this room today are currently failing in your current roles.” I then went on to elaborate and explain, but I had their attention early!
- Even prepare for the ‘small ones’. Giving a farewell speech? Announcing a new policy? Explaining the monthly team results? Prepare as if it’s a major speech. Work out your key points and prepare a strong opening. List who to thank or congratulate. All these small occasions build your brand, your leadership credentials and allow you to influence morale and opinion.
- Use PowerPoint sparingly. I use PowerPoint, but mostly as a teaser. Words are few and just give a taste of what I am going to elaborate on. If I use a graph or chart, it’s very sparse and just shows a trend or direction that I will explain orally. No detail. If you use a PowerPoint, make sure 90% of the audience time remains focused on you, 10% on the screen.
- Warm up. Seriously, before every speech I “warm up”. Just as a footballer warms up the muscles about to be used in battle, so must a speaker. I find a quiet place (hotel room or at home before I leave) and practice tongue twisters. Say these fast and repeatedly, ‘Red lorry, yellow lorry, green lorry’. Then try “She sells sea shells on the sea shore”. Over and over, until you can get them word perfect at speed. Guess what? When you hit the podium there is no stumbling over words and your brain and tongue are in synch!
- End strongly. Sum up your main points and end with a phrase or thought that people can take away with them. It takes planning, but it’s important to leave them with a key message.
- Prepare the logistics. I take a copy of my speech in my briefcase and another in my suitcase if it’s an interstate trip. I have the PowerPoint on my laptop and on a memory stick. I bring both to the venue. If my laptop does not work for some reason (it’s happened!) I can use the memory stick in someone else’s laptop. I make sure I know the location of the presentation and I plan the trip there, so I know I will be on time. The last thing you want is to be flustered because you lost your notes, your PowerPoint is on the fritz or you arrive 10 minutes late.
They say public speaking is the number two fear human beings have – after death! It does not have to be so. A little hard preparation before your speech will save tons of perspiration during it.
Greg Savage is the founder and driving force behind Firebrand Talent Search.This article first appeared at Firebrand Ideas Ignition.
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