November 2004 - Effective Public Speaking
- Tips for effective public speaking
- Resources (links, books,
articles, humor)
A
Short Guide to Effective Public Speaking
by Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP
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, humor 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.
1. Connect with your audience
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.
2. Be energetic
- 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, 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.
3. Organize your speech
Structure your speech. Don’t have more than two or three main
points. Preview in the beginning what your main 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.
4. Use transitions
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.
5. Include your own experience
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."
6. Use visuals
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,
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. ![Woman speaking, with visual example Woman speaking, with visual example](graphics/meeting.gif)
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!
7. Include expert testimony
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.
8. Make eye contact
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.
0. Know your subject inside and out
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.
10. Include a "wow"
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.
11. Use humor
Consider using a touch of humor in your speech. Don’t panic at this
suggestion. You are not becoming a comedian, 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 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 humor 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.)
12. Leave the audience with something to
think about
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...."
And 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.’"
Result: Become a better speaker!
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. The points discussed here will
get you started in becoming the speaker you want to be and the speaker your
audience wants to hear.
Summary of the Tips
- Connect with your audience
- Be energetic
- Organize your speech
- Use transitions
- Include your own experience
- Use visuals
- Include expert testimony
- Use eye contact
- Know your subject inside and out
- Include a "wow"
- Use humor
- Leave the audience with something to think about.
About the
author: 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 [at] sboyd.com.
Copyright © 2004 Stephen D. Boyd. All rights reserved.
Used with permission of the author. |
Books
- Disclosure: We get a small
commission for purchases made via links to Amazon.
- The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking, Dale Carnegie.
Pocket Books ; Reissue edition 1990. ISBN: 0671724002
- 101 Secrets of Highly Effective Speakers: Controlling Fear, Commanding
Attention.
Caryl Rae Krannich Impact Publications; 2nd edition, 2002. ISBN: 1570231788
- Speaking Globally: Effective Presentations Across International and Cultural
Boundaries.
Elizabeth Urech. Book Network International, 2002. ISBN: 0971761507
- Secrets Of Superstar Speakers: Wisdom from the Greatest Motivators of Our Time.
Lilly Walters. McGraw-Hill, 2000. ISBN: 0071347070
Articles
Related newsletter article:
August 1997 - Improving verbal communications
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