Effective public speaking is quickly becoming one of the key drivers of professional success. If you are serious about your career, plan to develop your leadership skills or find professions such as coaching attractive, then the ability to communicate clearly will be a necessity. The time to start working on your public speaking and presentation skills is today!
The goal of this article is to present the key rules of any successful speech. If you follow these rules and practice them systematically, you will prepare and deliver an effective speech that will fascinate your audience.
Mastering public speaking takes regular practice – you cannot learn it from books, YouTube videos or one-day workshops alone. In my case, it all started already during my studies when I got involved with Toastmasters International. This experience radically changed my professional career and gave me access to valuable knowledge practices by thousands of members of this international organization, which I can now share with you.
Where to begin?
The first step in preparing your speech is deciding on its topic and key messages. Think what you want to talk about, who your audience is and what exactly you want to convey.
Focus on the goal
Every speech needs a clearly stated goal. This means that you as the speaker need to have a clear vision of what your listeners should do or have understood once you finish. Make sure the goal is clear and easy to grasp. After all, every audience wants to hear right away what you will talk about and “what’s in it for them” if they choose to listen. To maximize impact, build your speech around issues important to the audience, not just yourself. For instance, when interviewing for your dream job, emphasize the benefits to the employer if they hire you rather than the fact that you are an ideal candidate.
Clearly stating your goal will also boost your confidence and make you sound more confident and enthusiastic as a result. Finally, starting with a clear goal will make it easier to structure the rest of your speech.
Organize your speech effectively
Next, you need to organize your speech that is logically arrange the messages you would like to convey. Like every well-told story, your speech needs an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Do not rush; give yourself time to arrange your thoughts in a way that feels right to you and it will make them easier to follow for your audience too. As a result, your speech will be easier to remember, more credible and, frankly, a more pleasant experience. Keep in mind that there is no single way to organize your speech; it all depends on the topic and the goal.
A good introduction should attract attention and inform the audience about the topic. You can start with a surprising question, slightly provocative statement or a fitting quote. In the body, which should be the bulk of your speech, focus on facts and (or) ideas. Keep the amount of information proportional to the time you have and how much your audience can remember. As a rule of thumb, audiences remember three to five facts or ideas. Finally, the conclusion should reinforce your message and leave a mark in your listeners’ minds. It is also your last chance to repeat any of your kay points in a way that will help the audience remember them. If your goal was to inform, then a good way to conclude is by summarizing what you said in the body. Do not forget about smooth links between the three stages of the speech, as this will greatly improve the flow of information. This can be done with appropriate phrases or questions.
Say it correctly – words have great power
You know now that a clearly stated goal and proper structure are the foundations of any speech. However, your success as a speaker ultimately rests with the words you use and how you weave them together. Keep in mind that words have great power and are the carriers of your message. They shape how your audience will receive your message and also you as a speaker.
To give your presentation more energy, use simple and vivid vocabulary. Pay attention to correct pronunciation and grammar – I cannot stress this enough. People tend to associate grammatical correctness and proper pronunciation with better education and credibility- Thus, if you speak fluently and correctly, your chances of making a lasting impression on your listeners increase dramatically.
My advice is also to make use of rhetorical figures, such as parallels and metaphors. They add a lighter touch to any idea you would like to communicate, making it easier to remember.
Body language on stage
When talking to friends or colleagues, it is natural to move your arms, change posture, keep eye contact and adjust our facial expression. We call this body language and it plays a major role not just in public speaking but, in fact, any conversation.
Can you imagine someone talk about openness, while staying in place all the time with arms firmly crossed and avoiding eye contact with the audience? Their words may be sincere but their body communicates something completely opposite. As a result, the audience will most likely not trust this speaker’s message. Body language is not just about confidence but also credibility. It illustrates and reinforces the main message. It also helps deal with stage fright.
Body language consists of posture, motion, gestures, facial expressions and eye contact. Above all, it should be natural and consistent with your verbal message. I would like to focus particularly on eye contact and gestures. In Western culture, people who maintain eye contact are seen as more trustworthy and friendly. Looking your listeners in the eye has one more advantage as well – it makes you harder to ignore and draws attention to what you are saying.
Gestures on the other hand, are the most expressive element of body language. Most often, they engage the head, shoulders and hands. To be effective, keep all your gestures above the elbows and away from your body. Moreover, your gestures should be dynamic and vivid, because then you can demonstrate engagement and enthusiasm about your speech. Keep in mind that the same gestures can have different meaning depending on the cultural context, so be mindful of who you are talking to.
Furthermore, your outward appearance matters a lot, so dress well. If you know that you look good, you feel good too. This will boost your self-confidence, because you will be sure to make a good first impression on your audience.
Adding value with relevant information
Your speech will have more impact if the key points are supported by with examples, facts, data, visual aids or even stories and anecdotes. It helps to enrich your speech with information from various sources and not only on your own opinions. Collecting the right kind of information is often the most challenging part of preparing a speech. If you really want to convince your audience, you need reliable evidence. This can be statistics or facts, visualized as diagrams or charts, but also anecdotes from your own experience or your friends’. Just remember that in order to be useful, the information has to be verifiable.
You will find it easier to keep up interest among your audience if you vary the kind of supporting material you use. For instance, statistical data may be appropriate to motivate one point, while a story or anecdote may be used for the next. Avoid using the same kind of supporting material throughout the entire speech – too much statistics may appear dry, while too many anecdotes will cause them to lose their appeal.
Visual aids support your words
Visual aids are indeed very effective, because we remember best what we can see. Thus, visual aids help the audience understand and memorize the content better, they improve concentration, help keep stress under control and save time, because the same idea can often be conveyed much faster with a visualization rather than words.
The most frequently used visual aids are presentations, flipcharts, tables and requisites. Visual aids should be adjusted to the content, size and type of audience as well as the resources available and should be applied with ease and confidence. Use visual aids when you want to emphasize one of your points or ideas. In this way, you can indicate to your audience that what has just been said is important and they should remember it.
Keep in mind that visual aids are a complement and not the essence of your speech. You do not need a visual aid for every sentence you say or every point you make. Only emphasize the important issues.
Self-confidence on stage
For most of us, public speaking is a stressful experience and stage fright is completely normal for every speaker. The art of public speaking is thus in no small part about channeling the energy resulting from stress and turning it to your advantage.
The best way to minimize stress ahead of your speech, make a good impression and effectively deliver your message is solid preparation. If you speak about a topic you find interesting, have a clearly stated goal and well-structured material and have practiced your speech a few times, then you will feel at ease and confident. Trust me, no one is born with these skills and what we see in professional presentations is mostly the result of hard and systematic work.
To sum up, if you choose an appropriate topic, state your goal clearly, structure your speech effectively, work on natural body language, support your message with facts and examples, use appropriate vocabulary and visual aids, manage your stage fright and prepare properly – your speech will be remembered for a long time. Now is the time to act and put this knowledge into practice. So, see you at your next speech?