The problem that most of us face is not speech making per se, it is actually any kind of frontal lecture or exchange of information that we need to deliver. College students are well aware of the devastating effects of the fear of public speaking, the need to present seminars or to protect a work from criticism makes public speaking “victims” out of most of us.
There are a lot of tips and advice on delivering a well planned and perfectly executed speech. Lets try and consider the few basic points of good public speaking, the points that matter the most and that will increase your chances of getting to the end of your speech alive and well.
A great speech starts with a great topic. It is so important that you select a topic that interests you, and you believe will interest your audience. Try and find as many things that interest you in this speech, discover things the you know a little more about and that you can use to leverage the speech to your benefit. When researching the topic of the speech look for as many divers subjects within the topic, try and locate one that you feel very comfortable with and that you can base most of the time in your speech to.
Think carefully of your audience and its needs, if this is the silent audience, coming to hear a public speaking and that would be grateful for any piece of information you through their way, or the savvy interested audience that will make your life hard and ask questions, if you prepare for the worst – you will be protected. The problem is that you don’t always have the time to spend in preparing for the audience from hell.
Writing your introduction, the base of the speech and the opening of your public speaking should be a powerful one, if you want to capture your audience attention and minds you will need some passion here. Start by writing a 3-sentence introduction. Think of it as trying to explain this subject to someone in a pleasant casual talk, key to giving a speech is a conversational tone. In the introduction tell your audience what you’re about to say.
The first thirty seconds of your speech are probably the most important. In that period of time you must grab the attention of the audience, and engage their interest in what you have to say in your speech. Once your audience is interested and intrigued you can move forward and advance to the later parts of your speech.
Now is the time to address each of the general points in your introduction, and apply the “meat” of the speech. You need to explore a few points in a profound way, to show that you have done your homework and give the audience that feeling that you re just talking to them and not reading out a prepared speech. When an experienced speaker gives a public speech the feeling is as if he was talking about something he is very familiar with, that diverting the subject is not a problem, that he is in control over the whole scope of the topic. That is what you should aspire to – not necessarily to actually know this, but to give this feeling.
Most good writing, we are told over and over again, must have structure. A good speech is no exception. By providing your speech with a beginning, middle, and an end, you will have laid the foundations for a successful speech that fulfils all of your aspirations.
The finishing touch, the conclusion is your last touch, and it will probably not make or break you general performance, do not rush to the conclusion, make a lengthy speech before you get to the point when you say “in conclusion”, give the audience the feeling that you have exhausted all the possible interesting things you could have said, and move to the conclusion. Make sure you finish with a considerable amount of confidence, it will send you audience home with a feeling that they have learned something, and try to make sure you know what you are talking about.
