Back Home

How to speak in public

Preparation

Consider your audience

  • Who are they
  • What do they know
  • Where are they coming from
  • What do they know of your message
  • What do you want them to come away knowing / feeling

    • Setting

  • Room size
  • External disturbances
  • Technology handouts ( for your audience, not for you. )

    A handout is not a script.

    → Do not read it
    → Do not look at it.
    → Do not even give it to your audience before unless you need them to follow along as you speak.
    → If there are complex tables to consider, data that is best visualized, or passages the audience needs to read with you, then hand out the handout first. Otherwise, save it till near the end.
    → The purpose of a handout is to help your audience remember you and what you said.
    → The most important things on a handout are your name, your e-mail address, your phone number, and a summary of the main points of your presentation told from your audience's point of view ( not what's in it for you but what's in it for them.)
    ( Include the date, the time, the place, and the topic. )
    → If the message is entirely contained in the handout, you should have sent a memo.

    • Overheads

  • These are mnemonic devices for your audience
  • Helps them remember / visualize what you are talking about
  • They are not your script.
  • Do not read them; do not look at them.

    • Structure

  • Say who you are and where you are coming from
  • Announce your topic and what's in it for your audience
  • Forecast what you will say (briefly if it's a short speech, longer if longer)
  • Say it succinctly (if the point was lengthy, illustrate if it was complex)
  • Tell people what you want them to go away with
  • Give out the handout
  • Ask for questions
  • Thank them and remind them how they can contact you

    • Performance

  • Stand
  • Move around
  • Make eye contact with each person in the room
  • repeatedly gesture intentionally
    &rarr: Do not put your hands in your mouth, over your eyes, in your hair
    → Don't tug at your clothes or contort your body
    → If you can't figure out what to do with your hands, hold at waist level
    → Don't jangle keys or check your cell phone, unless you want to convey indifference to your audience.
  • Speak in a volume fitting the room and the number of people in it
  • Vary the tone a bit
  • Vary the pace
  • Pause for effect
  • Ask questions and wait for responses from the audience
  • Let them know that you are aware of them and their needs
  • Make time for questions and if there are none, and you are concerned that they didn't get it, underscore the implications of what you spoke about