Know your subject well
You must have a thorough knowledge about what you are
going to say. This requires research. To be sure, you are going to find more
information about your topic than you possibly need. Just keep the important
ones and discard the chaff.
Every speech has an objective. Are you speaking to
entertain, motivate, convince or encourage your audience? Each objective calls
for a different approach. For example, if you wish to motivate, you will have
to reach the heart of your audience. Entertaining calls for humor and
convincing requires presentation of facts.
Draft out an outline for your speech
An outline contains the main points in your speech and shows
the flow of ideas. When you have a well prepared outline, you overcome the
tendency of reading directly to your audience instead of speaking. I have prepared a post on this too.
Practice your opening remarks
The introduction of your presentation is very important. If
you get it wrong here, you’ll likely find it hard to recover your balance through
your presentation. Check my post on how to give a stunning introduction.
Know your audience
It is quite essential that you have some knowledge about
your audience if possible before the day of your speech. You need to know what sort
of people they are, what their challenges are, their expectation and so forth. You
need this to create a common ground and involve them throughout your presentation. To
learn more about the audience, check out my post what your audience wants to hear
Know the highpoints of the presentation
Speech making is like travelling through a hilly terrain. There are always highpoint or point of high audience interest. These
can be areas where you present something new or say something old in an
interesting way
If you want your audience to keep talking about your
speech days, months or even years after it was given, you need to incorporate
an interesting story or an illustration whose message is very clear into your
speech. This is the part I enjoy the most while handling presentations and
obviously the audience love it too.
Practice, practice, and practice
I cannot overemphasize this because it is a prerequisite
to public speaking success. Try practicing aloud. You could also make an audio
recording of your speech and play it over to correct mistakes or practice in
front of your friend or mate. This is important because it gives you a feel of
reality and help improve your presentation skills. Read more about preparing for your presentation here.
Think of a powerful conclusion
There are three things the audience often remembers at the
end of excellent presentation- your
introduction, an illustration or a short story, and your closing words. Your conclusion
should achieve your speaking goals and be powerful enough to be remembered and
motivate your audience to action. learn how to give a banging conclusion.
Look presentable for your presentation
You could apply presentation tips 1-9 but fail to give a
good presentation if you care less about your looks. If you dress shabbily,
overdress or dress too flashy, your audience will be looking at you instead of
listening to you. It will just be like a great meal with all ingredients in
place but with too much salt. So choose something neat and dignifying for the occasion,
yet comfortable. When you dress well, you confidence is boosted.
Wow fantastic post Bro
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