How to Give a Speech
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Part I Preparing the Speech
1. Pick your message. Your speech should be able to summed up in a sentence, maybe two. This is what your speech really boils down to: it's what you'll start off with and what you'll return to at the
end. Example.
So what's yours? Did your teacher give you a specific topic to cover? If so, what's your stance? Or is it more personal? Two or three personal stories with a connecting theme can be quite the vivid speech.
2. Know your audience. This will determine the entirety of your speech. You wouldn't deliver the same speech to four year-olds as you would to CEOs! So know your audience. Here are a few things to consider.
3. Don't ruminate about negative thoughts. Ask yourself, what's the worst that can happen? People will give you weird looks for not giving a speech according to their "expectations".
· Who are they? Age? Gender? Beliefs?
· How much do they know about your topic? This will determine the amount of complicated language you can use (hint: if they don't know much, don't use it!).
· Why are they there? To be taught something? Because they have to be? Because they're genuinely interested?
How long have they been there? If you're 17th of 18th speeches, take that into account!
4. Research your subject. If your subject is you, congratulations! You probably already know you like the back of your hand (or arm or leg, but probably not head). But if it's not, get to researching. The pros andthe cons!.
· Have at least three points to support your message (that one succinct sentence you're working with). Address the counterargument, but don't focus on it.
· Only complicate it as much as your audience can tolerate. Stay away from jargon and technical terms if it's gonna leave your listeners scratching their heads and feeling out of place
5. Use stories, humor and metaphors. A speech that's full of dull, meaningless statistics and facts probably won't get you anywhere with any audience. The human mind will tune out in seconds if that's all it hears. The more vivid a picture you can paint, the better.
Addressing the president of your company about budget locations? Maybe not.
Antithesis is about using opposites. Clinton said, "I want to nominate a man who’s cool on the outside but who burns for America on the inside" in speech.
6. Use striking adjectives, verbs and adverbs. More about being vivid! Take the sentence "The fishing industry is bad" and change it to "The fishing industry's practices are egregious. " Even something as simple as "We can solve the problem," to "We can speedily solve the problem" is more memorable.
· Think active, "We can force change when we have the manpower." Make 'em sit up in their seats, you know? .
7. Jump right in. you know it's good -- and Steve Jobs' 2005 address to Stanford grads did just that. Boom. Hooked.
· So no hemming and "hawwing", no apologizing, no "I wondered," no "Thank yous," just brass tacks. Get right in there. Don't talk about painting get right in there and start creating an image for them.
8.. Write it out. Write it out, see how it transitions from point to point, if it covers all your bases, and if it really says what you set out to say. If it doesn't, revamp till it does!.
The introduction and conclusion should both be brief and to the point, the conclusion being a reiteration of the intro. And the body? Well, that's everything else
Part II Practicing the Speech
1. Write down your main points. Take this notecard and see if you can cover everything just from looking at it. How does it flow? What parts are you less convinced by yourself on?.
· he more comfortable you are with the speech, the more it'll show when you're delivering it.
2 . Memorize it. if you have it memorized, you can make eye contact with your audience and worry about the icing on the cake, like gestures and inflection. Don't stress if you don't have enough time but if you do, take advantage of it.
· you'll be taking your note card with you! If your mind blanks, you can take a look-see at it and go right where you need to. You ran over it with the note card 10 times for this reason.
3. Deliver it to someone. This is a grand idea for a couple of reasons:
· Public speaking can be pretty terrifying, so having a practice audience will help calm your nerves.· Have them actually pay attention. At the end of your speech, ask them what questions popped up in their mind.
4. Practice in front of the mirror and in the shower. Practice in front of the mirror and in the shower.
· Practice in front of the mirror so you can see your body language. What gestures work where? How do you feel about the pauses and what do you do during them?
· Practice in the shower because it's probably one of the few times during the day where you can mindlessly go over it. Does your mind blank on any part? If so, review it.
5. Time it. Try to get it comfortably above the minimum and comfortably below the maximum that way if you accidentally speed up or slow down, you're still golden.
Part III Delivering the Speech
1. Think about your posture and body language. Standing like you have a fig leaf over your crotch is not the way to give a captivating speech. Nor should you go the opposite way and lean over the podium.
· You use your hands every day to express emotion this speech is no different. You're still
communicating to people, just on a bigger scale. Though the scale is different, the gestures remain the same.
2. Use props. Talk about painting a vivid picture.
· Telling a story about your dad's last burning building he ran into? Take out his burned firefighter helmet.
3. Know when and how to use pictures. just make sure you use them to your advantage! You want them to listening to you, not awe-struck by the pretty pictures.
· Use graphs to illustrate your points, especially if they're hard to understand.
· Don't face the pictures when you're talking.
4. Select people in your audience, don't scan. A lot of people are under the impression scanning the audience is ideal -- and if that makes you nervous, just sort of scan the back wall.
5. Vary your tone. The parts you feel passionate about should be clearly emphasized! Speak loudly and with vigor! Pound your fist if you need to! And then there are parts that will feel more like a lullaby. And even parts that require pauses to let the emotion set in. AND THEN RAMPED BACK UP. It's a lot more effective verbally than over text. You get it. Don't be afraid to chuckle a bit or show a bit of grief or frustration. You're human.
6. Don't forget about pauses! Think about the sentence, "hydrogen monoxide killed 50 million people last year. 50 million. Let that sink in." Now think about the sentence with pauses after each period. Gets a little more serious, doesn't it?
Draw a big ol' slash through the text to indicate a break. Once you have it down, you'll be able to feel where the pauses will go.
7. Conclude by restating your message and saying a simple, "Thank you." Keep it to the point, lock eyes with the audience, thank them, smile, and get off the stage.
· Take a deep breath. You did it. Next time you'll be giving a speech on how to give speeches. What were you so nervous about in the first place?
