Speak better in public

GB Magazine on Nov 2005 by Growing Business

STAY AWAY FROM THE LECTERN

Many speakers cope with earlyspeech nerves by gripping the sides with both hands. As a result, many an audience has been entertained by the sight (and magnified sound) of a lectern shaking. While it appears to solve the problem of where to put your hands and arms – you’ve got no chance of entertaining, emphasising something or livening it up if you deliver an entire speech without any arm movement. Trust me, this is not the way to an audience’s heart.

USE NOTES, NOT A SCRIPT

Don’t take sheets of paper with you – you’ll constantly lose your place and the temptation will be to read chunks of it. If you do this, you instantly become a Johnnyone- note, and your eyes point downwards instead of towards your listeners. A great way to lose the audience’s attention.

STRUCTURE YOUR SPEECH

Identify three to five elements you want the audience to recall. The temptation is to over-stuff it. Use big letters on a piece of card you can hold in one hand.

USE BRUTALLY SHORT WORDS OR PHRASES

This should trigger the next part of your speech.

LEARN TO HATE SLIDES

You may feel you need to use them, but fight the urge. If a slide is on a screen the speaker might as well not be there. If you have to use some, I suggest you cover the ground in your speech and then stop and summarise the key points on a slide. While the slide is up, say nothing, then take it down and carry on with a blank screen behind you.

USE STRONG IMAGES

A well chosen image can say more than any number of words. And remember the T-shirt rule. You can get as much effective information on a slide as you can on the front of a T-shirt.

AVOID ALCOHOL

You’ll be high with adrenalin, so drinking has the same kind of effect as imbibing at 35,000 feet. It will not make you more effective or witty. Alcohol inhibits clarity of thought and recall – you need both of these at full throttle. And one drink often leads to another.