Most people would rather have root canal work done than get up in front of an audience and deliver a speech. Of the five most commonly held terrors that the majority of Americans own up to, the fear of making a speech heads the list. It is ahead of the fear of death and an audit by the IRS. Here are some Public Speaking Tips that will ease your way somewhat and help you overcome your fears.

Mark Twain said, “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."

MARKET RESEARCH:

Any good speaker will consider Market Research the bottom part of the iceberg with the top part being the actual speech. You need to consider the five targeting questions first.

These are:

• What are you going to be talking about, what is your purpose in speaking?

• When - how far away is your speech – how much preparation time will you have?

• Where is it going to be held and what, if any travel arrangements are in place?

• Why do they want you to speak, what is your speciality?

• How are you going to accomplish it. Do you need to research the topic

WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?

• Know the specific nature of the guests. Do they belong to the same business type or organization. If so, put some anecdotes or items of interest relating to their common interest into your presentation. Perhaps you could make a positive statement about the geography of the town or city you are speaking in.

• What is the purpose for them assembling. Is this a special occasion requiring you to direct your speech to the reason for the seminar or gathering.

• Be mindful of the possible cultural differences and exclude material or comments or phrases that might be culturally insensitive. Research well.

• If at all possible, mingle and greet some of your audience as they arrive and make them instant friends. You will find it much easier giving your presentations to a group of friends than a group of strangers.

WHAT ORDER ARE YOU SPEAKING IN?

Are you the keynote speaker? Are you speaking first, in the middle or last? This is very important because speaking order is can have a huge bearing on the audience’s attention span, particularly if you are to speak after someone who has bored them into a state of stupor.

WHAT IS YOUR THEME GOING TO BE?

What topic are you going to be speaking about in your presentation? If you’re an acknowledged expert in a particular field you may be asked to talk about anything within your area of expertise.
It’s also very important that you establish early on what sort of speech you are being asked to deliver. Are you being asked to inform your audience; entertain your audience or persuade your audience? Once you have established this you can then research the basic theme of your presentation.

• If you decide that it is an informative speech then your audience will expect to get new information that needs to be presented in an even-handed and objective manner.

• If you are going to present a persuasive speech then the purpose is to give the audience convincing evidence to support a change in attitudes, beliefs, values or behavior.

• An entertaining speech is not about being a stand-up comic. It should be a speech, NOT a routine and should provoke a pleasurable response from your audience. A good entertaining or humorous speaker does not need to use blasphemy and bad language to get his or her point across. You can entertain without using filthy language or highly offensive gender, religious, cultural or ethnic material. It’s a poor speaker who needs to use these devices to gain notoriety.

CONSIDER YOUR SPEECH STRUCTURE

Whatever the basic premise of your speech, whether you are going to be informing, entertaining or persuading you audience, you will need to have a definite sense of structure to your speech.

A good speech must have an opening, a body and a conclusion.

The Opening:

Your opening sentences must capture your audience’s interest and attention right from the beginning. If you lose them during this crucial start, they will most likely stay lost for the whole speech. Perhaps you might consider beginning with a pertinent rhetorical question for an informative speech; a humorous story for an entertaining speech and set up your premise for a persuasive speech.

Next provide a good linking sentence to segue between your opening and the body of the speech.

The Body:

Have a few good points (no more than three or four). Use these to expand upon your speech premise.

The Conclusion:

Here you need to summarise the main points in the body, perhaps reiterate your main premise and deliver a conclusion and finish with a memorable statement.

The object of a speech is to Communicate something to the audience. People seem to think that just opening and closing your mouth and speaking provides communication. This is not so. The people you are speaking to must UNDERSTAND what you are talking about in order for communication to have taken place. If you do not communicate; if you leave the audience with more questions than you answered then you have not succeeded.

I hope these Public Speaking Tips will give you a place to begin. However all the tips in the world will only take you so far in a career as a public speaker. The number one thing you must do is participate, participate, participate. You only get better by doing. So grab your courage in both hands and start accepting speaking engagements. Don’t take on a role beyond your speaking ability. Start where you are with small five minute speaking opportunities. Whatever you do, begin to do something. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.