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101 Tips For Successful Public Speaking Ns 120823065010 Phpapp02 PDF
101 Tips For Successful Public Speaking Ns 120823065010 Phpapp02 PDF
Successful
Public
Speaking
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Few things will advance your career or improve your leadership more than the
ability to speak successfully. Having good ideas is of little value if you cant
effectively communicate them. Successful public speaking means the difference
between action and inaction, between understanding and misunderstanding.
Whenever you give a speech, your goal should be for your audience to hear and
understand what you say and then take the appropriate action. The following 101
tips will help you achieve that goal.
1.
Have some confidence in yourself. Being a good public speaker does not
require magic or genius. It does require a desire to communicate well.
Do you feel comfortable with the way you communicate with your
friends, coworkers, and family? If so, think of public speaking as an extension
of the communicating you do every single day. Youre simply speaking to a
slightly larger group. The ease and confidence with which you talk every day is
the same manner that you need when you are speaking in front of a room full
of people. So just remember: even if youve never given a speech, youve done
this before!
2.
3.
Keep it simpleand short. There was a time when people would listen
attentively to speeches that were literally hours long. Those times, as
you know, have passed. Now that there are so many ways to get
informationTV, radio, print media, the Internetlive speeches need to be
short, simple, and memorable. Take a look at the Gettysburg Address. It is
about 270 words long. The address also uses simple, single-syllable words,
and short sentences. Youll find this simplicity makes your speech easier to
digest and harder to forget.
4.
Dont just say it: mean it! An audience will know if you dont believe in
or care about what youre saying. Plus, you have to ask yourself: if you
dont believe what youre saying, why should your audience believe it?
If you what youre saying isnt important to you, then how can you expect your
audience to care about it?
5.
Forget the technical stuff. If your goal is to just make simple speeches,
at work, or in your community, then worrying about technical vocal
tips will probably not be necessary. In fact, it might hurt you more than
help you. If you havent had trouble with your voice in the past, then youll be
better off just continuing to speak like you always have. Consulting a book
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about vocal inflection, articulation, and breathing might just distract you from
the most important thing: communicating.
6.
7.
Take a class. Keeping in mind the advice to just do it, you have a
couple of options. The most straightforward step towards getting
comfortable with public speaking would be to take a class. There you
will be surrounded by other people who are learning the same things you are.
You will have specific assignments, which can help calm your mind and
narrow things down, and you will have deadlines, which will help you just get
down to work. Before you know it, the homework will be done and youll be up
there in front of the class, giving your first speech. For beginning speakers, or
experienced speakers who want to get better, I recommend Toastmasters
International (www.toastmasters.org). You wont find a better value for your
investment in becoming a better speaker. For experienced speakers who are
interested in professional speaking, I recommend the National Speakers
Association (www.nsaspeaker.org).
8.
Organize your own practice group. For some reason, you may not be
able to take a class in public speaking. Logistical things like money,
schedules, and availability could rule out that option. If so, do it
yourself! Get together with a group of people who share your interest in public
speaking and your goal to improve. You can meet once a week and practice
with each other. This is another was to get up and just do it.
9.
Run for public office. It may sound extreme, and definitely dont do
this just for practice. But if you care deeply about the world around you
and are willing to devote time to improving it, you can make a positive
difference in public office. There is no doubt, though, that the amount of
public speaking youll have to do during a campaign will teach you all you
need to know about the skill.
10.
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11.
Know and believe you will succeed eventually. It may take time, but
you can eventually become a good, solid public speaker. Remember
when you learned to tie your shoe, or learned to drive? You didnt
get it right away. It was hard and perhaps scary at first, and maybe you felt
youd never get it. But you kept at it because you knew everyone eventually
learns to drive, and that eventually you would master it. Its the same with
public speakingyou cant expect to be good at it right away. Remember the
learning curve, and just keep moving forward.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Figure out why youre scared: lack of research. You cant just whip
out a great speech with too little preparation, even if you are Prince
Charming. If you have not adequately researched your facts, or not
adequately prepared them for your speech, you will rightly suffer from fear.
No one wants to look like an idiot, and if you dont have your facts straight
and your speech practiced, theres a good chance thats just what youll look
like.
16.
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17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
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23.
24.
Decide how you want to deliver your speech. It is also useful for
you to explore all of the different ways of delivering your speech.
There are different styles of talking, and each style has its
benefits. Many experienced speakers, however, advocate using a combination
of the following styles. It is always good to be flexible and be able to use
different styles as you see fit.
25.
26.
27.
28.
Style #4: Written and read. This type of speech is the most used in
corporate or political speaking. It should still be used with
caution. It is harder to connect with an audience and
communicate sincerity when speaking from a prepared script. When is this
type of speech appropriate? A good example would be if you are giving a high
stakes speech that includes important details that must be delivered correctly.
Remember when using this type of delivery to keep looking up and making
eye contact with your audience.
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29.
Know the parts of a speech. Another way to ensure you are writing
solid, engaging speeches is to know how to break down the speech
into sections or modules. The parts of a speech are: salutation,
introduction, body, and conclusion. Knowing these parts of the speech and
writing by them will help you craft a speech with structure and purpose.
30.
31.
Part #2: Introduction. This part should also be short and sweet.
Your goal with the introduction is to familiarize your audience with
the purpose or question of your speech. You dont need to develop
anything or answer the question. You just need to introduce the question or
the topic, clearly and succinctly, and then move on to the next part of the
speech, the body.
32.
Part #3: Body. The body is the bulk of the speech, where most of
the content will be presented. Here is where you should make your
points in a clear and logical progression. You can then develop
each point and give details, facts, or statistics. If you are trying to persuade
your audience or answer a specific question, you should first present your
argument at the beginning of your body, so you have plenty of time to provide
backup for it.
33.
34.
35.
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36.
Use your sources wisely. The dumbest thing you could do would
be to get up in front of a group and give a speech on a subject
about which you know next to nothing. It is obvious to the
audience when you are uncomfortable, and you will definitely be
uncomfortable if you dont know what youre talking about. The following
sources are excellent places to begin when choosing your subject or writing
your speech.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
Start a library of your own. For people just starting out with public
speaking, starting to build an arsenal of topics or research
materials can help a lot with ideas and content for speeches. Keep
a file with articles and interesting bits of news, or quotes from
books that youd like to reference someday. After awhile youll have your own
personal reference library to turn to when ideas are running low.
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42.
43.
First, write out the whole speech. It helps to get it all out first.
Then you know what information you have, where you want it to
go, and how important it is to the speech as a whole. This is the
document you can revise and rewrite.
Second, break the text into the parts of the speech. Go over your
speech and make markings all over it to indicate which section is
which. You can make titles or headings for each section, and mark
them with Roman numerals. This will help you identify the
sections of your speech and get ready to make an outline.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
An alternative: write the outline first. You can go over this same
process the other way around. If you write better with a good
outline, then by all means do so. You can then break the resulting
speech down again, to end up with the outline you will speak
from. It just depends on which process works better for you.
49.
Outline on note cards. The way you want to read your outline
when youre up at the podium is up to you. Many people like to
break their outlines up into sections and keep it on separate note
cards. This allows you to focus on one thing at a time, and usually
looks good because note cards are so easy to handle.
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50.
51.
52.
Know when to shorten the outline. Once youve been speaking for
a long time, you may start to feel that a full outline is too much
that you dont need that up there with you. Thats completely
normal. The more comfortable you feel speaking, the less guidance
youll need from your outline. Youll still want a good, solid outlineyou just
wont need so much detail in it.
53.
54.
Strive to be physically fit and healthy. Along these same lines, you
should not perform if you are not up to par physically. No one
wants to see a singer with a sore throat, or a dancer with a broken
ankle. If you are under the weather with a cold or flu or fatigue,
you should seriously consider how it will affect your speech. Dont sell
yourselfor your audienceshort.
55.
Take care of yourself the day of the event. Even if you are healthy,
there are numerous ways of ruining your chances at a good speech,
even after youve arrived at the site. On the day of your speech, get
plenty of sleep, stick to water and other healthy drinks, and dont
eat or drink anything that could make you sick to your stomach or sluggish.
You want to keep yourself at the top of your game.
56.
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makeup you need to. This will help you right away to gain the interest and
respect of your audience or, at the very least, to avoid distracting from your
speech with a bad haircut!
57.
58.
59.
Take stock of your audience. Even once youve gotten to the event,
its good to check in and see how the actual audience compares to
the audience you wrote your speech for. Even when youve
researched your target audience, you never know what the
situation will be when you get there. So take a look with some time left before
you speak, and make any final adjustments to your speech to finally tailor it to
your audience.
60.
61.
But dont let the mike take over your speech. The trick to using a
microphone is to think of it as an extension of you. If you dont
want your audience to pay attention to your mike, then you need to
be used to it so it doesnt distract you from your performance. Just
make sure to practice with your mike beforehand, or with something that can
represent it. Also, make sure to do a sound check before you begin your
speech so you are familiar with the effect of the mike.
62.
Start out strong. Your first few words will leave a big impression
on your audience. Your first sentence, will, of course, depend on
your speech. But in general you should make it a priority to start
out with a strong statement or an intriguing question, and to
deliver the beginning of the speech with a pleasant, confident manner.
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63.
64.
65.
Remember the audience, not the rules. Once its time to speak, you
need to just forget all the rules youve been learning. Just relax,
forget yourself, and focus on your speech. It does no good to
be distracted by lots of technical things when you have to actually
talk. So just trust youve done the preparation you needed to do, relax and
have fun!
66.
Dont listen to your own voice. Along the same lines, do not pay
attention to your own voice. Once you start listening to yourself
speak, you can get so distracted theres no turning back. The
audience is supposed to look at you and hear you. Your job is to
communicate to them, not to share their experience. Forget about yourself
and focus instead on your audience.
67.
Use gestures, but keep them natural. You will look like a robot if
you dont use hand and body gestures in your speech. However,
be careful not to invent gestures that will look unnatural. Your
audience will notice if you dont gesture at all, but they will also
notice if you use unnatural gestures. So try to just relax and use your normal
gestures.
68.
69.
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youre using. They might even miss your meaning. So stick to traditional
phrases.
70.
71.
72.
Improvise with caution! With all the work youve put into
preparing your speech, sometimes youll be in the middle of
speaking and will feel tempted to digress or improvise what seems
like a better ending. Resist this urge unless youre willing to take a
risk and live with the consequences. While you should definitely be thinking
on your feet and be flexible in a speech, it doesnt usually serve you to digress.
Youll probably end up getting off track and losing your audience.
73.
74.
75.
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76.
Use the power of the pause. If your speech is going very well,
chances are the audience is listening attentively. You can use a
pause very effectively to build suspense or to highlight the
significance of whatevers coming next. An appropriate pause can
also emphasis to what youve just said and give the audience time to think.
77.
78.
79.
80.
Quote the masters. One great way to spice up your speech would
be to add relevant quotes from works of literature. Poetry, fiction,
and nonfiction are all genres that offer endless possibilities for
inspirational and useful quotes. Sometimes a quote illustrates
your point better than anything else, and it adds dimension to your speech.
81.
82.
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83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
Dont let the visual aids distract you. If you do decide to use visual
aids, make sure you have mastered the presentation of them
before you give your speech. Practicing with your visual aids is just
as important as practicing the rest of your speech. The worst-case
scenario would be for your video to be cued incorrectly, or for your slideshow
to contradict what you are saying!
88.
Pass papers out at the right time. If you have print visual aids, like
charts, maps, and other types of handouts, it is good to consider
the best time to hand them out. No matter how mature your
audience is, chances are, if they receive handouts at the beginning
of your speech, they will spend most of the speech looking at the handout. If
they dont need it, dont give it to them. If they do need it, wait to hand it out
until your speech is ready for it.
89.
Consider your voice. Imagine someone giving the best speech ever
written, but delivering it in a voice that is high pitched, or nasal.
Would you have a positive reaction to the speech? Probably not.
Grating or annoying voices can be the most distracting elements
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of speeches. So, as you work so hard to prepare your speech, make sure you
put some energy into training your voice.
90.
What your voice should sound like. The ideal voice for speakers is
pleasant and clear, with no effort being apparent. The audience
should not be thinking about what hard work you have to do as a
speaker. Your voice should betray no work at all, but sound easy
and refreshed. This will immediately allow the audience to relax and listen to
what you have to say instead of feeling sorry for you.
91.
92.
Learn to take care of your voice. As any actor or politician will tell
you, taking care of your voice is of the utmost importance. You
will lose it if you just go around yelling and straining. It is
important to study with a vocal coach to learn how to care for
your voice, especially if you plan to use it a lot.
93.
Eliminate tension for the sake of your voice. If you cant learn to
relax your mind and body before speaking, you will have lots of
trouble both mentally and physically. Muscles actually tense up
when you are nervous or just strained. These tight muscles affect
your voice and make it automatically harder for you to speak correctly.
94.
Eliminate tension for the sake of your mind. If you are stressed
out and tense, you will not be able to perform mentally at the level
you hope to in order to deliver a good speech. The best way to go
into a speech is with a clear, focused mind. If this means you
meditate beforehand, thats fine. Many physical warm-ups also help you focus
and clear your mind.
95.
96.
impression.
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97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
Have fun! With all of these tips, you may feel overwhelmed.
While its true you have a lot of work to do to become a good
public speaker, the most important thing is that, in the end,
you let it all go and go up there ready to have fun. Enjoy your
audience, enjoy your subject, and enjoy yourself. Youve got something good
and useful to say, and your audience is excited to hear it.
Copyright 2008 Mark Sanborn
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