Preparing for Public Speaking

Public Speaking Consider that you will only have the designated amount of time to communicate your message to the audience. You will need to determine your goal in advance. Do you wish to teach something in particular to the audience? Are you interested in inspiring or motivating them? Are you only providing information that they will use at a later time, and to which they will have ready access to reference material.

Are you simply providing updates and news that you have selected to give the audience a sense of being included? The purpose of your speech should guide you in a choice of format, length, level of detail, and opportunities for interaction with you and with other members of the audience. You should make an overarching outline of the major points of your speech. Minimally, you should create a list of bullet points that will serve as a breadcrumb trail for developing your speech.

The links from one bullet point to another must be clear and follow general principles of logic. Considering Your Audience The more mixed your audience is, the more time you will need to put into considering how to communicate in a manner that connects to all members of your audience. It is much simpler to talk to a roomful of your peers, who will understand the subtext of your talk, than it is to talk to people who don't have access to the background on a topic.

Given that your audience is likely to be a mixed group of employees, you will want to begin your talk in a way that puts them at ease. This will help them to truly hear your message. That said, you want to be careful not to seem to pander to them, and you will want to avoid telling jokes -- it is very difficult to be successful when going down the humor path. Researching Appropriate Sources Your reputation depends on your ability to convey truthful information to your audience.

In order to ensure your speech is based on factual information, you will need to spend some time carrying out research on your topic. Be sure to limit your research to the most salient points of the talk as your focus is to compress the information while retaining information that is both factual and interesting. You should be on the lookout for stories that capture the essence of your topic and that are sufficiently relevant to enable your audience to relate to your message in a positive or poignant way.

Preparing And Organizing The Speech It is always a good idea to have notes or notecards to which you can refer during your talk. You will want to avoid memorizing your speech, but it is helpful to practice the transitions between the major points as these are often difficult to accomplish smoothly without some rehearsal. Timing your speech is crucial.

The best way to do this is to set a stopwatch or a timer for the designated number of minutes that you anticipate your speech will take, or for the time that you have actually been allotted. Practice your speech aloud. You can practice your speech privately, but you will benefit more from rehearsing the speech aloud in front of.