I’m here to share with you some of my public speaking lesson plans that should help you with your speeches. Most people are scared to do this, but I think it really boils down to a combination of not learning it as a child and embarrassing yourself in front of a group. I hope these will help you improve your skills, so you can start to enjoy the skill of public speaking.
Public speaking can strike fear into the hearts of anyone who doesn’t have much experience in front of an audience. If this is you, but you still either need to speak for your career or want to get past your fear of public speaking so you can take advantage of the power of a great speech to market your business, don’t think writing your speech out word for word and reading it to your audience will help you get past your nerves.
Many businessmen and women find themselves in a position of having to thank a long standing PA on their retirement. This doesn’t have to be difficult or embarrassing. With a bit of preparation you can sail through it.
When making a speech, especially one to a group of people you know and who might interrupt you and disturb your flow, you need to be organised. Unless you organize your thoughts somehow, it will seem disorganized and not make much sense to your audience. The way to success is in the planning. Going into a presentation well prepared, will reduce your nervousness and increase your own enjoyment of it.
1 - Start strong, finish strong! Your conclusion and wrap-up are just as important as your intro. Many people memorize the first paragraph or so to ensure a great beginning, but then end off with a wobbly “so…uhm…I guess that’s it…uhm…any questions? Ok thanks.” No good. Your ending should leave a strong impression and give them a “call to action” or otherwise motivate them to do something immediately. Plan both ends.
2 – Know your audience. Adapt your language and materials to them specifically. That may mean doing some advance research on who will be there, and what they are coming for. It’s no good making a great speech to people who are not following you, or are not interested in what you’re saying. Modify it.
Think about this: In just a few days, with a video camera and digital editing tools, you can create many of the same powerful effects as major movie producers.
But good video – like good speeches and good prose – begins with the writing. And since I’m a writer, not a videographer, the tips below are intended to assist you with the writing part of an effective one to five-minute presentation.
1. Single theme – For a short, non-fiction video, focus on a single, basic theme. Everything in that video should relate to that single subject.
International audiences can be very intimidating. The less you have prior knowledge of them, the more nervous you might become about how to appear and present before them. But some preparation beforehand goes a long way towards acquiring necessary skills and gaining confidence to handle international audiences.
There are three basic steps to making sure that you get your core message across and affect your audience. The old advice “Know your listeners” works better if you split it into two parts, one about the listener’s needs and the second one about the manner in which they process information. This method will help you get beyond cultural stereotypes with its many shortcomings.