Mastering the art of delivering speeches

Posted on April 05, 2024 by Martin Hahn, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

The introduction

How to arouse interest of your audience. If you are an experienced public speaker, you know that connecting to the personal concerns of your audience is a crucial aspect of delivering effective speeches. You will instantly know which tried-and-true techniques will be the most appropriate in certain situations. The first thing an experienced public speaker will know is that the introduction must match with the overall tone of the entire speech. Begin with a light introduction when the occasion is supposed to be fun. However, avoid cute introductions when presenting real business in front of a group of executives. When you are discussing a serious problem, leave your jokes and personal anecdotes at home. Also avoid being overly dramatic when your speech is basically a routine oral report. Above all, stay natural because the average audience will become offended by a corny and staged commencement.

How to build credibility

It was mentioned above that arousing interest of your audience is an important aspect of public speaking. Building credibility is actually more important because your credibility will be damaged if you might make the mistake of making an overblown opening. Of course you want your audience to respect your opinion and like you as a knowledgeable person.

Research shows that there is a strong correlation between persuasion and credibility: a speaker with high credibility is more persuasive than a speaker with low credibility. For this reason it is imperative to make your audience believe your credentials within the first few minutes. If you have successfully established your credentials, your audience will certainly be willing to listen to you. Of course; people will decide within a few minutes whether you’re worth listening to. In building credibility, you will experience fewer difficulties with a familiar and openminded audience.

This type of audience will be willing to believe your credibility as long as you do not stick your foot in your mouth. Establishing credibility is relatively easy if you’re speaking to a familiar, open minded audience. As long as you avoid sticking your foot in your mouth, you can safely use your reputation. It is going to be a much more difficult task to earn credibility from strangers. You need all your public speaking skills and experience to earn the confidence of a skeptical or antagonistic audience.

Previewing the speech

In the introduction of your speech, the following points must be mentioned: a one sentence summary of your main idea, the most important supporting points, and the order of presenting those main points. Basically inform your audience that “This is the topic and these are the points I will cover.” Only after mentioning this framework, you can move on to the body of your speech. But know you can be sure about the level of understanding of your audience; they will be able to grasp the facts and figures related to your main idea.

The body of the speech

In the body of your speech, you want to thoroughly discuss the three to four main point mentioned in your introduction. Like mentioned earlier, just use the same structure in a letter, memo, or report, but you keep the words simple. Two goals must be fulfilled during presenting the body of your speech: (1) keeping the structure of your speech clear and concise; (2) the structure of your speech is adequate enough to keep your audience’s attention.

Emphasizing the structure of the speech

You will notice that when you are presenting your main ideas, your audience will experience difficulties in seeing the relationship between them and this will have an impact on their ability to absorb your main ideas. This problem can be overcome by using transitions which will become very important in longer speeches. Do not forget to make your transitions clear so that your audience will pick them up. Repeating your key ideas in the transitions will also be an extremely effective technique to keep the audience’s attention. Last but not least, use your body language! Make your transitions apparent by your gestures, changing your voice, or introducing a visual aid.

One of the big issues of public speaking is stage fright. This feeling of nervousness may be experienced before, during, or even at the end of a speech. Nervousness is a normal thing and even the best actors still experience it. Like mentioned earlier, practice makes perfect. So you need to rehearse over and over again until you feel that you are familiar with your material.

Public speaking experts have suggested the following other tips: • Your confidence will increase if you have a real genuine interest in the topic. Even if your knowledge is insufficient about the topic, you can compensate that with preparing more material than necessary.
• Like mentioned earlier, you need to cultivate a positive self-image by seeing yourself as polished and professional. If you have a positive self-image, you will also have a positive image of your message. The audience will pick this up and really perceive you as a professional expert.
• Adopt a realistic attitude about stage fright. Even experienced public speakers admit that they are a bit nervous before speaking in front of an audience. In reality, a experiencing a little nervous feeling can actually provide the extra lift that will make your presentation shine.
• Before you start your speech, you will have some time to prepare your material. Use this time to tell yourself that you are really prepared and nothing is going to disrupt you.
• Before you begin speaking, take a few deep breaths to calm your nerves.
• Memorize your first few sentences so that you can express them clearly.
• It is going to be difficult to keep your audience listening. When this happens, do not panic. Involve them in the action and keep your presentation interesting. This are all techniques to avoid them falling asleep.
• Preserve or renew the interest of your audience with visual aids.
• Never quit! Always keep going on. Your speech will get better along the way and do not underrate your audience because they silently want you to succeed.

Holding the audience’s attention.

If you want your audience to absorb your points effectively, you have to maintain their attention.
The following helpful tips will help you craft memorable speeches:
• Connect your topic to the audience’s needs. People are not interested in things which are not related to them personally. For this reason it is important that you present every point directly towards the personal needs and values of your audience.
• Use clear, vivid language. You must realize that your audience will definitely become bored quickly when they do not understand you. Always try to use familiar words, short sentences, and concrete examples. Your speech will become completely ineffective when you use words or phrases that no one understands. If you have to discuss intangible ideas in your speech, connect the various abstractions with everyday life examples. However, do not make your speech over simplistic. You just need to eliminate difficult words you do not understand yourself.
• Explain the relationship between your topic and the ideas your audience already knows. Showing how your topic is related to the ideas the audience already knows which will help the members to categorize and remember your points.

The close of the speech

When you have finished discussing your main points, you may be tempted to finish your speech as soon as possible. Avoid this temptation. The close of your speech is almost as important as the beginning because the attention of your audience will peaks at this point. Plan to allocate around 10 percent of the total time devoted to your speech toward the ending. An effective technique is to make your audience make a final effort to listen is to tell them that you are about to finish. You do not have to say it with complicated words. Just say “in conclusion” or “to sum it all up.” You simply want your audience to know that this is the home stretch.

Restating the main points

Once you have captured the attention of your audience, repeat your main idea. Be sure to emphasize the main points of interest again. Your summary here will reassure your audience that they understand what you want them to do or think. In Addition, you state a key motivating factor relevant to your audience. Reinforce your theme by repeating your main supporting points. A few sentences are generally enough to refresh people’s memories.

Outlining the next steps

If you are presenting doing a speech which will require your audience to reach a decision or agree to take specific action, you need to implement a clear wrap-up. In case your audience has agreed on an issue covered in your speech, review the consensus in a sentence or two. If not, take out possible hostile reactions by saying something like “We seem to have some fundamental disagreement on this question.” Then go on to suggest a method of resolving the differences.

Ending on a positive note

Ending your speech enthusiastically and memorably is always advisable. Even if you had to present a downbeat speech, try to close on a positive note. Your listeners will always appreciate it when you stress the benefits of action or express confidence in their ability to accomplish the work ahead. Alternatively, you can also end with a question or a statement that will leave your audience thinking.

Remember that your final words will have a big impact on the impression you want to make with your speech. You want to leave your audience with a satisfied feeling: a feeling of completeness. Always avoid introducing new ideas or altering the mood of your audience in the close. Although you want to close on a positive note, try to do it in a natural way and avoid a staged finale.

The question-and-answer Period

Along with the introduction, body, and close, include in your speech time for a question and answer session. Otherwise, writing a report would be much more efficient and effective. A main advantage of delivering a speech is the opportunity to interact with your audience. Do not waste this chief advantage. As a general rule, you may answer questions during your speech if you are addressing a small group, but ask a large audience to safe their questions until you are finished with your speech.

Strangely enough, many excellent speakers do well delivering a speech, but then they falter during the question-and-answer period. The key technique to handle this segment properly is preparation! A lot of speakers simply forget to spend time before delivering a speech to think about the questions that might arise including abrasive or difficult questions. For this reason it is important to prepare yourself with the answers for these questions and more. In fact, some experts recommend that you hold back some dramatic statistics as ammunition for the question-and-answer portion of your speech. However, also realize that circumstances may require you to change the answers you prepared.

Try to give everyone a chance to participate and ask members of your audience sitting in different parts of the room. Do not allow one or two people to monopolize the question and answer period. If the same person continues to demand your attention, address the situation by saying “Sorry, other people might have questions; I’ll get back to you if time permits.”

Try to maintain control of the situation when an audience member tries to turn a question into an opportunity to mount their own soapboxes. There are three methods to deal with this situation: (1) You might admit that you and the questioner have a difference of opinion and offer to get back to the questioner after you have done more research. Then ask someone else to pose a question; (2) You can offer a brief answer in order to avoid lengthy additional questions; (3) Finally, you might thank the person for the question and then remind the questioner that you were not looking to indulge in put-downs: this may backfire and make your audience sympathize with the questioner.

Avoid going into an argument at all cost! Arguments will definitely cause you to overreact because you feel that your ideas, logic, or facts are being challenged. Stay calm and defuse hostility by applying the following technique: paraphrase the question and ask the questioner to confirm that you have understood it correctly. In case of long complicated questions, break it into parts which you can answer satisfactorily. Always give honest, accurate and factual responses before moving on to the next question. Avoid body language (posture or gestures) that might be perceived as aggression or inapproachability. Keep your tone of voice pleasant and businesslike pleasant.

The visual aids

If you give a speech without making it visual, your audience will only remember around 10 percent of your message. Your audience will definitely remember more information when your speech is supported with supportive visual aids like slides or overhead transparencies.

Designing and presenting visual aids

Two types of visual aids are used to supplement speeches: text visuals and graphic visuals. The advantage of text visuals which consist of words is that your audience will be able to follow the flow of your ideas because text visuals are simplified outlines of your speech. You can use them to summarize and preview the message and signal major shifts in thought. Graphic visual aids, in turn, help illustrate your main points. They help your audience understand numerical data and other information that would be hard to follow if only presented orally. Think about the visual aids that you will need while preparing the speech or presentation. Select the visual aid which would most benefit your concept. Simplicity is the key criterion to effectiveness when designing both types of visual aids.

Realize that your audience will not be able read and listen at the same time. For this reason, the visual aids have to be simple enough so that the audience can understand them within a moment or two. At the same time, visual aids should be just that, aids that enhance your speech by explaining and emphasizing key points. Too many or too hastily visuals can detract your message.

Most speakers start their speech with several text visuals: the first visual is usually the title page. The title page identifies the topic and signals your audience that the presentation is under way. The second typically lists the three or four major points you’ will be covering like a ‘road map’ of what is to come. The other text visuals will function as aids in emphasizing the transitions between the main points. They are similar to the headings in a written report signaling the introduction of a new topic. When you present visual ideas, make sure that your audience has the chance to read what is there. Moreover, you also want them to listen to your explanation:
• Make your visual aids large enough so the audience can see them clearly without strain.
• Give your audience time to read a visual aid before you begin your explanation.
• Each visual aid contains only one idea.
• Use visual aids to just illustrate the main points.
• Make sure that your visual aid does not conflict with your verbal message.
• Summarize instead of reading the text of your visual aid word for word.
• After finishing discussing the point illustrated by the visual aid, move on to the next point.
Remember that you want the audience to listen to you, not to study the visual aids. The visual aids are there to increase understanding, do not let them distract your audience.

Selecting the right medium

When you prepare your speech, select one or two of the following visual aids. You have to determine which ones are the best. It depends on the topic of your speech. Simple and straightforward topics only need one visual aid whereas complicated topics might need two aids like slides and handouts. So the following visual aids might be useful:
- Handouts, Chalkboards and whiteboards, Flip chart, Overheads Slides, Computers, and Other visual aids.