by Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP
Delivering an effective presentation to 20
or to 200 people is difficult. Because listeners have better
access to information since the internet became commonplace, audiences
expect more content from speakers today. In addition, because of
the entertainment slant of most media today, audiences want a
presentation delivered with animation, humor, and pizzazz.
If you would rather spend your time
preparing your content than reading a book on public speaking, this is
an article especially for you! From my experiences in delivering
over l500 speeches during the past 20 years, here is a quick guide to
giving an effective and interesting presentation your very first time.
Begin with something to get the
attention of the audience. This might be a startling
statement, statistic, or your own story. Listeners pay close
attention when a person begins with, “Two weeks ago as I was driving
to work a car pulled out in front of me….” You could begin
with a current event: “You might have read in the paper this
morning about the flood that….” A question is another way to
make people listen. “How many of you feel our society spends
too much on medical care?” might be a way to begin a presentation
about curbing costs. Whatever technique you use, when you grab
the attention of the audience you are on your way to a successful
speech.
Second, be energetic in delivery.
Speak with variety in your voice. Slow down for a dramatic point
and speed up to show excitement. Pause occasionally for effect.
Don’t just stand behind the lectern, but move a step away to make a
point. When you are encouraging your audience, take a step
toward them. Gesture to show how big or wide or tall or small an
object is that you are describing. Demonstrate how something
works or looks or moves as you tell about it. Show facial
expression as you speak. Smile when talking about something
pleasant and let your face show other emotions as you tell about an
event or activity. Whatever your movements, they should have
purpose.
Structure your speech.
Don’t have more than two or three main points, and preview in the
beginning what those points will be. With each point, have two
or three pieces of support, such as examples, definitions, testimony,
or statistics. Visual aids are important when you want your
audience to understand a process or concept or understand a financial
goal. Line graphs are best for trends. Bar graphs are best
for comparisons and pie graphs are best for showing distribution of
percentages.
Tie your points together with transitions.
These could be signposts such as “First,” “Second,” or
"Finally." Use an internal summary by simply
including the point you just made and telling what you plan to talk
about next. “Now that we have talked about structure, let’s
move on to the use of stories,” would be an example. When you
have an introduction, two or three main points with support for each,
appropriate transitions, and a conclusion, you will have your speech
organized in a way that the audience can follow you easily.
Tell your own story somewhere in
the presentation--especially in a technical presentation.
Include a personal experience that connects to your speech content,
and the audience will connect with you. You want to help the
audience link emotionally with what you are talking about, and the
personal experience does that. With almost any topic you might
choose, you have at least one “war story” to relate to the topic.
When you tell the story, simply start at the beginning and move
chronologically through the narrative, including answers to the
“W” questions: “Who,” What, “When,” "Why," and
“Where.”
To add interest and understanding to your
speech, include a visual aid. A visual aid
could be an object, a flip chart, a PowerPoint presentation, overhead
projector slides, or a dry erase board. Whatever visual you are
using, make sure everyone can see it. The best way to insure
this is to put the visual where you will be speaking, and then find
the seat farthest from it and determine if you can read the visual
from that seat. Introduce the visual properly rather than simply
throwing it at your audience; explain what the visual will do before
you unveil it. Don’t allow the visual to become a silent
demonstration. Keep talking as you show the visual. You
are still the main event and your visual is an aid. Look at your
audience, not your visual. When the visual is not in use,
hide it from the audience. Humans are a curious lot, tending to
keep looking at the object and losing track of the speaker—you!
If you are delivering a persuasive speech,
in addition to your own stories include testimony of experts
whom the audience respects and whose views reinforce your points.
Add a key statistic when possible to show the seriousness of what you
are discussing. For example, if I were discussing the need for
improved listening to better serve your customers, I might add
that although we spend half of our communication time in listening,
our listening efficiency is only about 25%. By using stories,
testimony, and statistics in your persuasive talk, you add depth to
your evidence.
Look at the audience as you speak.
If it is a small audience, you can look at each person in a short
period of time. If it is a large audience, look at the audience
in small “clumps” and move from one clump to another. One
way to insure good eye contact is to look at your audience before you
start to speak. Go to the lectern and pause, smile, look at the
audience, and then speak. This will help you maintain good eye
contact throughout your presentation as well as commanding immediate
attention.
One of the ways to have consistently good
eye contact is not to read your speech. Use note cards that have
key words on them. The word or phrase should trigger the thought
in your mind and then you can speak it. If you are including a
quotation or complex statistics, reading from your note card actually
lends credibility. If you write out your speech you will
tend to read it and lose eye contact with the audience, as well as not
being as enthusiastic in delivery as when you speak from note cards.
Include a “wow” factor in your
speech. Something in your speech should make your
audience think, “Wow!” It could be a story, a dramatic
point, an unusual statistic, or an effective visual that helps the
audience understand immediately. With a “wow” factor, you
then have something to look forward to in the speech that you know
will have an impact on your audience. You’ll become a more
enthusiastic speaker because the “wow” factor will get you as well
as your audience pumped for the speech.
Consider using a touch of humor in
your speech. Don’t panic at this suggestion; you are
not becoming a comedian but rather lightening up a serious speech so
that people will be more accepting and interested in your ideas.
Humor will help you to be perceived as an amiable person, and it is
hard for people to disagree or be bored if they are smiling at you.
Until you have lots of experience, keep your humor short.
Perhaps inject a one-liner or a quotation. Yogi Berra said a lot
of funny things. “You can observe a lot just by watching”
for example. Tell a short embarrassing moment in your life
that you might have thought not funny at the time. Now that you
can laugh at the experience, you understand the old adage, “Humor is
simply tragedy separated by time and space.” Don’t
poke fun at your audience; you should be the object of any
shortcoming, showing that you can laugh at yourself. Avoid long
stories or jokes. Even seasoned speakers know that funny stories
soon become unfunny if they go on too long. Probably the least
risky use of humor is a cartoon. The cartoon is separate from
you and if people don’t laugh, you don’t feel responsible. (Be
sure to secure permission to use it.)
Finally, leave the audience with
something to think about. People remember best what you
say last. You might summarize your main points, or you might
complete the statement, “What I want you to do as a result of this
presentation is....” But beyond that, make your last words a
thought to ponder. For example, I might end a speech on becoming
a better speaker with “As Cicero said centuries ago, 'The skill to
do comes with the doing.'”
A more modern guide to effective public
speaking was penned by some unknown sage: "Know your stuff.
Know whom you are stuffing. Know when they are stuffed."
One never becomes a “perfect” speaker;
developing public speaking skills is a life-long experience. But
the points discussed here will get you started in becoming the speaker
you want to be and the speaker your audience wants to hear.
Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is a
professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University in
Highland Heights, Kentucky. He is also a trainer in
communication who presents more than 60 seminars and workshops a year
to corporations and associations. See additional articles and
resources at http://www.sboyd.com. He
can be reached at 800-727-6520 or at info@sboyd.com.
