Get Comfortable with the Crowd and Room
When it is finally time to deliver the speech, you should make sure that you arrive at the venue early—especially if you haven’t been there before. Take some time to scope out the area around you, including where people will sit and where you will be presenting. Take the opportunity to setup your laptop and/or projector if you need to. And try to do all of this stuff well in advance of the time you deliver. If you don’t do this in advance, and you find yourself confused or in the wrong place as a result, the pressure will build, which is the exact opposite of what you need before a big presentation. Instead, you want to arrive well in advance of the presentation, and you want the ability to check out the venue, get comfortable, and play out the scenario in your mind in a low-pressure situation because you ever have to speak a word to anyone else.
Don’t Dwell on Mistakes
One problem that many new speakers make is that they tend to dwell on mistakes. They might stutter or say words in the wrong order because they are nervous. And, instead of simply correcting themselves or moving on, they dwell on the error, apologize for it, and possibly even make fun of themselves using some self-effacing humor. While this may be okay for 1 or 2 mistakes, it really isn’t necessary and doesn’t add much to the presentation. To see why this is the case, just consider mistakes that you see in everyday conversation or on television. If it is clear from the context what the person meant, you won’t care whether or not the person painstakingly tries to correct what they said the first time. Instead, you would rather they move forward with the story. The same is true in any public speaking scenario. If what you said was unintelligible because of the mistake, then correct it briefly and without apology. But if what you said was clearly understood by the audience, don’t dwell on it. Instead, keep moving with the speech.
Stay Calm
Before you get up on stage to do your big speech or presentation, people will tell you to stay calm and that you’ll do great. Of course, if you haven’t done a lot of public speaking before, this advice probably seems insane. How could you possibly stay calm, you might wonder. So you ignore this as nicety and then get on stage to deliver your speech. A few minutes in, your heart is racing and you’re
stuttering. Now, in all fairness, even with this bit advice to “stay calm,” it is hard to know exactly what you should do to make it happen. What I will say, however, is that it is absolutely essential that you do stay calm and that you don’t panic. And here is how I suggest you do it:
i. Be prepared. I cannot stress this enough. If you prepare for your speech and you go through it with your family and friends, there’s really nothing to worry about. You’ll know the content of your speech so well that reciting in front of a group of strangers won’t be a big deal. On the other hand, if this is the first time you’ve ever said it in front of anyone else (or even recited it on your own), you’re more likely to get lost, to freeze, and then become nervous.
ii. Be at peace with pauses. If you’re sitting in the audience, it really isn’t a huge deal to you if the speaker pauses for 3-5 seconds to find her place on some speech notes. If it happens a lot, it might be annoying, but if it happens 2-3 times in the speech, it really isn’t a big deal. In fact, it is less distracting than if the speaker panics and repeatedly apologizes. So, either don’t apologize at all, or, at most, say something like “I’m sorry. Just give me a couple of seconds to find my place.”
iii. Use notes and/or a visual aid. If you’re delivering a eulogy or a wedding speech, a visual aid may be out of the picture. However, in many other scenarios, it will be a good option. Having a PowerPoint presentation or some other form of visual aid can go a long way in jogging your memory about what you’re supposed to say next. On the other hand, if you cannot use a visual aid, you should either write your speech out in full or jot down a notes on either a piece of paper or some notecards. If worse comes to worst, and you lose your place, you can scan the speech quickly and figure out where you’resupposed to be. This will be much better than stuttering, blushing, apologizing, and looking confused to the audience.
iv. Visualize everything in your head before you deliver the speech. Studies have shown that people who prepare for events ahead of time by visualizing the possible outcomes and how they will respond to them often do much better when the event arises. This is definitely true for public speaking. Envision how things might go well and how they might go poorly. Picture yourself responding to each scenario, so that you are prepared for anything.
To summarize—remaining calm is important. And the best way to do that is to be so prepared that the event truly does not seem like a big deal. You’ll know yourlines, and if something goes wrong, you’ll know how to cope with that, too. Being prepared is the easiest way to ensure that things go well and you don’t lose your cool.
Deviate from the Notes if Needed, But Not Too Far
Another important thing to keep in mind is that you should deviate from your notes or written speech if you have to. It may seem like a bad idea at first, but if the situation calls for it, skip a slide, change to a new topic, or jump ahead. Flexibility may be difficult to come by if you haven’t spoke in public multiple times, but if you allow for it, it can definitely improve your speech. With that said, you should definitely try to keep the deviations small and infrequent. For instance, skipping ahead to make sure you complete the presentation in time is good. But allowing a single question to derail your presentation for upwards of 10 to 15 minutes is a bad idea. Use your judgment when deciding which deviations are good and are likely to contribute positively to the speech; and which ones are going to be a time-sink with little reward.
Don’t Get Intimidated by Questions
If you’re giving a speech to coworkers, to your boss, to a seminar audience, or to an academic audience, you will probably have to field questions—and many of them. Some may seem mean-spirited, difficult, or designed to make you look bad and discredit everything you’ve said. And that is only to be expected. So expect this in advance. Expect the questions to be tough and tricky. And take them in stride. Listen to the audience member carefully, make sure you understand the question correctly, and then respond without losing your cool. If you have to, you can always say that you didn’t understand the question (and, thus, need the audience member to repeat it) or you can tell the audience member that you disagree, but will talk to her more about it later. Whatever you do, don’t lose your cool. You will always look better to the vast majority of the audience if you don’t get into petty struggles with individual members of the audience. You will also look better if you don’t appear visibly frazzled or insulted by a question. So try to maintain your composure—and then either answer the question or deflect it cleverly.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月26日
2017年2月25日
Practice
Deliver the Speech to a Friend
Practice is absolutely essential if you want to be a good public speaker. You cannot simply pen your speech and then deliver it the following day without ever having recited it once. That is a recipe for disaster.
Instead, what you should do is begin practicing your speech well in advance of the speaking date. Additionally, if you can, find a friend who is willing to listen to your speech and give comments. At first, it might seem irksome and embarrassing, but in the long run, you will feel much better about the quality of your speech after you have delivered it to a friend and have received extensive feedback.
In many cases, it is a good idea to deliver your speech to more than one friend or family member. This will allow you to get a better feel for how different types of people respond do it. Additionally, try to seek out individuals who are willing to provide blunt, honest feedback about changes you should make. It may be difficult to hear, but the information you gain as a result will be worth it.
Make Modifications as You Go
As you’re practicing your speech (either alone or with others), you should always keep something nearby to take notes on. As soon as you notice a flaw in your speech, you should take note of it and fix it when you’ve completed the run through. It might be annoying to do this when you’re trying to complete a smooth run-through, but it will pay off by allowing you to eliminate the mistakes and bad
phrasing quickly.
Time Your Practice Sessions
Another thing you must do is time your practice sessions. If you don’t know how long each of your runs is going, you won’t know whether to add more content or remove more content. So do yourself a favor and use your watch to time how long each run takes. If you find you’re taking too long, try to figure out what parts are inessential and remove them.
Ask for Criticism
Earlier in the section, we talked about the need to solicit criticism from people who hear your presentation, but this cannot be stressed enough. There are many things in your speech that may sound odd or may be confusing to anyone other than you. The only way in which you can expose these problem areas is to present it to someone else; and to hear what they have to say. So do it. Try to make your presentation to as many people as you can. And ask them to honestly criticize how you did and to make comments about how you can improve.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
Practice is absolutely essential if you want to be a good public speaker. You cannot simply pen your speech and then deliver it the following day without ever having recited it once. That is a recipe for disaster.
Instead, what you should do is begin practicing your speech well in advance of the speaking date. Additionally, if you can, find a friend who is willing to listen to your speech and give comments. At first, it might seem irksome and embarrassing, but in the long run, you will feel much better about the quality of your speech after you have delivered it to a friend and have received extensive feedback.
In many cases, it is a good idea to deliver your speech to more than one friend or family member. This will allow you to get a better feel for how different types of people respond do it. Additionally, try to seek out individuals who are willing to provide blunt, honest feedback about changes you should make. It may be difficult to hear, but the information you gain as a result will be worth it.
Make Modifications as You Go
As you’re practicing your speech (either alone or with others), you should always keep something nearby to take notes on. As soon as you notice a flaw in your speech, you should take note of it and fix it when you’ve completed the run through. It might be annoying to do this when you’re trying to complete a smooth run-through, but it will pay off by allowing you to eliminate the mistakes and bad
phrasing quickly.
Time Your Practice Sessions
Another thing you must do is time your practice sessions. If you don’t know how long each of your runs is going, you won’t know whether to add more content or remove more content. So do yourself a favor and use your watch to time how long each run takes. If you find you’re taking too long, try to figure out what parts are inessential and remove them.
Ask for Criticism
Earlier in the section, we talked about the need to solicit criticism from people who hear your presentation, but this cannot be stressed enough. There are many things in your speech that may sound odd or may be confusing to anyone other than you. The only way in which you can expose these problem areas is to present it to someone else; and to hear what they have to say. So do it. Try to make your presentation to as many people as you can. And ask them to honestly criticize how you did and to make comments about how you can improve.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月24日
How to Write Your Speech - Drawing a Powerful Conclusion
When it comes to drawing a powerful conclusion, no template can really suffice. Your conclusion will depend on your subject matter and on the specific findings you have—or on the specific people you are talking about. No matter what the topic is, however, you will want to draw to keep your conclusion/closing powerful.
Again, while there is no template for doing this, it is something you should strive to accomplish. So, instead of writing the conclusion like you wrote everything else, take some time to think carefully about it, to revise it multiple times, and to present it to friends and family members until you feel confident that it is strong and compelling.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
Again, while there is no template for doing this, it is something you should strive to accomplish. So, instead of writing the conclusion like you wrote everything else, take some time to think carefully about it, to revise it multiple times, and to present it to friends and family members until you feel confident that it is strong and compelling.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月23日
How to Write Your Speech - Make your introduction interesting
Instead of simply presenting a broad, boring summary of everything you’re going to say, take it as an opportunity to motivate the purpose of your speech, and to encourage people to participate. In short, use your introduction to make sure the audience is awake and interested in what you are about to do.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月22日
How to Write Your Speech - Think of Your Introduction as an Instrument or Tool
As with any good speech or presentation, your goal is to get into the meat of the speech, present some idea or topic, and hopefully get good responses and perhaps some useful suggestions (depending on your topic). You hope that the audience will enjoy it and will respond positively.
Unfortunately, there is usually a large stumbling blog that prevents you from doing all of this: the introduction. That’s right—before you can get into the meat of the presentation or speech, you have to wake your audience up, tell them what you’re going to talk about, and give them reasons to be interested. And your introduction is the tool you will use to accomplish this.
Now, one way in which you can instrumentalize your introduction to achieve this end is to use it to tease some of the more important findings or things that you will include in the rest of the speech. For instance, if it is a wedding speech, you might say that you’re going to reveal something about the groom that no one else knows—including the bride.
Alternatively, if you’re doing an academic presentation, you might consider teasing some of the important findings from your work. For instance, you might simply say “I found X,Y, and Z” in your introduction. You might think that it gives away too much too early, but in fact, it will focus your audience on the right idea—and will give them motivation to retain the rest of the information.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
Unfortunately, there is usually a large stumbling blog that prevents you from doing all of this: the introduction. That’s right—before you can get into the meat of the presentation or speech, you have to wake your audience up, tell them what you’re going to talk about, and give them reasons to be interested. And your introduction is the tool you will use to accomplish this.
Now, one way in which you can instrumentalize your introduction to achieve this end is to use it to tease some of the more important findings or things that you will include in the rest of the speech. For instance, if it is a wedding speech, you might say that you’re going to reveal something about the groom that no one else knows—including the bride.
Alternatively, if you’re doing an academic presentation, you might consider teasing some of the important findings from your work. For instance, you might simply say “I found X,Y, and Z” in your introduction. You might think that it gives away too much too early, but in fact, it will focus your audience on the right idea—and will give them motivation to retain the rest of the information.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月21日
How to Write Your Speech - Using Ice-‐Breakers
In many situations, a good way to start a speech or presentation is with an icebreaker. This is usually a joke or an exercise of some sort that breaks the tension in the atmosphere that lingers before speeches.
As I mentioned before, if you’re presenting in front of a hostile crowd, an icebreaker might be a must. And it will be especially good if it is at your expense, since this will indicate that you are open to a critical view of your own beliefs or presentation. It will also suggest that you have listened to the other side for long enough to know the jokes they tell about yours. In addition to jokes, there are other ice-breakers that can be equally effective. For instance, you might ask people in the audience to perform some type of exercise or to think about a topic or an event for 15 seconds. Alternatively, you might ask them to answer interesting or challenging questions to stimulate thought and conversation.
Whatever you do, make sure you keep your audience and mind and focus on providing something that will truly break the ice. If you think that a joke won’t work at your conference, don’t use it. And if you think a thought exercise won’t fly at your business meeting, don’t use it. There are a time and a place for these things; and part of being a good speaker is to know when and where.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
As I mentioned before, if you’re presenting in front of a hostile crowd, an icebreaker might be a must. And it will be especially good if it is at your expense, since this will indicate that you are open to a critical view of your own beliefs or presentation. It will also suggest that you have listened to the other side for long enough to know the jokes they tell about yours. In addition to jokes, there are other ice-breakers that can be equally effective. For instance, you might ask people in the audience to perform some type of exercise or to think about a topic or an event for 15 seconds. Alternatively, you might ask them to answer interesting or challenging questions to stimulate thought and conversation.
Whatever you do, make sure you keep your audience and mind and focus on providing something that will truly break the ice. If you think that a joke won’t work at your conference, don’t use it. And if you think a thought exercise won’t fly at your business meeting, don’t use it. There are a time and a place for these things; and part of being a good speaker is to know when and where.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月20日
How to Write Your Speech - Writing an Intro
One of the most difficult parts of writing a speech is simply putting down an introduction. You might feel like you roughly know how the speech will flow and what elements you might include, but getting it off the ground can be quite difficult. Below, we will consider some approaches you might use to improve your intro, so that you don’t lose people before you even get started.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月19日
How to Write Your Speech - Pick Quotes
In many settings, quotes aren’t necessary and won’t add much to your speech. But in other cases, they border on a necessary. For instance, during weddings, one of the oft-used quotes is taken from First Corinthians 13:1-13. It often says in a few beautiful lines what many speakers feel they could not, even if they were given hundreds of lines.
In short, let the situation dictate whether or not you should use a quote. If you think it would add to your speech, then don’t hold back. If you think it might get a laugh that could warm up an otherwise hostile crowd, then do it. But if you think it’ll be perceived poorly, then don’t bother.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
In short, let the situation dictate whether or not you should use a quote. If you think it would add to your speech, then don’t hold back. If you think it might get a laugh that could warm up an otherwise hostile crowd, then do it. But if you think it’ll be perceived poorly, then don’t bother.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月18日
How to Write Your Speech - Do Your Research
If you want to give a good speech, you must start by doing your research. Far too many people believe they can get up in front of a crowd and deliver a speech based on something they’ve come up with on the spot or something they’ve thought about—but never truly investigated in any serious sense of the word. And once things start to go poorly—they get asked a tough question or they flounder around—they then start to believe that they’re just not a good public speaker.
In fact, this couldn’t be any less true. Preparation and research are a critical part of public speaking. And without them, delivering a speech to a large group of people—friends or not—could potentially be a disaster. So here’s what I suggest you do to gather research for your upcoming speech:
i. Wedding Speeches. You might assume that no research is needed when it comes to a wedding speech. You know the bride. You know the groom. What do you need research for? But, in fact, even a wedding speech can be significantly improved through research.
And, here, when I say research, I mean interviews. That’s right: don’t be annoying, but try to find times to interview different people in the wedding party. Talk to the groomsmen, talk to the bridesmaids, and maybe even consider talking to the bride and groom themselves. Use this process to gather important information about moments in the bride’s and groom’s lives, so that you can incorporate them into your speech and include heart-felt and surprising moments.
You’ll find that the bride, groom, and wedding-goers will be surprised and delighted by your wedding speech, which will provide not only your unique perspectives on the bride and groom, but will also provide beautiful reflections from family members and friends who will not get the chance to make a speech at this wonderful occasion.
ii. Business or workplace speeches. When it comes to this variety of speech, research is critical. The last thing you want to do is to present an argument in favor of a new method of doing business—only to find yourself with absolutely nothing other than pure opinion to back it up.
Here, research can take on a number of forms. One form is the process of finding out whether or not other businesses have already adopted your suggestion— and, if so, how things have done for them. If you can convincingly demonstrate that several similar businesses have done the same thing, and they are profiting as a result, then you’ll find that your bosses will be much more willing to adopt
your ideas.
So how can you do this? One way is to search through trade magazines and news articles online. If you can find evidence of successful businesses adopting the practices you mention, you’ll gain some traction there. In addition to this, you might consider searching Google Scholar for articles in the operations research, marketing, or business literature that find support for your argument.
Another possible route you can take is to look at the numbers for your own business. For instance, can you readily access databases on the accounting and production numbers for your own business? Can you reference specific cases where outcomes for particular clients were good? All of these things are important to find out and to use when building a case for your argument.
Finally, in order to build the credibility of your argument further, you might also consider providing some evidence to the contrary—and then explaining why it isn’t as convincing or why it doesn’t apply in your case. While this might seem like a bad idea, it will demonstrate to your detractors that you have considered all arguments, and will allow you to attack counter-arguments before anyone in the room is able to pose them.
iii. Academic speeches. If your speech is purely academic in nature, research will be even more important than in most other cases. If the audience gets a sense that you haven’t done your due diligence, they will quickly latch onto this, and will attempt to expose your ignorance of the
literature. This is especially true when your audience consists of academics who are familiar with all of the literature in your field.
Furthermore, it is important that you not only know the research that is related to your presentation, but that you also use it in your presentation. So don’t simply writing down paper findings from memory when you’re quickly scraping everything together, but take some time to find out where you read these findings, who wrote them, and in what context they wrote them.
In short, make sure that you not only know the findings in your field, but that you have explicitly written down the exact findings and their sources. This will ensure that you don’t get caught off-guard at your presentation.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
In fact, this couldn’t be any less true. Preparation and research are a critical part of public speaking. And without them, delivering a speech to a large group of people—friends or not—could potentially be a disaster. So here’s what I suggest you do to gather research for your upcoming speech:
i. Wedding Speeches. You might assume that no research is needed when it comes to a wedding speech. You know the bride. You know the groom. What do you need research for? But, in fact, even a wedding speech can be significantly improved through research.
And, here, when I say research, I mean interviews. That’s right: don’t be annoying, but try to find times to interview different people in the wedding party. Talk to the groomsmen, talk to the bridesmaids, and maybe even consider talking to the bride and groom themselves. Use this process to gather important information about moments in the bride’s and groom’s lives, so that you can incorporate them into your speech and include heart-felt and surprising moments.
You’ll find that the bride, groom, and wedding-goers will be surprised and delighted by your wedding speech, which will provide not only your unique perspectives on the bride and groom, but will also provide beautiful reflections from family members and friends who will not get the chance to make a speech at this wonderful occasion.
ii. Business or workplace speeches. When it comes to this variety of speech, research is critical. The last thing you want to do is to present an argument in favor of a new method of doing business—only to find yourself with absolutely nothing other than pure opinion to back it up.
Here, research can take on a number of forms. One form is the process of finding out whether or not other businesses have already adopted your suggestion— and, if so, how things have done for them. If you can convincingly demonstrate that several similar businesses have done the same thing, and they are profiting as a result, then you’ll find that your bosses will be much more willing to adopt
your ideas.
So how can you do this? One way is to search through trade magazines and news articles online. If you can find evidence of successful businesses adopting the practices you mention, you’ll gain some traction there. In addition to this, you might consider searching Google Scholar for articles in the operations research, marketing, or business literature that find support for your argument.
Another possible route you can take is to look at the numbers for your own business. For instance, can you readily access databases on the accounting and production numbers for your own business? Can you reference specific cases where outcomes for particular clients were good? All of these things are important to find out and to use when building a case for your argument.
Finally, in order to build the credibility of your argument further, you might also consider providing some evidence to the contrary—and then explaining why it isn’t as convincing or why it doesn’t apply in your case. While this might seem like a bad idea, it will demonstrate to your detractors that you have considered all arguments, and will allow you to attack counter-arguments before anyone in the room is able to pose them.
iii. Academic speeches. If your speech is purely academic in nature, research will be even more important than in most other cases. If the audience gets a sense that you haven’t done your due diligence, they will quickly latch onto this, and will attempt to expose your ignorance of the
literature. This is especially true when your audience consists of academics who are familiar with all of the literature in your field.
Furthermore, it is important that you not only know the research that is related to your presentation, but that you also use it in your presentation. So don’t simply writing down paper findings from memory when you’re quickly scraping everything together, but take some time to find out where you read these findings, who wrote them, and in what context they wrote them.
In short, make sure that you not only know the findings in your field, but that you have explicitly written down the exact findings and their sources. This will ensure that you don’t get caught off-guard at your presentation.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月17日
Know Your Audience - Use an Adaptive Approach
When it comes to delivering good speeches, being adaptive is critical. You must be willing to change to fit the audience, to change to fit the environment, and to change to fit new objectives when surprises arise.
So, next time you are giving a speech, and you find yourself with a more hostile audience than you expected, think about what you can do to turn the situation around. For instance, consider telling a joke at your own expense that might make the environment a little more light-hearted and a little less hostile.
In may seem stupid, but making these minor adaptations can go a long way in making the content of your speech resonate with the audience. If they find you particularly strident, boring, or disconnected, they’re likely to lose interest, even if what you’re presenting is fundamentally good.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
So, next time you are giving a speech, and you find yourself with a more hostile audience than you expected, think about what you can do to turn the situation around. For instance, consider telling a joke at your own expense that might make the environment a little more light-hearted and a little less hostile.
In may seem stupid, but making these minor adaptations can go a long way in making the content of your speech resonate with the audience. If they find you particularly strident, boring, or disconnected, they’re likely to lose interest, even if what you’re presenting is fundamentally good.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月16日
Know Your Audience - Interact with Your Audience
In addition to trying to find out things about your audience, you should also make an attempt to interact with your audience during the presentation. This is particularly important when you have a small audience and you are presenting as an expert in your field. Below, we’ll consider some strategies you can use to effectively interact with your audience:
i. Allow your audience to participate in a limited manner. If you’re working with limited time, you won’t want to allow your audience to freely participate in the seminar; however, you will want to make some attempt to let them ask questions and to challenge statements you have made in a limited fashion.
One way in which you can do this is to state the convention you’re going to use in advance. For instance, you might tell the audience to raise their hands if they have questions about the seminar—and you will call on them when possible.
Alternatively, you might suggest that people write down questions, and ask them only at the end to avoid derailing the talk. However, in many situations, you will be able to gain greater, more active participation if you allow people to stop you to ask questions—even if you limit how many you will take. If something you’ve said has confused them, for instance, this can be corrected naturally by their asking you for clarification.
ii. Control the flow of the interaction with your audience. Perhaps the most important skill you can develop as a speaker is to be able to control the flow of the dialogue you have with your audience. In particular, you will want to get comfortable with the idea that you will have to pass on certain questions. If you’re going to cover them later in the talk, you should always defer the question by mentioning that.
Another thing you need to get comfortable doing is declining questions or finding ways to work-around them. If, for instance, a particular member of the audience repeatedly asks the same or similar questions (and claims that you aren’t answering them satisfactorily), then you need to find a way to answer them, so that you can move forward.
One way in which you can deal with these members of the audience (the ones who repeatedly push a particular point) is to simply tell them you will discuss it with them after the speech is complete. Another possibility is to direct them to evidence (perhaps by providing paper citations or by referencing someone else’s work) that supports what you have claimed. Even if they still disagree, they will have to find out about that work and discredit it before they can continue with their allegation.
iii. Listen carefully to your audience. Many speakers make the mistake of leaping to answer audience members’ questions before they have even completed the sentence. While it may seem like this is a good way to prevent audience members from going on too long, it can backfire if they claim that you’ve misinterpreted their question.
My advice is to compactly restate the audience member’s question before you answer it. This practice will ensure that you answering the right question—and will also give audience members the general impression that you actually care to get the question right before answering it. So, listen carefully and quietly, restate the question, and then ask if you’ve gotten it right. Only after you’ve done that should you begin answering it.
iv. Acknowledge good criticism for what it is. If your audience consists of other experts or of coworkers who have experience on similar projects, it is possible that they’ll think of something you haven’t. And if and when they do, you should take it for what it is: good, useful advice.
So, next time you get useful advice, don’t be quick to discard it. Instead, credit the audience member for her suggestion, and then write it down on a piece ofpaper, so that a) you can remember to look into that question further; and b) it isclear to the audience that they can actually contribute to what you are doing by providing useful comments.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
i. Allow your audience to participate in a limited manner. If you’re working with limited time, you won’t want to allow your audience to freely participate in the seminar; however, you will want to make some attempt to let them ask questions and to challenge statements you have made in a limited fashion.
One way in which you can do this is to state the convention you’re going to use in advance. For instance, you might tell the audience to raise their hands if they have questions about the seminar—and you will call on them when possible.
Alternatively, you might suggest that people write down questions, and ask them only at the end to avoid derailing the talk. However, in many situations, you will be able to gain greater, more active participation if you allow people to stop you to ask questions—even if you limit how many you will take. If something you’ve said has confused them, for instance, this can be corrected naturally by their asking you for clarification.
ii. Control the flow of the interaction with your audience. Perhaps the most important skill you can develop as a speaker is to be able to control the flow of the dialogue you have with your audience. In particular, you will want to get comfortable with the idea that you will have to pass on certain questions. If you’re going to cover them later in the talk, you should always defer the question by mentioning that.
Another thing you need to get comfortable doing is declining questions or finding ways to work-around them. If, for instance, a particular member of the audience repeatedly asks the same or similar questions (and claims that you aren’t answering them satisfactorily), then you need to find a way to answer them, so that you can move forward.
One way in which you can deal with these members of the audience (the ones who repeatedly push a particular point) is to simply tell them you will discuss it with them after the speech is complete. Another possibility is to direct them to evidence (perhaps by providing paper citations or by referencing someone else’s work) that supports what you have claimed. Even if they still disagree, they will have to find out about that work and discredit it before they can continue with their allegation.
iii. Listen carefully to your audience. Many speakers make the mistake of leaping to answer audience members’ questions before they have even completed the sentence. While it may seem like this is a good way to prevent audience members from going on too long, it can backfire if they claim that you’ve misinterpreted their question.
My advice is to compactly restate the audience member’s question before you answer it. This practice will ensure that you answering the right question—and will also give audience members the general impression that you actually care to get the question right before answering it. So, listen carefully and quietly, restate the question, and then ask if you’ve gotten it right. Only after you’ve done that should you begin answering it.
iv. Acknowledge good criticism for what it is. If your audience consists of other experts or of coworkers who have experience on similar projects, it is possible that they’ll think of something you haven’t. And if and when they do, you should take it for what it is: good, useful advice.
So, next time you get useful advice, don’t be quick to discard it. Instead, credit the audience member for her suggestion, and then write it down on a piece ofpaper, so that a) you can remember to look into that question further; and b) it isclear to the audience that they can actually contribute to what you are doing by providing useful comments.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月15日
Know Your Audience - Seminar Speeches
If you happen to be very good at what you do—be it grant writing, Internet marketing, sales, or telecommunications engineering—you may be called to hold a seminar or at least speak at one at some point in your career. This can be quite difficult—especially if you never had to do public speaking previously.
As with the other situations we discussed, knowing your audience is critical. If you’re a telecommunications engineer, for instance, it’ll be very important to know if your audience will be other engineers—or if it will be an audience of laymen with little experience in your field. Knowing this will provide you with critical information about how to structure your speech and how much technical content to include.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
As with the other situations we discussed, knowing your audience is critical. If you’re a telecommunications engineer, for instance, it’ll be very important to know if your audience will be other engineers—or if it will be an audience of laymen with little experience in your field. Knowing this will provide you with critical information about how to structure your speech and how much technical content to include.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月14日
Know Your Audience - Academic Speeches
If you’re planning to speak in front of an audience of academics or of students, you may not be able to get a handle on every person who will be in the audience, but you should be able to get a rough idea. For instance, if the speech is for a class, it’ll be obvious who will be there. But if the speech is for a conference, then you might only have a rough idea of the types of people who will be there (i.e. professors of a particular discipline or certain types of students).
If you think a particularly noteworthy individual will be there—such as an expert on your topic—then this is something important to take into consideration. As we mentioned with the business speech example, it is always a good idea to run some of your more controversial ideas by a fellow student, academic, or (if possible) expert in your field. This will give you a chance to test the response you get before you have to run it by your audience.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
If you think a particularly noteworthy individual will be there—such as an expert on your topic—then this is something important to take into consideration. As we mentioned with the business speech example, it is always a good idea to run some of your more controversial ideas by a fellow student, academic, or (if possible) expert in your field. This will give you a chance to test the response you get before you have to run it by your audience.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月12日
Know Your Audience - Research Your Audience
When it comes to speaking in public, few things are more important than performing research on your audience. If you don’t know who they are, how they’re likely to respond to your speech, and how this might affect your speech, you could be in for a number of unpleasant surprises.
With wedding speeches and eulogies, this won’t be as much of an issue. For the most part, you know who will be there: family and friends. And the topic will be compelling enough in itself, so that you won’t have to worry about thinking about individual members of the audience.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
With wedding speeches and eulogies, this won’t be as much of an issue. For the most part, you know who will be there: family and friends. And the topic will be compelling enough in itself, so that you won’t have to worry about thinking about individual members of the audience.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月11日
How to Pick the Right Topic - Keeping Things Simple
When selecting a topic, always try to keep things simple. For instance, let’s say your talk aims to answer an important academic or business question. Instead of stating the longest or most complicated form of that question, instead attempt to revise that question repeatedly until it is as simple and concise as it can be without losing a lot of its content. In short, make your question as clear and as obvious as possible.
This also holds true with other types of speeches. The more you try to work into your speech, the weaker, broader, and less coherent the speech will appear. Instead of trying to cover so much, focus on picking a small slice of content to cover—and then to cover that slice well.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
This also holds true with other types of speeches. The more you try to work into your speech, the weaker, broader, and less coherent the speech will appear. Instead of trying to cover so much, focus on picking a small slice of content to cover—and then to cover that slice well.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月10日
How to Pick the Right Topic - Appealing to a Large Group
Another important part of your topic is to try to pick one that will appeal to a large group. At first, you might think that picking an obscure topic will make you appear smart, but in reality, it is more likely to irritate your audience and bore them if they are unable to follow you. Below, we’ll consider some strategies you could use to pick topics that appeal to large groups:
i. Pick a complicated topic, but focus on simplifying it. If you pick a complicated topic, but focus only on demonstrating its complexity, you’re likely to lose most of the audience, which won’t make you appear smart, but rather arrogant or desperate to appear clever or smart.
On the other hand, if the goal of the talk is take a complicated topic and to demonstrate how a layman can understand it, you are likely to gain widespread interest from the audience. Even among an academic audience of experts, they will appreciate it if you can explain your topic in a way that all people—not just someone from your particular area of expertise—can understand.
ii. Pick a simple, but controversial topic. Another great way to appeal to a large audience is to focus on a controversial topic that is simple. Each person in the audience will have opinions about the topic coming into the event, which will make it hard to ignore your talk—especially if you do a good job of highlighting and discussing important issues.
iii. Propose a new solution to an old problem. A final way in which you can capture the attention of a large audience is to propose a new solution to an old problem. For instance, you might focus your talk around a well-known problem (perhaps the government’s inability to pay for a particular program), and explain how you believe it can be solved in a creative, novel way. This should help you to gain interest from a large audience.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
i. Pick a complicated topic, but focus on simplifying it. If you pick a complicated topic, but focus only on demonstrating its complexity, you’re likely to lose most of the audience, which won’t make you appear smart, but rather arrogant or desperate to appear clever or smart.
On the other hand, if the goal of the talk is take a complicated topic and to demonstrate how a layman can understand it, you are likely to gain widespread interest from the audience. Even among an academic audience of experts, they will appreciate it if you can explain your topic in a way that all people—not just someone from your particular area of expertise—can understand.
ii. Pick a simple, but controversial topic. Another great way to appeal to a large audience is to focus on a controversial topic that is simple. Each person in the audience will have opinions about the topic coming into the event, which will make it hard to ignore your talk—especially if you do a good job of highlighting and discussing important issues.
iii. Propose a new solution to an old problem. A final way in which you can capture the attention of a large audience is to propose a new solution to an old problem. For instance, you might focus your talk around a well-known problem (perhaps the government’s inability to pay for a particular program), and explain how you believe it can be solved in a creative, novel way. This should help you to gain interest from a large audience.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月9日
How to Pick the Right Topic - Narrowing Down Your Topic
Once you have a complete set of restrictions to guide your speech, it is time to begin narrowing down your topic. Below, we’ll consider some of the possible topics you could select for several different types of common speeches:
i. The Best Man’s Speech. Now, this may seem obvious to you. You’re the best man, and it is your job to talk about the groom and to give some advice. Contrary to what you might believe, however, there are many different varieties of the best man’s speech that you might consider.
For instance, if you’re already married, you may focus on bestowing advice on the groom that comes from your own marriage. You might theme it around something like “10 Things to Look Out for in Marriage.” You can then detail each of the things you have found to be important, and you can relate it to the personalities of the groom and the bride.
Another possible take on this speech is to use the history of the groom as the topic. This will work especially well if you knew the groom longer than he knew the bride. You can talk about who the groom was before he met her, how he changed as a result of meeting her, and where they are today.
Yet another option is to focus on the theme of marriage itself. Talk about what it means to you, what it means to those you know, what it means to people the groom knows, and what it should mean to the bride and groom. Make sure that you make flattering comments about the bride and also bestow a couple of gems of wisdom.
ii. Academic Speech. Depending on the class in which you are delivering the speech, you might have many or few restrictions. However, no matter how many restrictions you face, this shouldn’t extinguish your ability to be creative with topic selection.
For instance, if you are forced to pick a topic about a particular country, you might consider focusing on something very specific about that country, rather than doing a broad overview. This will give you some freedom to be creative and to create an interesting speech, when you otherwise might have simply presented a summary of relevant facts.
Furthermore, this remains true even for more difficult academic speeches. As an example, consider a situation where you must present a published journal article. One way in which you can do this is to present a summary of each of the sections of the article. However, if you wanted to give a more lively and informative presentation, you might start by framing it in the context of related literature. Once you have done that, you could move forward to explain what is novel about it and why its findings are important.
In short, there are may ways in which you can select a topic, even for an academic speech—and even after your “topic” has seemingly been pinned down for you. All you have to do is frame that topic in a different light and you can end up with a dramatically better presentation as a result.
iii. Eulogy. When it comes to a eulogy, it may seem clear that the topic of the speech is predetermined. What else could you possibly talk about other than the person who has passed away? But, in fact, when considering how best to celebrate the person’s life and to leave him or her with a meaningful final goodbye, you have many options.
For instance, one possibility is to take the biographical approach. Here, you’d attempt to give a broad overview of the person’s life. You’d talk about her parents, her youth, her career, and her loved ones. You’d put emphasis on the things that mattered most to her, but you’d attempt to give a full picture.
Another approach is to focus primarily on the relationship that you had with that person. In doing this, you acknowledge that your understanding of the person will be primarily dictated by your own personal experiences with her. In admitting this, you can move forward by talking about what made her unique to you, and the special experiences you shared.
A final approach is to try to highlight interesting moments in the person’s life. You can draw not only from the moments you shared with each other, but the moments other people shared with that person. You can look to family and friends to accumulate these moments, so that you can share them with the audience.
Of course, there are many more options. But this highlights an important reality: even when it comes to something like a eulogy, the exact framing of the topic you cover doesn’t have to be so rigid. You have many options, so use them to provide a wonderful goodbye to your loved one.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
i. The Best Man’s Speech. Now, this may seem obvious to you. You’re the best man, and it is your job to talk about the groom and to give some advice. Contrary to what you might believe, however, there are many different varieties of the best man’s speech that you might consider.
For instance, if you’re already married, you may focus on bestowing advice on the groom that comes from your own marriage. You might theme it around something like “10 Things to Look Out for in Marriage.” You can then detail each of the things you have found to be important, and you can relate it to the personalities of the groom and the bride.
Another possible take on this speech is to use the history of the groom as the topic. This will work especially well if you knew the groom longer than he knew the bride. You can talk about who the groom was before he met her, how he changed as a result of meeting her, and where they are today.
Yet another option is to focus on the theme of marriage itself. Talk about what it means to you, what it means to those you know, what it means to people the groom knows, and what it should mean to the bride and groom. Make sure that you make flattering comments about the bride and also bestow a couple of gems of wisdom.
ii. Academic Speech. Depending on the class in which you are delivering the speech, you might have many or few restrictions. However, no matter how many restrictions you face, this shouldn’t extinguish your ability to be creative with topic selection.
For instance, if you are forced to pick a topic about a particular country, you might consider focusing on something very specific about that country, rather than doing a broad overview. This will give you some freedom to be creative and to create an interesting speech, when you otherwise might have simply presented a summary of relevant facts.
Furthermore, this remains true even for more difficult academic speeches. As an example, consider a situation where you must present a published journal article. One way in which you can do this is to present a summary of each of the sections of the article. However, if you wanted to give a more lively and informative presentation, you might start by framing it in the context of related literature. Once you have done that, you could move forward to explain what is novel about it and why its findings are important.
In short, there are may ways in which you can select a topic, even for an academic speech—and even after your “topic” has seemingly been pinned down for you. All you have to do is frame that topic in a different light and you can end up with a dramatically better presentation as a result.
iii. Eulogy. When it comes to a eulogy, it may seem clear that the topic of the speech is predetermined. What else could you possibly talk about other than the person who has passed away? But, in fact, when considering how best to celebrate the person’s life and to leave him or her with a meaningful final goodbye, you have many options.
For instance, one possibility is to take the biographical approach. Here, you’d attempt to give a broad overview of the person’s life. You’d talk about her parents, her youth, her career, and her loved ones. You’d put emphasis on the things that mattered most to her, but you’d attempt to give a full picture.
Another approach is to focus primarily on the relationship that you had with that person. In doing this, you acknowledge that your understanding of the person will be primarily dictated by your own personal experiences with her. In admitting this, you can move forward by talking about what made her unique to you, and the special experiences you shared.
A final approach is to try to highlight interesting moments in the person’s life. You can draw not only from the moments you shared with each other, but the moments other people shared with that person. You can look to family and friends to accumulate these moments, so that you can share them with the audience.
Of course, there are many more options. But this highlights an important reality: even when it comes to something like a eulogy, the exact framing of the topic you cover doesn’t have to be so rigid. You have many options, so use them to provide a wonderful goodbye to your loved one.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
2017年2月8日
How to Pick the Right Topic - Working with Restrictions
In some cases, you will have a great deal of leeway when it comes to topic selection. That is, you might be going into the speech with no set topic and few restrictions on the length and subject matter, so that you can do almost anything you want to.
In other cases, you may be working with significant restrictions. For instance, if you’re delivering a speech at a wedding as the best man, you will have both time restrictions and content restrictions.
With this said, the fact that restrictions exist shouldn’t worry you. But you should be careful to pin down the extract restrictions before you get started. Here’s a list of some things you should consider that might place restrictions on your speech:
i. The Subject Matter. Are you delivering a eulogy? Are you giving an academic presentation? Are you delivering a speech at a wedding? Or are you giving a presentation to your coworkers, clients, or boss about your area of expertise? All of these will place different restrictions on the content of your speech. Make sure you know exactly how this will restrict your presentation, so that you can take this into the account in the writing stage.
ii. The Approximate Time Length. In many situations, you will have a flexible time limit, but it is always good to know what a reasonable upper and lower bound would be for your speech. Again, when you’re in the writing stage, it will help to know this in advance.
iii. The Approximate Frequency of Interruptions. In many situations, when you deliver a speech, interruptions will not be permitted. But when they are permitted—such as in some academic presentations—it is a good idea to try to find out how frequent they typically are (and approximately how much time they will consume), so you can adjust the target length of your speech accordingly.
Of course, depending on your particular situation, there may be additional restrictions to take into account. Just make sure that you discuss the restrictions with whoever has scheduled your speech. Make sure that you know this before you proceed to the next steps.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
In other cases, you may be working with significant restrictions. For instance, if you’re delivering a speech at a wedding as the best man, you will have both time restrictions and content restrictions.
With this said, the fact that restrictions exist shouldn’t worry you. But you should be careful to pin down the extract restrictions before you get started. Here’s a list of some things you should consider that might place restrictions on your speech:
i. The Subject Matter. Are you delivering a eulogy? Are you giving an academic presentation? Are you delivering a speech at a wedding? Or are you giving a presentation to your coworkers, clients, or boss about your area of expertise? All of these will place different restrictions on the content of your speech. Make sure you know exactly how this will restrict your presentation, so that you can take this into the account in the writing stage.
ii. The Approximate Time Length. In many situations, you will have a flexible time limit, but it is always good to know what a reasonable upper and lower bound would be for your speech. Again, when you’re in the writing stage, it will help to know this in advance.
iii. The Approximate Frequency of Interruptions. In many situations, when you deliver a speech, interruptions will not be permitted. But when they are permitted—such as in some academic presentations—it is a good idea to try to find out how frequent they typically are (and approximately how much time they will consume), so you can adjust the target length of your speech accordingly.
Of course, depending on your particular situation, there may be additional restrictions to take into account. Just make sure that you discuss the restrictions with whoever has scheduled your speech. Make sure that you know this before you proceed to the next steps.
Source of Information : Public Speaking Exposed
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