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7 tips for better speaking

Written by: Stephen Manallack

Article Overview: 7 simple steps can add real power to your speeches and presentations.

7 tips for better speaking

1. Make a stand. Start your speech by showing passion, making a key point. For example, I sometimes start by thanking the speaker and then I say “The world’s biggest selling business author, Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, has written that ‘communication is the greatest skill in life’. It’s a message I learned the hard way.” The stage is set.

2. By all means use Powerpoint, but do not overuse it. The problem with many Powerpoint presentations is too much information, too many charts and poor content. You can use Powerpoint to show pictures instead of just facts and data.

3. Tell stories. Once you have decided the number of key points to make, think of a personal story, political anecdote or a joke that relates to your key point. People do not want to hear the 25 features of your new IT platform, but they will love a story about how you got started.

4. Stand tall, walk free if you can, but never put your hand in your pockets. If you must stay at the lectern, just cling to it on occasions, not all the time. The microphones will pick you up even if you back off a little.

5. Don’t apologise or tell us what you have to leave out. If time is short and you have to cut your speech short, just do it – the audience does not know what you were going to say anyway.

6. Give us a pause. By stopping, you keep our attention and reinforce that you have just made an important point. We love a short break (a few seconds is fine). I use counting to myself to put in the pauses, like this: “The world’s biggest selling business author (pause, one, two three, while they wonder who it is), Stephen Covey has written that ‘communication is the greatest skill in life’ (pause one, two, three, four, and if I can, pause even longer so they are desperate to hear what my next point is). It’s a message I learned the hard way.”

7. End with a stand. Let the audience know that you are about to make your concluding point, so they’re ready for it. Then make the big statement that you used at the beginning to make a stand in the first place. Wrap it up with “I am grateful for your attention today. Thank you.” Then you stand there and wait, because they will want to clap and it shows respect.

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