Speaking in Public: Prepare Well

            There is a great deal of truth in the saying, “Proper preparation prevents piss poor performance”.  As a public speaker generally you control most of what happens during the presentation. If something unexpected or uncontrollable does happen, however, react calmly and intelligently.  Keep your cool and consider your options. If you can handle the situation do so. If not, hopefully those in charge of the program will be alert and able to resolve whatever needs fixing while you pause and wait for their cue what to do next.  

              What follows in this and several subsequent posts are my thoughts on the Do’s and Don’ts in situations that are controllable. Then I’ll cover what to do or not do when the uncontrollable happens. 

Where you can exercise control, do so.  I practice what I preach,  Some of the most important things I believe you should do are as follows:

               Write your own speech.  When the thoughts and words are yours and not those of some speechwriter it will be easier for you to deliver. The message you are trying to communicate is yours.

               Personalize your opening lines in order to grab the audience’s attention right out of the box.

               Words and phrases that create visual images help the audience absorb information you convey.

               Practice your remarks out loud.  You will discover words hard for you to pronounce or less effective when spoken rather than written.  You also learn to pace yourself (neither too fast nor too slow), both for the sake of a great delivery and in order to hit your allotted time limit.

               Outline your topics to see if they flow logically and smoothly.  I usually write the presentation, go back and outline what I wrote, check its flow and rearrange paragraphs where appropriate. I bring the revised topic outline with me as a handy reference in case I lose my train of thought.  I also have a copy of the full speech “just in case” but have only used it once during a talk, when I became ill and it became necessary to read the last few pages.

               Let others familiar with the topic and/or with good communications skills read or listen to your speech draft and invite constructive suggestions.  My wife, for example, always reads drafts and invariably offers helpful insights about the logical flow of my message, sometimes also asking me to clarify a thought or two.

               In the draft, underline or bold words to emphasize, and speak with emphasis when you rehearse.

               If time and logistics permit, check out the room in which you will be speaking, in advance of your presentation. See if its configuration presents any unanticipated challenges. Further, seeing it ahead of time makes it familiar and hopefully a more comfortable place for you to speak. 

              

               If you use power point slides, the screen will be behind you or to your side.  It is a real mistake to turn toward the slides and lose eye contact, worse still to read the slides (as if the audience can’t read for themselves).  If you feel you must use slides, limit their number (ten or fewer in a 20 minute presentation might be reasonable) and have a laptop with those slides positioned somewhere close by and forward of you. You should be able to maintain eye contact with the audience while quickly glancing at the laptop each time you scroll to the next slide. 

Your closing line should make it clear you are done without the need to say so. For example, you might close by reiterating the two or three most important take-aways you want the audience to have internalized. Concluding lines like “It’s been a pleasure speaking with you today” or “Thank you for your attention” are weak.

               My next post, in the context of factors you can control, will address things you should not do in a presentation.  Please feel free to recommend this blog to your friends (mjriedy.blogspot.com).