Why do we speak to an audience at all? A question asked by many people who have sat through a less than inspring presentation.
We speak to either: Inpsire – Persuade – Entertain or Inform. Most of all though we speak to make the audience richer for having heard us speak.
Ralph Smedly the founder of Toasmtasters said “We learn better in moments of enjoyment”. For the audience to enjoy your speech/presentation you need to connect with them through their mind and to touch their emotions.
David Brookes the 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking said “Don’t just tell us -Take us” he was saying tell a story to make your point. In doing that we need to have a good structure and stories that are relevant to your message.
The audience must know where you are going with your speech otherwise they will get lost and lose interest.
Another way to connect with your audience is to use props to support what you are saying and these act as bullet points for you, taking you from one segment to the next.
Also you need to use pause, vocal variation, pitch, projection and power in your voice.
I often see speakers talk to the front row when this is not enough, we need to reach everyone in the room to connect with them all.
Most importantly as a speaker we need to have something relevant to say.
Think about what you want to share and start writing.
