Tuesday, February 24, 2009

How To-113: "How to Prepare and Give a Speech"


How to Prepare and Give a Speech


from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Have you just found out you need to give a speech? And you're feeling a little nervous about it? Here's a step-by-step guide to help you prepare a speech on any topic.

Steps

  1. Identify the topic of your speech. If it is up to you to select the topic, choose a subject that you know well and target it so that is appropriate for your audience.
  2. Research your subject. If it is not a subject with which you are familiar, start with the most general background sources that you can find. Good examples include an encyclopedia, the internet or a newspaper such as the NY Times.
  3. Know how many minutes you have to speak. This is very important because you don't want to risk having too little or too much to say. You may also want to budget in time for questions at the end. Practice the speech after it is written, to get an idea of how much time it will take you to deliver it.
  4. Know your audience. Discuss things that the audience might specifically be interested in. For example, if you are giving a speech to a group of plant enthusiasts at the Botanical Gardens, speak about plants, aromatic uses of plants, famous botanists or biodiversity etc.
  5. Write a succinct, single-sentence statement about your subject. This is similar to a thesis statement for a written paper. This statement is the foundation for your speech.
  6. Outline the rest of your speech on index cards as you would outline a paper. Do not write out the speech. The outline is there to trigger your memory, not to give you a script. There should be no more than 3 - 5 subtopics that support your main statement. Make sure you know enough about each subtopic to speak briefly on each one.
  7. Use one card for the introduction. This will include your main statement (or some variation of it). Use one or two cards for each subtopic and one for the conclusion which refers back to the main statement.
  8. Write brief sentence fragments or even single words. These words or fragments should be ones that remind you about what you want to cover for that subtopic on each subtopic card or cards. They will act as triggers for your main points.
  9. Practice your speech in front of a friend or a mirror. Practice looking at your audience more and your cards less. Time the length of the speech and tailor its length as needed. Remember - the greater crime is to bore the audience with a too long speech. Better to have a short and well-rehearsed one than a monologue that sends everyone into reverie.
  10. Pretend that you are an expert talking to your friends when you give the speech. Most of the people in the room don't know the material better than you do. You are sharing information with them.
  11. Make eye contact with members of your audience. Speak slowly and breathe slowly. If eye contact is too intense for you, look just above their heads at a point such as a clock or a painting. Try to not focus intently on one place, however - move your eyes around a bit.
  12. Do not leave the podium immediately after you finish giving your speech. Count up to 15 in your head before leaving the podium. If there is an option for questions, it always engages the audience more to respond from the podium than to return to a seated position and attempt to answer questions.

Tips

  • Don't write out the speech. You can't read aloud as dynamically as you can talk about your topic. And if you're reading, you won't be making eye contact with your audience.
  • Don't over research. There is only so much information the audience is capable of digesting and remaining alert to listen to.
  • Slow down. We all speak more quickly in front of a room than we think we do. No one ever gave a public talk too slowly.
  • Dress to impress. You will feel better and look better doing it.
  • Use index cards or have them even if you don't think you will need them -just in case.
  • Stay calm.
  • Use words such as "we" and "ours" instead of "me" and mine". "You" should also be avoided because it will seem like you are blaming the audience. (During a persuasive speech)
  • When you are going to say important things, you should keep quiet for some seconds before saying the point, it will hold the attention of the audience. Then after you've said the point, you should again keep quiet, it will give the audience time to digest what you said.
  • If possible, use visual or audio aids.
  • Humor is always a plus!
  • To avoid speaking too quickly, emphasize hard consonants (d, k, t and so on).
  • If it's persuasive, know your audience, if possible. Abuse their beliefs. If they think abortion is wrong, if you can make it relevant to your speech, do it as much as possible. If most of the audience are girls, use them in a non-sexist way. For example, if you are trying to get across why a charity is wrong, use girls as an analogy for what the charity is for. ("Would you want to support a charity that wants to abort all girls?") The same could be said for boys, or homosexuals, or anyone at all. Abuse what you know about your audience in a non-offensive way.

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Sources and Citations

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