Today's Lesson: Prepare Your Best Presentation Yet

I try to make at least one speech in front of an audience every other months, so that I can speak from personal experience when training my clients. I think it's really important to keep challenging yourself in terms of public speaking in order to keep improving- there’s no such thing as a perfect speech. You’re next one can always be better.

I had to make a 7 minute speech at a training session today. My personal objective was to make the speech informative and engaging. Ironically, most people worry about the actual delivery of their speech when in reality the preparation phase pre-determines its success. I was struck by this realisation when I sat down to write a speech with no real stimulus. All I needed to do was impress the audience with my ability to put together a model speech... but I decided that I wanted to inspire and entertain them at the same time.

I’d like to take this opportunity to inspire you to prepare your best speech yet.

·        If you can capture your audience’s attention from the outset, you know you’re on to a winner. It also gives you a confidence boost. So, write a punchy introduction and learn your opening lines word for word, so you can say them with strength and conviction

·        Create anticipation through clever use of pause. If you can tease your audience by withholding key information, all the better!

For instance:

I saw him across the crowded room… I held my breath, and prayed that he would see how gorgeous I looked… and then it happened… I was captured on camera!

The audience had no idea what I was talking about here. They possibly assumed I had seen the man of my dreams! This is a brilliant way to hook your audience’s attention.

·        Please do conclude your speech. There’s nothing worse than an ending that’s too sudden. I tend to end with a punchy one liner. I slow down and lower my voice, so that it is clear I’ve finished. Today’s speech was about work/life balance, so I ended with the line:

 ‘My life is perfectly unbalanced’.

These tips work equally well when telling a story, so you don’t have to secure a formal speaking engagement in order to put them into practice.