Those who answer positively were making good money, those who replied negatively were found to be making much less. Evidently, acquiring the ability to speak effectively in public (and overcoming the anxiety associated with it) has a bearing on our potential earnings.
The first barrier in giving a speech is the public speaking anxiety. We naturally feel nervous when we are called upon to speak in front of audience. Not only do we not know what to speak on but we tend to feel that we will make fools or ourselves.
Choosing a topic
Choosing the topic is the first process in speech preparation. It is important for us to choose a topic that we are familiar and comfortable with or something that audience would like to know about, the topic of interest for audience. Should we not able to wriggle out of the invitation, the wisest thing to speak is to figure out what to speak on.
Purpose of the speech
The most important thing you have to consider is the purpose of the speech. Knowing the purpose of the speech will help us to focus on the contents of our speech. Know the audience interest. Do we want to persuade? Inform?, or entertain? . Do we want to persuade our audience to do something that we feel is right? Do we want to inform them of something they may not already know? Do we want to entertain them; to make them happy and feel good about themselves? It is fine if the speech were to have a combination of these purposes.
We have to make sure that the purpose chosen is both relevant and not too trivial to the audience. Make sure our contents are relevant with the audience background. We should have a rough idea why audiences attend to hear your speech. We have to bear in mind that the purpose must also not be too technical for them. For example, if we have to deliver a speech to school girls, our contents should be relevant with their education level, but speech on the merits of fighter planes will fall on deaf ears to a group of literature majors.
Knowing Your Audience
Since the audience is important and our objective is to communicate effectively with them, we have to adapt our message to their hearts and minds, that is, we have to anticipate their interest in the topic, their knowledge about it, and their values. It's valuable to know education background of the audiences, and what they expected from us. Therefore understanding the audience is one of the most important keys to successful public speaking because what a speaker says is filtered through a listeners' frame of reference or word view.
Build Credibility
To get an audience's approval, we need to consider that their response to a message is invariably coloured by their perception of the speaker. First impression is a good thing to consider about. It will affect the whole of our speech. During the first 4 seconds you are on the floor, audiences have their own interpretation about you. You should be patient with your body language, your dressing style including your hair style. The more competent listeners believe a speaker to be, the more likely they are to accept what the speaker says.
Therefore, it would be better for the speaker to build credibility by informing the audience that the topic is either derived from his or her personal experiences or that the facts are gathered from extensive reading and research.
An Appropriate Introduction
We should have an appropriate introduction can create a good impression, and first impressions are important. The bad possible beginning of a speech is an apology. We should avoid an introduction like: "Please bear with me for I don't feel to good enough and the doctor has prescribed rest for the day". The worst if you are late and you describe why you late. It will give the audience the bad impression that you are not well prepared for a speech.
You have to consider starting your speech by grab the audience's attention and interest. This can be done in one of the following ways: In a speech on car pooling, the speaker might begin by asking, "How many of us drive with friends to work today?" or we can start a speech by telling story, preferably one that the audience can relate to. All these tips will help make your opening an attention grabber.
Revealing The Topic
The next step, for a clear introduction, is to reveal the topic of our speech. This will help the audience to stay focused and keep track of our speech. We ought not to let the audience guess the topic till the end of the speech. We will lose their attention, and this will mar the overall effect of the speech, that is, tell that audience what they should be listening to. This is best done at the end of the introduction.
Closing Of Speech
The closing of the speech is just as important as the opening. The opening prepares the audiences for what is to come. The conclusion ties up the speech and alerts the listeners that the speech is coming to an end. For the closing, we may choose to either end with a quotation or make a dramatic statement or memory refer to the introduction. The most effective conclusion, however, is to end with a summary of the important points that we would like the audience to remember. This will help the audience leave with focused thoughts.
Best Delivery Method
How to deliver speech perfectly? You may ask which is the best way to deliver your speech. Some choose to memorizing the contents. That is the worst method. It is because memorizing the full text puts too much pressure on the speaker. Sometimes you stuck when you forgot or can remember the contents. Can we read from the manuscript? Reading from the manuscript is monotonous since the audience will find it tedious listening to our reading tone. It can give bad impressions that you have lack of confident.
Also, when we are busy reading, we make minimal eye contact with the audience and this will make them feel left out. What is the best way to deliver a speech? The impromptu deliveries are best left to professionals who are glib and experienced enough to speak-off-the-cuff. The best deliver methods remains the extemporaneous where we have brief notes or a speaking outline to jog our memory. With practice, all of these step-by-step and easy to achieve practical skills will help us to an accomplished speaker.
