5 Tricks for Perfect Public Speeches

We have to make dozens and hundreds of public speeches over the course of our lives. Frankly speaking, about 90% of these speeches are communicative failures. I don’t mean to say that we are always doomed to fail. But if you try to measure the efficiency of public speeches by achieving the set goals, you will have to face the fact that most speakers don’t have an idea what the best result of their speech should be. And when speakers do not know what the result of their speech should be, they can hardly achieve it in more than a couple out of ten cases. Let’s try to find out what helps to deliver public speeches not only successfully but also effectively. In other words, make the goal and the result of the speech coincide not only in emotions but also in actions, such as purchases, votes, support, etc.

The first question you should ask yourself is how many listeners you want to attract to your side. The second one is how you will understand that the result is achieved by 100%, 90%, 50%? If your goal doesn’t let you answer these questions, you have no goal at all. There are expectations, intentions, but no goal. And as a wise saying goes, if you don’t know where you sail your ship, no wind will be favourable.

A reasonable portion of excitement involves the audience, it catches and hypnotizes them. The problem arises when the speaker becomes too worried about what he or she is saying or how he or she looks. This is the moment when he or she distracts from the main focus on the emotions and thoughts of the audience.

The best tactics for the speaker is to concentrate on the audience’s emotions, not on his or her own excitement. Look at them and think what worries them right now: whether they are warm and comfortable, whether they understand what you are talking about, whether they are ready to listen to your speech up to the end. Focus and try to feel what that interests that respectable lady with an expensive phone or that stout man who rolled back his eyes when you took the microphone.

Speak sincerely about what worried you when the previous speaker finished his or her speech or yesterday when you were preparing for today’s report.

Make the audience of an IT conference interested with a bright slide about pharaohs’ lives. Presenting a new product that should make your competitors cry with envy, show a picture of a thousand handkerchiefs. But be careful and always remember who your audience is. Some examples, though bright, can be inappropriate for a certain audience.

Paint your speech like a picture. Ask questions from time to time as if you are consulting with the audience what colours to add or find out if you are not blackening the picture. At the same time make the images very clear as if you are explaining something to a child but talk to him or her like to an adult. It is important that no one among the audience feels silly or poorly informed.

Involve the audience gradually, starting with such words as “imagine”, “think”. Then pass over to more active methods: “Raise your hand, please...”, “Please stand up those who…”, “Now come to the stage…”.

At the same time, you must be sure that the audience is warmed up enough and the most active listeners are ready to come up to the stage and participate.

Be brave enough to make an offer that your audience cannot refuse. Give them an illusion of choice but whatever they choose should play into your hand. Remember, the most interesting things should happen after your speech when the audience goes to buy, vote, implement what they’ve heard, choose and support. If this doesn’t happen, your speech is no catch.

Your actions must not only draw a round of applause but lead to the necessary result. To achieve that, you need expert support, training and feedback. Then you will not only achieve your goal but do it with the best possible result.