What does it take to capitalize on the importance of public speaking and transform a so-so speech into a great speech? Is it how the speech is delivered? I’m sure that we can agree that that can certainly play a major role, but I believe that there is more to it than that. Delivering a great speech is like giving your audience a fantastic gift that they keep unwrapping during your presentation and discovering more and more things. Now the real question is how to go about making this happen?
It’s All About The Little Things
If, as your speech unfolds for your audience, you want them to continually be delighted and anticipating what you are going to be saying next, then you are going to have to build a speech that allows this to happen. What this means is that you are going to have to make a speech that provides value to your audience during the entire speech – not just at the start or the end.
This, as you may be realizing, is not an easy thing to do. What you are going to have to have do is to sprinkle tidbits of information that your audience will treasure throughout your next speech. These bits of information may be either closely or loosely related to the topic that you are talking about.
What this type of “ear candy” for your audience actually looks like can take on many different forms. The one form that we are all most used to is the quote. A well placed quote that supports what you are talking about is something that will delight your audience when you say it and it will be something that they remember long after your speech is over. Remember that quotes don’t have to come from historical figure, Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian can serve as good sources for topical quotes.
You don’t have to feel as though you are limited to just using quotes. Feel free to use so-called “fun facts” in your next speech. You are going to want to make these facts both interesting and engaging for your audience. One of the most important things for you to realize is that as powerful as this technique may be, you still need to be careful to not overdo it.
Finally, depending on the topic that you are speaking about, there are a number of different sources of fascinating information that you can draw into your speech in order to amaze and enthrall your audience. The worlds of sports, music, and business all have deep histories, colorful figures, and interesting events that a skillful speaker can twist to fit the topic that you are currently talking about. Once again, remember that the goal is to add value to your speech so make sure that you don’t overdo it.
What All Of This Means For You
A great speech should constantly surprise and delight your audience. As you deliver your speech, your audience should be anticipating what you are going to say next and they should be delighted when you say it. If done correctly, this is one of the benefits of public speaking. The trick is discovering how to do this correctly.
By taking the time to work small surprises into your speech for your audience, they will have the joy of discovery as you deliver your speech. These surprises can take on many different forms: memorable quotes, fun facts, sports facts, music facts, or even business facts.
What every audience wants is to get some sort of confirmation that the time that they invested in listening to your speech was time well spent. By providing your audience with extra treats that are sprinkled throughout your speech, not only will they walk away with your main message, but they’ll also have a lot of additional memorable information. Do this correctly and you will have given a great speech.
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™
Question For You: How many of these verbal tidbits do you think at you should try to put into a 30 minute speech?
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Note: What we talked about are advanced speaking skills. If you are just starting out I highly recommend joining Toastmasters in order to get the benefits of public speaking. Look for a Toastmasters club to join in your home town by visiting the web site www.Toastmasters.org. Toastmasters is dedicated to helping their members to understand the importance of public speaking by developing listening skills and getting presentation tips. Toastmasters is how I got started speaking and it can help you also!
What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
If I asked you to do a perfect job for the next speech that you gave, what would you do differently? I’m willing to bet that at least one thing that you’d do is write out a script and use it to deliver your speech. We’d all do this – it’s the best way to make sure that you don’t make a mistake, right? It turns out that it’s not the best way and I’m going to tell you why…