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Giving a speech in a business environment, specifically to a group of senior managers, can be one of the most difficult speeches that any of us will ever be called on to give. However, even this type of speech can be done smoothly and will allow you to be seen as an effective communicator if only you take the time to follow the following suggestions.
What You Need To Do During A Business Speech
I’d like to be able to tell you that there is just one set of presentation tips that we all need to know in order to make sure that our next speech to the people who are running the company will not only hear what we have to say, but also take action based on it. The reality is that there are a number of different things that you’re going to have to do all at the same time in order to realize the importance of public speaking in this type of business environment.
The first of these is to make sure that you set aside enough time to practice the speech that you’ve written. The reason that you’re going to want to do this is because when you actually deliver your speech, you are going to want to make it sound natural – that is, not like you are giving a speech. Although you don’t want to come across as being too informal, you also want to connect with your audience and by taking the time to practice your speech the words will flow out of you naturally.
The next thing that you are going to want to do is to take the mystery out of why you are giving the speech. You’ve been invited to present to your senior management and it turns out that generally they have fairly poor listening skills. What this means is that they can either leave or cut you off at any time if they don’t understand why you are wasting their time. In order to prevent this from happening, you need to clearly state what your speech is all about right off the bat. With a little luck, this will capture everyone’s attention and you can then move on to providing them with more details and background information.
Finally, you need to take the time to paint a mental picture of what the future could look like. If you want your senior management to agree with the ideas that you are presenting in your speech, then you are going to have to use your speech to paint a vivid mental image in their heads of what the future could look like if they approve what you are proposing.
What You Need To Not Do During A Business Speech
Just as important as doing the right things during a speech is, making sure that you don’t do the wrong things is just as important in order to achieve the benefits of public speaking. It would be a shame if you did everything correctly, and then ended up still not having your ideas accepted by your senior management. Here’s one thing that you need to make sure your speech does not contain.
Just about the worst thing that you can do when you are giving a business presentation is to try to make it appear perfect by memorizing it. If you write out every word that you are going to say and then you memorize it that way, you are going to come across as being stiff and brittle. The smallest distraction during your speech may cause you to lose your place and the whole thing will come crashing down on you.
Instead, do take the time to memorize the opening and the closing of your speech. How you word both of these parts of your speech is very important so memorizing them makes a lot of sense. Use bullet points to keep track of the middle of your speech and that will allow you to cover the important stuff while still sounding natural to your audience.
What All Of This Means For You
Making a business presentation to a group of senior managers can be both a nerve racking and a career limiting event. You can do this successfully; however, in order to be successful you need to do the right things and not do the wrong things.
The right things consist of taking the time to practice your speech before you give it, opening your speech by telling your audience what your main point is, and painting a picture of what the future could look like if the senior managers adopt your speech’s proposal.
The ultimate goal of any speech that we give is to change the world in some way. Giving a business presentation to senior management allows us to make this happen if we take the time to do it correctly.
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™
Question For You: Do you think that there is a maximum time that your speech can run for when presenting to senior managers?
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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
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?