How A Speaker Can Make Sure That Their Next Speech Will Be Remembered

To make your audience remember, perhaps it's time for you to go back to school
To make your audience remember, perhaps it’s time for you to go back to school
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Every time we give a speech we always have one big hope: that our audience is able to remember what we tell them. After all, isn’t that what the importance of public speaking is all about? This is a great goal to have; however, it does not always happen. Instead, once we are done talking, our audience can all too easily start to forget the words of wisdom that we’ve shared with them. We need to find a way to fix this problem.

Creating Lasting Memories

In order to get your audience to remember the next speech that you give, you need to take the time to understand what is going on in their heads while you are speaking. They are spending their time forming memories. What this means for you is that you need to tailor your next speech to your audience’s particular learning style.

The challenge with doing this is that we all learn differently. There are three different basic styles of learning that different members of your audience may all be using at the same time: visual, auditory, and finally, kinesthetic. What this means for you is that you are going to have to find ways to work all three styles of learning into your next speech.

Visual learners like pictures. This means that you need to provide them with as many images as possible. Use PowerPoint or Keynote to display pictures that relate to what you are talking about during your speech. Make sure that you make a lot of eye contact with these learners during your speech in order to help them shut out any distractions that might be trying to capture their attention. Finally, make sure that you incorporate words in your speech that will paint vivid images in their minds while you are talking.

Auditory learners are the ones that speakers like the best. These people learn by hearing. However, it is still going to be your job to shape your speech to meet their particular learning needs. You are going to have to be careful to repeat the most important points that you are making several times during your speech so that your auditory learners can hear it over and over again.

Finally, your kinesthetic (also known as tactile) learners don’t like to sit and listen to you for long times. Instead what they want is to experience what you are talking about firsthand. In order to make that happen, you are going to have to break up your speech. Incorporate games for your audience members to participate in and let your audience choose if they want to either sit or stand for your next speech.

What All Of This Means For You

To be remembered by our audiences – is that really asking too much? It turns that that while your audience is listening to your next speech what they are really trying to do is learn. As a speaker, it’s going to be your job to teach them what you want them to learn in the way that best meets the way that they learn so that they can experience the benefits of public speaking.

What this means for you is that you need to incorporate into your next speech techniques that are going to provide the learning experience in a way that your audience can use. Different techniques will have to be incorporated for the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. This is easy to do, you just have to remember to do it.

The good news is that making your next speech something that your audience will remember is a real possibility. The bad news is that you are going to have to work at it. I’ve shared some techniques with you that will transform your next speech into one that will have the real potential to change lives. Now go out and become unforgettable!

– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™

Question For You: Do you think that you have to incorporate all 3 types of learning tools throughout your speech or can you just place them in one spot?

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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 there is one thing in the world that all of us would probably like to do it’s to lose some weight. No matter if it’s just a few pounds or a whole bunch, we’d all like to be just a bit smaller than we are right now. What’s interesting about this is that there is a real good chance that despite the importance of public speaking, our speeches could probably stand to lose some weight in terms of the number of words that we try to cram into them also. The trick is knowing how to drop the pounds and keep them off.