Archive for the ‘speeches’ Category

Public Speaking Tips

In this series of public speaking tips I will cover the use of an outline in your talks.

Your talk is going to be composed of a number of ideas or points and your outline is going to be your reminder of those thoughts and how you are going to deliver them to your audience.

Your first task will be to decide on the purpose and theme of your talk, occasionally this may have been set for you already but most likely it will be your choice. Your next step is to research your subject and collate the information that you are going to use by noting down the main points that you want to talk about. Once you have collected all the information that you want your audience to take away with them write this down in one sentence. This sentence is the theme of your talk. It is what your talk is all about.

Once you have established your theme now take a look at the main points and decide which order they should be delivered so that they will make sense to your audience. You will then have to add sub points that help explain your main points. Please read this article carefully as these public speaking tips can really help you with your presentations.

Public Speaking Tips – Type of Outlines

There are two types of outline, topical and sentence. You will probably use a mixture of the two rather than one or the other.

A topical outline is an outline created by first writing down the theme at the top of the page. Then write down the main point under that with the sub points indented that go with each main theme. For example this could be the outline of a chocolatier that is giving a talk to prospective customers.

Theme: What is so special about chocolate?

History of chocolate
when first made
when discovered by Europeans

Ingredients
types of chocolate
what is most popular?

Marketing
how chocolate ads have changed over the years
is chocolate sexy?

Benefits
are there any benefits to eating chocolate?
why does it make us feel good?

Why buy my chocolate?

This is a very simple outline and as you can see it lists the main points that the speaker wants to talk about but the outline would only be of use to that speaker because the notes are there to recall from his memory what he wants to say. This is not a manuscript to be read and shows that the speaker must prepare well so that he knows his subject. Of course if you feel apprehensive about remembering any fine details these can be added in the appropriate part of the outline. This can apply when there are many facts and figures to relate and you need to make sure that you give them correctly.

Public Speaking Tips – a sentence outline

A sentence outline is made up of complete sentences that express each main and sub point but you should try to condense them so that each sentence will approximately equal a paragraph of the talk. You are probably already thinking that your outline is likely to be made up of both these components to make sure that you don’t forget anything.

When you have created your outline practice your talk using it and make any changes necessary to help you deliver the talk. Once you are confident with the talk itself take a close look at your outline and make sure that it is easy to read. The layout needs to be clear enough to be read from a reasonable distance so make sure you use a good typeface. You don’t want to have to spend time looking at it to find your points as your attention should be on your audience. If you can shorten it do so as much as you can to reduce the temptation to keep looking down. Here is a tip for you. If you don’t feel confident to use a condensed version of the outline you could have 2 outlines with you and revert to larger one if necessary.

Public Speaking Tips

I hope that you are enjoying this series of public speaking tips. Public speaking can be learned and always improved so please read all my public speaking tips and also send for my free ebook The Art of Public Speaking.

Public Speaking Tips: Volume and Power

In this article for public speaking tips I would like to explain the use of volume and power.

Volume and power can quite understandably be confused. Loud volume is not necessarily power in the context of public speaking. Volume is the level of sound whereas power is the intensity of the voice. It is possible to speak very quietly and yet have power in your voice.

Public Speaking Tips: Volume

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Volume is something that a speaker needs to master. Volume is used more than simply to be heard. The first step though is to make sure as speaker that you can be comfortably heard. Too quiet and your audience will struggle, too loud and you could make them feel uncomfortable. There are of course different levels of volume required when a microphone is being used.

The use of volume makes a talk more interesting and can be used to put across feelings like happiness, sadness, excitement. Varying the volume to suit the topic can certainly help make a talk come alive for your audience.

Volume also needs to be changed to suit circumstances. For example if an outside noise interferes with your environment you may need to speak louder to overcome it and then lower your volume once it has passed.

Public Speaking Tips: Power

The use of power is one of the public speaking tips that many people find difficult to master. Power as I have already mentioned should not be confused with volume. I am sure you have seen those  gangster films where ‘the boss’ wants someone dead. He will say often in a very low tone “waste him” and there is a great deal of intensity and power in the way it is spoken.

We can use power in our talks to emphasise points without being loud. Simply being loud also does not necessarily create power. Power in the voice tends to come from deep down in our throats, much deeper than where loud volume emanates.

Speakers that are naturally quiet will need to exercise their voices to improve their volume and avoid straining their voices. As with all of my public speaking tips you are going to have to practice getting the use of volume and power right. You can practice by reading out loud and making your reading sound interesting by using volume and power as appropriate. Record your reading and listen to it, making notes where you can make improvements.

Look out for more public speaking tips from Roland.