Thanks everyone lots of great advice!! Will be doing this Wednesday in Vancouver - will make sure I bang one out before hand, have one ball hanging out of my trousers and hold onto the lectern for dear life as I pisspronounce my worms
I regularly have to make speaches and do presentations - preparation is everything. I found that I tended to overrun - time seemed to go fast when I was standing up, sounding off. So to allow for this I started timing my speaches a couple of minutes short and if I did end up with a bit of time on the day there was always the old "Any question?" get out. Good luck with it.
Which is what I did last year when instead of talking about a certain element I wittered on aboutba certain elephant. Realised straight away and tried to carry on blanking it but then someone burst out laughing, banged the desk going "ha, elephant. Brilliant"
I once agreed to speak at a lunch before a rugby match. I thought there would be 20 people there. There were 800. Worst lunch I ever ate, that was...
On a more useful slant, my wife is a barrister. She's made speeches at Bailey and beyond, but she also wrote the advocacy training scheme run by the Bar to make sure new barristers come 'up to the mark' as far as their advocacy is concerned. She assures me that, in addition to the obvious ones (don't mumble, big, deep breath, look out into the room) there are three golden rules -
1) Tell them what you're going to tell them. 2) Tell them. 3) Tell them what you told them.
If you do that, the audience know where they are, they know that you're in control and they relax. And once they relax, it's all going to go a lot more smoothly. If you write your notes with those three rules in mind, there's an immediate structure to the whole thing.
A lot depends on whether the audience is on your side or not when you start. If you are speaking at a wedding, the audience is on your side - at least at the start after that it depends who you insult. If you are speaking to a conference of brain surgeons, they will be highly critical of everything you are saying (I would imagine).
It's important to be yourself but slightly more of yourself than you usually are (yes, I know that sounds a silly statement). Don't try and be something you are not. If you aren't comfortable making a joke, don't tell one - if you are better a making a slightly witty observation, do that. If you are better at being serious, just be serious.
There's plenty that has been said about your script aleady, but I would add that it is important to make your audience all feel comfortable. Say some things that will resonate with 95% of your audience at the beginning - it may something that is very obvious and not desperately insightful, but it will encourage your audience to listen. There's nothing worse than hearing a speaker who is talking 'another language'. If you need to go into something more technical which may lose a chunk of your audience, return to safer ground before you go into something that may completely lose your audience.
Audiences like to relax as well as concentrate, so give them easy bits to follow especially if there are some tougher bits. At the other extreme, don't just state the obvious, of course.
Above all, look happy even if you are not enjoying it much. Find some places where you can smile or look relaxed. Don't be afraid to ask questions of your audience or ask them to consider their views etc.
Whatever you do, don't start by saying,'I'm not very good at public speaking/I'm nervous/this won't be very good.' It kills it straight away and puts people on edge. Also try not to speak everything you're thinking, e.g. 'I'm just going to adjust this table a bit/get my notes straight, now then what have I written here etc etc' It makes people nervous for you. Don't be afraid of a bit of silence. If you're using powerpoint/Prezi you shouldn't need notes - let the slides be your prompts. Also, try not to faint - that can also create a negative impression.
Practice out loud with an audience. If you have visual aids know them off by heart so you don't have to turn to look at them. Be aware of what your fidget thing is. Everyone has one. Knowing it helps you deal with it or compensate for it.
If you have an ipad they do a great app for presentations which scrolls at the best speaking rate so you can't rush.
bullet point what your going to say and time yourself during a practice run. Take your time as people usually rattle through to fast. Take measured pauses.Look beyond the audiance or some knobhead my distract you
Oakster and MIA - how did you get on in your different speeches?
Thanks Sunbury , speech went brilliantly , somehow just about managed to hold it together , in the end i was glad i did it , my Mum said Dad would have been proud , so thats good enough for me!
the presentation went pretty well yesterday in Vancouver, the guy before me overran so mine got cut short a bit - i was told to remove one section as I walked up to the stage, made it difficult - but it was a very professional venue with autocues and other helpful stuff - strangely didnt feel nervous, i had a little joke to start with that seemed to get the audience on my side......
have to say though, great help from the Charlton Life community - the really positive side of this site - i took a lot of the advice offered here on board - thanks everyone...
Interested in how you handled it Mendoca, I'm doing my mum's eulogy Tuesday and I can't see how I'll not crack up. I'm used to public speaking but this is different.
Mendonca, I admire you. I chickened out of making a speech at my mother's funeral a couple of years ago, but my younger son stepped up to the plate and did a brilliant job - I have never been so proud of him than I was at that moment.
Comments
On a more useful slant, my wife is a barrister. She's made speeches at Bailey and beyond, but she also wrote the advocacy training scheme run by the Bar to make sure new barristers come 'up to the mark' as far as their advocacy is concerned. She assures me that, in addition to the obvious ones (don't mumble, big, deep breath, look out into the room) there are three golden rules -
1) Tell them what you're going to tell them.
2) Tell them.
3) Tell them what you told them.
If you do that, the audience know where they are, they know that you're in control and they relax. And once they relax, it's all going to go a lot more smoothly. If you write your notes with those three rules in mind, there's an immediate structure to the whole thing.
It's important to be yourself but slightly more of yourself than you usually are (yes, I know that sounds a silly statement). Don't try and be something you are not. If you aren't comfortable making a joke, don't tell one - if you are better a making a slightly witty observation, do that. If you are better at being serious, just be serious.
There's plenty that has been said about your script aleady, but I would add that it is important to make your audience all feel comfortable. Say some things that will resonate with 95% of your audience at the beginning - it may something that is very obvious and not desperately insightful, but it will encourage your audience to listen. There's nothing worse than hearing a speaker who is talking 'another language'. If you need to go into something more technical which may lose a chunk of your audience, return to safer ground before you go into something that may completely lose your audience.
Audiences like to relax as well as concentrate, so give them easy bits to follow especially if there are some tougher bits. At the other extreme, don't just state the obvious, of course.
Above all, look happy even if you are not enjoying it much. Find some places where you can smile or look relaxed. Don't be afraid to ask questions of your audience or ask them to consider their views etc.
Enjoy it!
Also try not to speak everything you're thinking, e.g. 'I'm just going to adjust this table a bit/get my notes straight, now then what have I written here etc etc' It makes people nervous for you. Don't be afraid of a bit of silence.
If you're using powerpoint/Prezi you shouldn't need notes - let the slides be your prompts.
Also, try not to faint - that can also create a negative impression.
If you have an ipad they do a great app for presentations which scrolls at the best speaking rate so you can't rush.
Friend swears by it
have to say though, great help from the Charlton Life community - the really positive side of this site - i took a lot of the advice offered here on board - thanks everyone...