As a public speaker, I believe there’s nothing really bad than delivering a boring speech to your audience. In any case, public speakers receive a lot of criticism that could even be ridiculed on social media.
Over the years, I’ve attended conferences that I found way too boring. I’ve been tempted to go through my phone as I listened to a speech. Additionally, I’ve seen many more people lose interest in a seating, as some would even doze off. Does it really mean that our elites are always giving boring speeches?
Writing an amazing speech involves many ideas that we will consider. First and foremost, make a good impression on your audience. Let the audience believe in you by the choice of words and grammar you use.
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Secondly, ensure that you leave the audience with two or three ‘takeaways’ to go home with. Well, I will help you achieve this; here are a few tips to give a powerful speech that will inspire your audience.
Step 1: It’s Vital to Consider What the Audience Really Needs
A great speech answers a great need. As the speaker, you need to do some self-evaluation tests; ask yourself, who is the audience? What does the audience expect from you? Is your speech in relevance to the occasion?
On answering the above questions, you now have a clue about the best speech you can offer. Different types of people could have different interests; others could have similar interests too. For instance, if you’re delivering a speech to a group of young people, I would expect that you fit in the shoes of the young people. Speak a language that the audience can easily relate to.
Generally, the audience only expects two things from the speaker: a path and a destination. As a speaker, it’s important to set the pace for your audience by showing them where you’re headed to and why. As you introduce your speech, it’s important to set an expectation for the audience. You should as well remove any contradictory or confusing statements.
Step 2: Set the Right Tone
Small tonal shifts make a large difference to the audience. In setting the right tone, the speaker should answer the following questions. Who is my audience? Why are they here? Tone intonation in a speech is very important.
This is because it targets the particular audience and hits the nail on the head. For instance, you could be doing a motivational speech, which means that this one should be very memorable for the audience. If the speech is meant to challenge the audience, it should really do so!
Step 3: Use Concrete Words and Examples to Catch the Audience’s Attention
Public speaking is not easy. It, however, requires one to be daring in giving a speech. One way could be by telling a compelling story as you begin your speech. The story could be in relation to the speech that you’re about to deliver.
Another technique that you can use to catch the attention of your audience could be through harmonizing yourself. This is by sharing a personal story and throwing references to your family.
This way, the audience gains more trust in you, and they get more attentive. I would also recommend that you engage the audience like you’re casually talking with a friend and not really giving a lecture or sermon to the audience. This makes the speech more interesting, and at some point, the audience may tend to lean forward to show their level of concentration.
Using transitions is also a way to catch their attention. For instance, asking rhetorical questions like, ‘what does this mean?’ creates a pause that’s followed by silence. This tactic further creates anticipation to the audience. Additionally, the silence awakens and brings back part of the audience that had drifted earlier.
Step 4: Offer a Solution to Their Problem
A good speech is always aimed at providing a way forward to make the audience focus and take an affirmative action to their problem. The speech is endowed with a lot of advice as well as a solution to the problem.
Therefore, a good speaker is expected to have the interests of the people at heart. The speaker should ensure that the solutions he or she offers are of significance to the problem. This is because they are expected to act as role models to the audience.
Step 5: Repeat Yourself
When coming up with a good speech, repetition is key to leaving an impression. The speaker should always appear memorable to the audience by the choice of words that they use. Stressing and hammering keywords is important as it makes the audience understand and get solutions to their problems.
Step 6: Keep Your Speech Short
After writing your speech, go back and cut words in the speech to make your points more clear. Use short sentences and easy-to-understand phrases and language. You don’t want to use complex terms that some in your audience won’t understand. Why give a speech to someone who won’t understand what you’re saying? Also, remember to keep your speech short.
Trying to do too much in public would be one huge mistake. This is because your audience also has other activities to do. As a speaker, you ought to realize that this is not your time; it is the audience’s time. Try not to keep them too much. In any case, talking too much would divert their attention.
Step 7: End Your Speech Strongly
The best way to end your speech is to by giving your audience something to do a call to action! This is because they have been passive for the past one hour or so, listening to you. It’s important to give the audience a chance to absorb all that you have been saying. They should now be thinking what next step they should take now that they’ve heard a powerful speech from you.
The speaker should give them an activity that’s connected to his speech. For instance, if the speaker was talking to a company in team building, the speaker ought to ask them to form accountability partners among themselves. In my opinion, this would further contribute to team building.
There’s always one fact at the closure of a speech; ninety percent of the audience will remember your closing point. As a speaker, it is important to tie everything together in summary and share a success story at the end. The speaker should be aware that their ending is what the audience will remember once they get out of the door.
Conclusion
Follow the steps outlined in this article and you’ll be well on your way to writing an amazing speech! If you still find this challenging, there are resources available to you that you should make use of. You can get an awesome speech writing service online to help you with this.
All the best with your speech and let you move your audience with a memorable delivery!
