fbpx

12 Tips for Public Speaking

I am currently preparing the next year IESE MBA managerial communications course material and put down some rough notes on some key tips that differentiate powerful speakers from the rest.

  1. Speak with an intent to move people to action. Know what you want your audience to do immediately after hearing your speech. If nobody does anything different than they would have done before you spoke – the value of your speech is zero.
  2. Start strong with a “grabber”. A personal story, a quote from an expert or a shocking statistic – something that takes a hold of your audience and gets them hooked and opens their mind to your message. Give the audience a chance to see your personal connection to the topic.
  3. Structure your material in three sections – grabber, middle, close. Know your material. Get really interested in the topic. Find good stories.
  4. Practice. Practice. Practice. Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using. Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Use a clock to check your timings and allow time for the unexpected.
  5. Know the audience. Try to speak to one or two people in the audience as they arrive – they will be your allies in the audience – it is easier to speak to friends than to strangers.
  6. Know the setup. Arrive in good time to check out the speaking area and get practice using the microphone and any visual aids.
  7. Relax. Begin with a well prepared grabber. A personal story is a great start. It connects you to the audience and creates the right emotional atmosphere (and calms your nerves).
  8. Visualize yourself successful. See yourself at the end of the speech surrounded by people asking questions, visualise the applause.
  9. Pauses. Include 3-8 second pauses at key moments – just before key statements or just after a story – this really brings the audience into the speech.
  10. Don’t apologize – the audience probably never noticed it.
  11. Smile. Look like the content matters to you – if the audience don’t feel that it is important to you, it will be really hard for them to feel that it should be important for them.
  12. Get experience. Take every opportunity you can get to speak (and listen to other speakers). Prepare well ahead of time. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking.

What’s Your View

Are there any other tips that work for powerful speakers out there?

21 responses to “12 Tips for Public Speaking”

  1. […] successful.  Adapting to what makes your boss most effective is the secret of managing up.  Take responsibility for communicating how you are performing; take responsibility for building […]

  2. […] successful.  Adapting to what makes your boss most effective is the secret of managing up.  Take responsibility for communicating how you are performing; take responsibility for building […]

  3. i am very confused person actually i don’t have trust on myself i don’t know why i dissatisfied myself due to this reason i can’t build up my confidence how can i build it help me plzzz…. i want to finish my fear i want to learn

  4. Your method is great, very useful tips.. I think, it will so help me. And I must practise with it ;). Thank You!

  5. Useful Tips. Although the practice part is difficult, it understandably is a must. It would be good to know more about maintaining the flow over the 20 mins duration allotted in our forums.

  6. Thank you so much Sir, very helpful.

  7. […] 12 Tips for Public Speaking – simple, but effective, tips […]

  8. Antoinette Blackman Avatar
    Antoinette Blackman

    Very interesting and useful tips.

  9. Can you help me

  10. Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was
    a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you!
    However, how could we communicate?

  11. Hey I am so grateful I found your blog page, I really found you by accident,
    while I was researching on Aol for something else, Nonetheless I am here
    now and would just like to say thank you for a incredible post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design),
    I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but
    I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have
    time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do
    keep up the great work.

  12. […] 12 tips for public speaking […]

  13. I am a very awkward nervous and shy person. I had a 30 min discourse to give to an audience of 120. To say the least, this was my mount everest. I diligently applied Conor Neill’s advice and it worked like a dream. I talked to the audience not at them. The sincere comments I received afterwards were so sureal. Such a fulfilling feeling to connect with people in that way. Thank you Conor!

    1. Thank you Aaron 😉

  14. nampweramoses@yahoo.com Avatar
    nampweramoses@yahoo.com

    So good I think they will work for me.
    thank you

  15. I like the tips, yet they are so amateur. Want to see some explicit work. Thank you.

  16. Simple and effective tips!

    1. 😉 Thanks Alex

  17. […] 12 Tips for Public Speaking […]

  18. Very useful tips! Thanks for the lesson;-)

What are your thoughts?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: