Building Blocks of Effective Public Speaking

Recognizing key public speaking skills

• Attributes of effective public speakers
• Identifying components of persuasive speeches
• Quantifying techniques used by accomplished speakers

Identifying your goal

• Informing
• Persuading
• Motivating
• Entertaining

The skill-building cycle: presenting, evaluating, improving

• Determining your baseline public speaking skills
• Taming fears and increasing confidence through practice and preparation
• Leveraging your own personality and style
• Increasing your awareness and abilities by evaluating other speakers
• Integrating audience feedback to fine-tune your delivery

Creating Compelling Speeches

Employing a proven five-step method

• Hooking the audience
• Identifying the critical need
• Presenting the key ideas concisely
• Explaining the payoff
• Calling for action

Constructing the presentation

• Assessing and addressing the needs of your audience
• Brainstorming and mind mapping your ideas
• Researching and structuring your story
• Shaping your sentences with powerful words and phrases
• Matching the media to your message

Creating and using visual support material

• Designing effective slides
• Tips for directing audience attention
• Five visual traps to avoid

Preparing effectively when time is short

• Applying a simple structure for extemporaneous speeches
• Tips and techniques to increase confidence

Engaging Your Audience

The speaker as a visual aid

• Directing the audience's natural eye movement
• Moving dynamically within the presentation space
• The impact of positive body language
• Engaging the entire audience with effective eye contact
• Synchronizing gestures to the verbal message

Animating your speech with vocal variety

• Adding pitch modulation and dynamics
• Reinforcing points with pauses and silence
• Reducing verbal distractors

Delivering memorable openings and closings

• Five opening strategies to spark interest
• Motivating the audience with a call to action

Interacting with Your Audience

Drawing in the audience

• Stimulating participation with preplanned questions
• Conveying content through topical questions
• When to ask rhetorical, group or targeted questions
• Tailoring question types for your audience

Handling questions from the audience

• Reward, restate and respond
• Keeping your answers short and simple
• Getting back on track after an unplanned interruption

Managing the post-talk Q&A session

• Preempting "hot-button" questions
• Staying aware of the message you are conveying
• Priming the pump when there are no questions

Rehearsing and Delivering Your Speech

Building confidence with practice

• Effective rehearsal techniques
• Incorporating audience feedback to improve your presentation
• Staying within your time limit

Delivering your presentation

• Setting the stage
• Opening dynamically and creating a winning first impression
• Applying your public speaking toolkit