How to give a speech, if you are terrified of speaking.

Fear of public speaking is one of the most pervasive fears in society.  People have been traumatized for years by the thought of getting up in front of a crowd and “saying a few words”.  I have great news.  I am going to teach you how to give a speech, if you are terrified of speaking in public.

But first…the good news.  When you are giving a speech, people WANT you to be good.  People are desperately hoping that you will be funny, informative, and make them happy that they came to see you.  They are ALL pulling for you to be good. 

Now, the bad news.  You have to work at giving a speech.  It’s not easy…but it’s not as hard as you think.

Here’s what we are going to do:

1)      Determine why you are giving a speech, and who your audience is. If you are giving a speech to high school kids, you will have a different speech than if you are talking to professionals.

2)      Come up with a general outline of what you are going to be speaking about, and the length of the speech. Woodrow Wilson was once asked to give a speech.  He asked how long they wanted him to speak.  When asked what difference it made, Wilson said, “If you want a five minute speech, I need six months to prepare.  If you need a half hour speech, I need a month.  If you need a three hour speech…I’m ready right now!” Always know how the length and purpose of the speech.

3)      Do your research.  If this is an industry specific speech, say about the manufacture of sweaters, do your research on sweaters.  Find out the specifics of what you are going to be talking about, and the concepts that you want to convey.  The concept is the most important part.  If you want to say that there is a resurgence in sweater sales, get the sales figures. 

4)      Once you have your concepts that you want to talk about, and have done your research, you need to illustrate it…with stories and anecdotes.  If you are talking about Ugly sweaters, now is the time to pull an ugly sweater out from under the podium and put it on, and talk about what led you to buy an ugly sweater, and why ugly sweaters are fashionable right now. If you have the choice to tell a story, or to act it out, and use props…use the props.  The more “real” you can make the speech, the more people will enjoy it, if you do a good job.

5)      Once you have your raw material in place, you need to edit it down to the amount of time that you will be speaking, roughly.  (If they ask you to give twenty minutes, have a twenty minute speech…Do not speak for three hours.)

6)      Practice.  Practice enough so that you feel comfortable.  You don’t have to read the speech, but you should practice your speech while reading it until you are comfortable, and have a general feel for it.  It doesn’t have to be a memorized speech, but it should be close to memorized, augmented by note cards. 

7)      If you are going to use a Power Point presentation, your general rule of thumb is no more slides that is absolutely needed.  Keep everything in 40 point fonts, and have pictures that illustrate your point.  Do not put anything on your Powerpoint presentation that is not ABSOLUTELY NEEDED.  Less is more.  Although the general rule of thumb is no more than one slide per minute, you can break this rule…but not by much.  A power point slide is there to help your speech, not be a substitute for it. (There is another rule that you should never use more than ten slides.  It is something to consider.)

8)      Practice again.  Practice in front of a mirror, practice with a recorder, and practice with a video camera.  When you practice in front of a video camera, you should be looking for ways that you can improve.  Your posture, cadence, and speaking weaknesses can be rapidly evaluated and improved by using these tools.  You are not a television actor, don’t expect to be one, but you do want to be the best that you can be. 

9)      Uhm’s:  “Ahh”, “Um”, and other space fillers are a method to fill silence.  Beginning speakers feel that they must use “Uhm’s” to fill the silence.  Silence is a tool, and can be used effectively.  If your mind goes blank, use your notes to remind yourself of why you are there. Practice your speech and record it.  Work on removing the uhm’s and ahh’s.  They are annoying and detract from your speech.  Work at it, but don’t be paralyzed by it.  The more comfortable you are, they fewer you will have.  Practice is the best way to get rid of the awkward silences, and the awkward silence fillers.

10)   Once you are comfortable with your speech, practice it every day while you are driving to work, while you are at home, and do it at least three times a day until the presentation.  Drive time is window time, and it is the best chance you will have to get totally comfortable with your presentation.  Do it until you feel very comfortable.

11)   On the day of the speech, show up early.  Make sure that you check out the sound system.  If you have a power point presentation, you should have already checked ahead to make sure that they had a laptop and projector already set up.  You want to check out the room.  If you are going to be speaking in a large room, find out about the light level.  If you are going to have lights shining in your face, don’t count on being able to see the audience.  If you need to have audience participation, make sure that you can see when people are raising their hands.  Check out the sound system, and make sure that you do a sound check.  If you are going to be introduced, find out who is introducing you, and see if they have any questions, or need a quick bio of you.  (Introductory statements should be no more than 30 seconds.  Allow the person introducing you to stress your expertise, your background, and why you are qualified to make the speech.  If you are not qualified, don’t mention it.)

12)   Go to the bathroom before the speech.  You don’t want to have any distractions.

13)   When you are introduced, walk quickly to the podium.  Smile.  Be confident.  Tell the audience what you are going to say, tell them how long you are going to speak, and ask them for their help.  Then start with a story. After the story, tell them the underlying concept behind the story, and then use this device to link all of your concepts together.  Tell them the concept you are going to present, illustrate it with a story, and then summarize the concept with what you learned in the story.  Do this for each of the major concepts in your speech. 

14)   When you are done, summarize what you said, and finish with a story, thank them for their attention, and conclude. 

15)   Afterwards, when you get off the podium, be gracious and charming.  If people come up and tell you what a great job you did, “Thank you”, is a perfect response.  Then ask about them, and be even more charming.  If you want to do more speeches, this is the best time to line up future gigs.  Have business cards available, but only give them to people that ask.  Think of a preacher at the front door of the church.  Shake a lot of hands, and give a lot of hugs.