presentation of public speaking

TED’s Official Public Speaking Course

Master a variety of communication skills with TED’s official public speaking course, now available on YouTube Courses. This course will teach you how to identify, develop and share your best ideas with the world.

YouTube Courses are currently only available in the United States, but YouTube is working on expanding into other regions in 2023.

The proceeds from this course support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission of creating and distributing free, high-quality animations.

Master the art of public speaking

• Craft them into compelling narratives.
• Present so that people want to listen.

Become a better communicator

• Establish a connection with your listeners.
• Give more persuasive presentations.
• Explain complex ideas.

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10 Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills

Few are immune to the fear of public speaking. Marjorie North offers 10 tips for speakers to calm the nerves and deliverable memorable orations.

Marjorie North

Snakes? Fine. Flying? No problem. Public speaking? Yikes! Just thinking about public speaking — routinely described as one of the greatest (and most common) fears — can make your palms sweat. But there are many ways to tackle this anxiety and learn to deliver a memorable speech.

In part one of this series,  Mastering the Basics of Communication , I shared strategies to improve how you communicate. In part two, How to Communicate More Effectively in the Workplace , I examined how to apply these techniques as you interact with colleagues and supervisors in the workplace. For the third and final part of this series, I’m providing you with public speaking tips that will help reduce your anxiety, dispel myths, and improve your performance.

Here Are My 10 Tips for Public Speaking:

1. nervousness is normal. practice and prepare.

All people feel some physiological reactions like pounding hearts and trembling hands. Do not associate these feelings with the sense that you will perform poorly or make a fool of yourself. Some nerves are good. The adrenaline rush that makes you sweat also makes you more alert and ready to give your best performance.

The best way to overcome anxiety is to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Take the time to go over your notes several times. Once you have become comfortable with the material, practice — a lot. Videotape yourself, or get a friend to critique your performance.

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2. Know Your Audience. Your Speech Is About Them, Not You.

Before you begin to craft your message, consider who the message is intended for. Learn as much about your listeners as you can. This will help you determine your choice of words, level of information, organization pattern, and motivational statement.

3. Organize Your Material in the Most Effective Manner to Attain Your Purpose.

Create the framework for your speech. Write down the topic, general purpose, specific purpose, central idea, and main points. Make sure to grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds.

4. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It.

Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners.

5. Let Your Personality Come Through.

Be yourself, don’t become a talking head — in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.

6. Use Humor, Tell Stories, and Use Effective Language.

Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience’s attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that.

7. Don’t Read Unless You Have to. Work from an Outline.

Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief outline can serve to jog your memory and keep you on task.

8. Use Your Voice and Hands Effectively. Omit Nervous Gestures.

Nonverbal communication carries most of the message. Good delivery does not call attention to itself, but instead conveys the speaker’s ideas clearly and without distraction.

9. Grab Attention at the Beginning, and Close with a Dynamic End.

Do you enjoy hearing a speech start with “Today I’m going to talk to you about X”? Most people don’t. Instead, use a startling statistic, an interesting anecdote, or concise quotation. Conclude your speech with a summary and a strong statement that your audience is sure to remember.

10. Use Audiovisual Aids Wisely.

Too many can break the direct connection to the audience, so use them sparingly. They should enhance or clarify your content, or capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Good communication is never perfect, and nobody expects you to be perfect. However, putting in the requisite time to prepare will help you deliver a better speech. You may not be able to shake your nerves entirely, but you can learn to minimize them.

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About the Author

North is a consultant for political candidates, physicians, and lawyers, and runs a private practice specializing in public speaking, and executive communication skills. Previously, she was the clinical director in the department of speech and language pathology and audiology at Northeastern University.

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Better Public Speaking

Becoming a confident, compelling speaker.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Whether we're talking in a team meeting or presenting in front of an audience, we all have to speak in public from time to time.

We can do this well or we can do this badly, and the outcome strongly affects the way that people think about us. This is why public speaking causes so much anxiety and concern.

The good news is that, with thorough preparation and practice, you can overcome your nervousness and perform exceptionally well. This article and video explain how.

Click here to view a transcript of this video.

The Importance of Public Speaking

Even if you don't need to make regular presentations in front of a group, there are plenty of situations where good public speaking skills can help you advance your career and create opportunities.

For example, you might have to talk about your organization at a conference, make a speech after accepting an award, or teach a class to new recruits. Speaking to an audience also includes online presentations or talks; for instance, when training a virtual team, or when speaking to a group of customers in an online meeting.

Good public speaking skills are important in other areas of your life, as well. You might be asked to make a speech at a friend's wedding, give a eulogy for a loved one, or inspire a group of volunteers at a charity event.

In short, being a good public speaker can enhance your reputation, boost your self-confidence , and open up countless opportunities.

However, while good skills can open doors, poor ones can close them. For example, your boss might decide against promoting you after sitting through a badly-delivered presentation. You might lose a valuable new contract by failing to connect with a prospect during a sales pitch. Or you could make a poor impression with your new team, because you trip over your words and don't look people in the eye.

Make sure that you learn how to speak well!

Strategies for Becoming a Better Speaker

The good news is that speaking in public is a learnable skill. As such, you can use the following strategies to become a better speaker and presenter.

Plan Appropriately

First, make sure that you plan your communication appropriately. Use tools like the Rhetorical Triangle , Monroe's Motivated Sequence , and the 7Cs of Communication to think about how you'll structure what you're going to say.

When you do this, think about how important a book's first paragraph is; if it doesn't grab you, you're likely going to put it down. The same principle goes for your speech: from the beginning, you need to intrigue your audience.

For example, you could start with an interesting statistic, headline, or fact that pertains to what you're talking about and resonates with your audience. You can also use story telling as a powerful opener; our Expert Interviews with Annette Simmons and Paul Smith offer some useful tips on doing this.

Planning also helps you to think on your feet . This is especially important for unpredictable question and answer sessions or last-minute communications.

Remember that not all occasions when you need to speak in public will be scheduled. You can make good impromptu speeches by having ideas and mini-speeches pre-prepared. It also helps to have a good, thorough understanding of what's going on in your organization and industry.

There's a good reason that we say, "Practice makes perfect!" You simply cannot be a confident, compelling speaker without practice.

To get practice, seek opportunities to speak in front of others. For example, Toastmasters is a club geared specifically towards aspiring speakers, and you can get plenty of practice at Toastmasters sessions. You could also put yourself in situations that require public speaking, such as by cross-training a group from another department, or by volunteering to speak at team meetings.

If you're going to be delivering a presentation or prepared speech, create it as early as possible. The earlier you put it together, the more time you'll have to practice.

Practice it plenty of times alone, using the resources you'll rely on at the event, and, as you practice, tweak your words until they flow smoothly and easily.

Then, if appropriate, do a dummy run in front of a small audience: this will help you calm your jitters and make you feel more comfortable with the material. Your audience can also give you useful feedback , both on your material and on your performance.

Engage With Your Audience

When you speak, try to engage your audience. This makes you feel less isolated as a speaker and keeps everyone involved with your message. If appropriate, ask leading questions targeted to individuals or groups, and encourage people to participate and ask questions.

Keep in mind that some words reduce your power as a speaker. For instance, think about how these sentences sound: "I just want to add that I think we can meet these goals" or "I just think this plan is a good one." The words "just" and "I think" limit your authority and conviction. Don't use them.

A similar word is "actually," as in, "Actually, I'd like to add that we were under budget last quarter." When you use "actually," it conveys a sense of submissiveness or even surprise. Instead, say what things are. "We were under budget last quarter" is clear and direct.

Also, pay attention to how you're speaking. If you're nervous, you might talk quickly. This increases the chances that you'll trip over your words, or say something you don't mean. Force yourself to slow down by breathing deeply. Don't be afraid to gather your thoughts; pauses are an important part of conversation, and they make you sound confident, natural, and authentic.

Finally, avoid reading word-for-word from your notes. Instead, make a list of important points on cue cards, or, as you get better at public speaking, try to memorize what you're going to say – you can still refer back to your cue cards when you need them.

Pay Attention to Body Language

If you're unaware of it, your body language will give your audience constant, subtle clues about your inner state. If you're nervous, or if you don't believe in what you're saying, the audience can soon know.

Pay attention to your body language: stand up straight, take deep breaths, look people in the eye, and smile. Don't lean on one leg or use gestures that feel unnatural.

Many people prefer to speak behind a podium when giving presentations. While podiums can be useful for holding notes, they put a barrier between you and the audience. They can also become a "crutch," giving you a hiding place from the dozens or hundreds of eyes that are on you.

Instead of standing behind a podium, walk around and use gestures to engage the audience. This movement and energy will also come through in your voice, making it more active and passionate.

Think Positively

Positive thinking can make a huge difference to the success of your communication, because it helps you feel more confident.

Fear makes it all too easy to slip into a cycle of negative self-talk, especially right before you speak, while self-sabotaging thoughts such as "I'll never be good at this!" or "I'm going to fall flat on my face!" lower your confidence and increase the chances that you won't achieve what you're truly capable of.

Use affirmations and visualization to raise your confidence. This is especially important right before your speech or presentation. Visualize giving a successful presentation, and imagine how you'll feel once it's over and when you've made a positive difference for others. Use positive affirmations such as "I'm grateful I have the opportunity to help my audience" or "I'm going to do well!"

Cope With Nerves

How often have you listened to or watched a speaker who really messed up? Chances are, the answer is "not very often."

When we have to speak in front of others, we can envision terrible things happening. We imagine forgetting every point we want to make, passing out from our nervousness, or doing so horribly that we'll lose our job. But those things almost never come to pass! We build them up in our minds and end up more nervous than we need to be.

Many people cite speaking to an audience as their biggest fear, and a fear of failure is often at the root of this. Public speaking can lead your "fight or flight" response to kick in: adrenaline courses through your bloodstream, your heart rate increases, you sweat, and your breath becomes fast and shallow.

Although these symptoms can be annoying or even debilitating, the Inverted-U Model shows that a certain amount of pressure enhances performance. By changing your mindset, you can use nervous energy to your advantage.

First, make an effort to stop thinking about yourself, your nervousness, and your fear. Instead, focus on your audience: what you're saying is "about them." Remember that you're trying to help or educate them in some way, and your message is more important than your fear. Concentrate on the audience's wants and needs, instead of your own.

If time allows, use deep breathing exercises to slow your heart rate and give your body the oxygen it needs to perform. This is especially important right before you speak. Take deep breaths from your belly, hold each one for several seconds, and let it out slowly.

Crowds are more intimidating than individuals, so think of your speech as a conversation that you're having with one person. Although your audience may be 100 people, focus on one friendly face at a time, and talk to that person as if he or she is the only one in the room.

Watch Recordings of Your Speeches

Whenever possible, record your presentations and speeches. You can improve your speaking skills dramatically by watching yourself later, and then working on improving in areas that didn't go well.

As you watch, notice any verbal stalls, such as "um" or "like." Look at your body language: are you swaying, leaning on the podium, or leaning heavily on one leg? Are you looking at the audience? Did you smile? Did you speak clearly at all times?

Pay attention to your gestures. Do they appear natural or forced? Make sure that people can see them, especially if you're standing behind a podium.

Last, look at how you handled interruptions, such as a sneeze or a question that you weren't prepared for. Does your face show surprise, hesitation, or annoyance? If so, practice managing interruptions like these smoothly, so that you're even better next time.

Chances are that you'll sometimes have to speak in public as part of your role. While this can seem intimidating, the benefits of being able to speak well outweigh any perceived fears. To become a better speaker, use the following strategies:

• Plan appropriately.
• Engage with your audience.
• Pay attention to body language.
• Think positively.
• Cope with your nerves.
• Watch recordings of your speeches.

If you speak well in public, it can help you get a job or promotion, raise awareness for your team or organization, and educate others. The more you push yourself to speak in front of others, the better you'll become, and the more confidence you'll have.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Public Speaking and Presentations

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Public Speaking and Presentations: Tips for Success

This resource includes tips and suggestions for improving your public speaking skills.

Even if you’ve never spoken in front of a large group before, chances are you will encounter public speaking sometime during your life. Whether you’re giving a presentation for your classmates or addressing local politicians at a city council meeting, public speaking allows you to convey your thoughts and feelings in clear ways. Having the right tools can prepare you for successful public speaking and equip you with high-quality communication skills.

Know Your Audience

Different audiences require different modes of public speaking. How you address a room full of preschoolers will vary from how you address a group of professors at an academic conference. Not only will your vocabulary change, but you might alter your pacing and tone as well.

Knowing your audience also helps you decide the content of your speech. For example, if you’re presenting research to a group of scientists, you might not need to define all your scientific language. However, if you present that same research to a group of individuals who are unfamiliar with your scientific field, you may need to define your terms or use simpler language.

Recognizing the extent to which your audience is familiar with your topic helps you center your presentation around the most important elements and avoid wasting time on information your audience either 1) already knows or 2) does not need to know for the purpose of your speech.

Knowing your audience also means tailoring your information to them. Try to keep things straight and to the point; leave out extraneous anecdotes and irrelevant statistics.

Establish Your Ethos and Feel Confident in Your Subject

It’s important to let your audience know what authority you have over your subject matter. If it’s clear you are familiar with your subject and have expertise, your audience is more likely to trust what you say.

Feeling confident in your subject matter will help establish your ethos. Rather than simply memorizing the content on your PowerPoint slides or your note cards, consider yourself a “mini expert” on your topic. Read up on information related to your topic and anticipate questions from the audience. You might want to prepare a few additional examples to use if people ask follow-up questions. Being able to elaborate on your talking points will help you stay calm during a Q & A section of your presentation.

Stick to a Few Main Points

Organizing your information in a logical way not only helps you keep track of what you’re saying, but it helps your audience follow along as well. Try to emphasize a few main points in your presentation and return to them before you conclude. Summarizing your information at the end of your presentation allows your audience to walk away with a clear sense of the most important facts.

For example, if you gave a presentation on the pros and cons of wind energy in Indiana, you would first want to define wind energy to make sure you and your audience are on the same page. You might also want to give a brief history of wind energy to give context before you go into the pros and cons. From there, you could list a few pros and a few cons. Finally, you could speculate on the future of wind energy and whether Indiana could provide adequate land and infrastructure to sustain wind turbines. To conclude, restate a few of the main points (most likely the pros and cons) and end with the most important takeaway you want the audience to remember about wind energy in Indiana.

Don't be Afraid to Show Your Personality

Delivering information without any sort of flourish or style can be boring. Allowing your personality to show through your speaking keeps you feeling relaxed and natural. Even if you’re speaking about something very scientific or serious, look for ways to let your personality come through your speech.

For example, when Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek announced in March of 2019 that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, he still let his trademark dignity and professionalism set the tone for his address. He began his announcement by saying “it’s in keeping with my long-time policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base.” Later, he joked that he would need to overcome his illness in order to fulfill his contract, whose terms required him to host the show for three more years. Though the nature of Trebek's announcement could easily have justified a grim, serious tone, the host instead opted to display the charm that has made him a household name for almost thirty-five years. In doing so, he reminded his audience precisely why he is so well-loved.

Use Humor (When Appropriate)

Using humor at appropriate moments can keep your audience engaged and entertained. While not all occasions are appropriate for humor, look for moments where you can lighten the mood and add some humor.

For example, just two months after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, Reagan was in the middle of giving a speech when a balloon loudly popped while he was speaking. Reagan paused his speech to say “missed me,” then immediately continued speaking. This off-the-cuff humor worked because it was appropriate, spontaneous, and did not really distract from his message.

Similarly, at the end of his final White House Correspondents Dinner, Barack Obama concluded his speech by saying “Obama out” and dropping the mic. Once again, the humor did not distract from his message, but it did provide a light-hearted shift in his tone.  

Don't Let Visual Aids Distract From Your Presentation

Visual aids, such as PowerPoints or handouts, often go alongside presentations. When designing visual aids, be sure they do not distract from the content of your speech. Having too many pictures or animations can cause audience members to pay more attention to the visuals rather than what you’re saying.

However, if you present research that relies on tables or figures, having many images may help your audience better visualize the research you discuss. Be aware of the ways different types of presentations demand different types of visual aids.

Be Aware of Your Body Language

When it comes to giving a presentation, nonverbal communication is equally as important as what you’re saying. Having the appropriate posture, gestures, and movement complement the spoken element of your presentation. Below are a few simple strategies to make you appear more confident and professional.

Having confident posture can make or break a presentation. Stand up straight with your shoulders back and your arms at your sides. Slouching or crossing your arms over your chest makes you appear smaller and more insecure. However, be sure you’re not too rigid. Just because you’re standing up tall does not mean you cannot move around.

Eye contact

Making eye contact with your audience not only makes them feel connected to you but it also lets you gauge their response to you. Try to look around the room and connect with different audience members so you’re not staring at the same people the whole time. If you notice your audience starting to nod off, it might be a good time to change your tone or up your energy. 

Avoid distracting or compulsive gestures

While hand gestures can help point out information in a slide or on a poster, large or quick gestures can be distracting. When using gestures, try to make them feel like a normal part of your presentation.

It’s also easy to slip into nervous gestures while presenting. Things like twirling your hair or wringing your hands can be distracting to your audience. If you know you do something like this, try to think hard about not doing it while you’re presenting.

Travel (if possible)

If you are presenting on a stage, walking back and forth can help you stay relaxed and look natural. However, be sure you’re walking slowly and confidently and you’re using an appropriate posture (described above). Try to avoid pacing, which can make you appear nervous or compulsive.

Rehearse (if Possible)

The difference between knowing your subject and rehearsing comes down to how you ultimately present your information. The more you rehearse, the more likely you are to eliminate filler words such as like and um . If possible, try practicing with a friend and have them use count the filler words you use. You can also record yourself and play back the video. The more you rehearse, the more confident you will feel when it comes time to actually speak in front of an audience.

Finally, Relax!

Although public speaking takes time and preparation, perhaps one of the most important points is to relax while you’re speaking. Delivering your information in a stiff way prevents you from appearing natural and letting your personality come through. The more relaxed you feel, the more confident your information will come across.

Ace the Presentation

The 7 Basic Elements of Public Speaking

Remember that time you had to present a topic in front of a crowd? Probably it was a proposal at work or an oral report in grade school. You took the time to prepare and gather materials, after which you climbed the podium and started talking.

There are seven basic elements of public speaking that you used there, and surely you had to find effective speech delivery techniques to make sure your presentation was a success.

7 Basic Elements of Public Speaking

There are seven elements of public speaking :

• The speaker
• The message
• The audience or receiver.
• The channel.
• The place or situation.

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Before we go into the details of each of the basic elements of public speaking and share some of the fundamental tips on how to make an effective speech delivery, let’s start by looking at what is public speaking.

The best way to define Public speaking is by looking at two key concepts:

• An audience

This means that every time you go to a meeting, attend a conference call, or present solutions to your boss – you’re engaging in public speaking. It doesn’t matter the number of persons listening to you; it is still defined as public speaking.

Most people do not realize that public speaking is something they practice every day. However, understanding this gives you a significant advantage and an excellent opportunity to practice.

What are the elements of public speaking?

There are seven elements that a speaker must understand to be able to prepare and transmit an effective speech or presentation in public. A professional and effective speaker knows that he must apply these seven elements at the same time.

However, not paying attention to any of these aspects may result in an unprofessional or disastrous speech or presentation.

Let’s look at them thus;

#1. The speaker

One of the most pivotal among the basic elements of public speaking is the speaker itself, that is, the source of the message. Many speakers forget that they are the presentation itself, and not the visual aids they use. Many presenters or speakers today put a lot of effort into visual aids and forget that those elements are just that visual aids that help the speaker make a better presentation. Relying on visual aids in one hundred percent is not recommended.

There are three factors that we need to consider about any speaker.

• or your passion
• Your credibility as a speaker
• His style and personality to communicate his knowledge and ideas.

#2. The message

The message refers to everything the speaker says, both verbally and bodily. The verbal component can be analyzed in three basic elements.

Let’s see each of these three elements:

Content : This is what the speaker says about the subject or topic.

Structure:  The structure of a message is your organization. There are many ways to organize your message; The structure could include an introduction, a body or argument, and the conclusion.

When your presentations are poorly organized, it reduces the impact of the message. For a speech or presentation to achieve the desired objective, it must captivate and impact the audience from the first 60 seconds until the end of the intervention.

#3. The audienc e

A professional speaker should analyze his listeners before the Speech and decide how to present his ideas. This analysis could include some important considerations:

Needs, Age, sex, marital status, race, geographic location, type of group (homogeneous or heterogeneous), education, trade, activity, and profession.

The speaker should always adapt to the audience, both in their language and attire (as much as possible).

#4. The channel

When a speaker communicates with his audience, they use many communication channels. These include the nonverbal channel, the visual channel, and the auditory channel.

The nonverbal channel includes:

• Facial expressions
• Body’s movement
• Physical posture

The visual channel includes:

• Photographs

The auditory channel include;

• Tone of voice
• Variations in voice volume
• Tapes, CDS or audio materials

#5. Feedback

Although for some people it might be strange to see feedback as one of the basic elements of public speaking, rest assured that it is definitely one of the key elements to watch out for.

Feedback is the process through which the speaker receives a response or information from the audience that has heard the message. 

The feedback process is not completed until the speaker has responded to the concerns of his audience. 

#6. The noise

There are two types of noise that a speaker should know:

External noise and internal noise.

External noise consists of sounds from laughter, poor acoustics of the auditorium, temperature (too hot or too cold), poor ventilation, visual interference such as low light, or obstacles between the speaker and the audience.

Internal noise occurs when the speaker is confused or conveys an unclear message about what he wants to express.

The best way to combat any type of noise;

Use more than one communication channel at the same time (verbal and nonverbal). Ensure that the auditorium is conditioned to appear in public. Use the repetition of ideas throughout the exhibition. Transmit a clear and concise message for the audience to understand.

#7. The place or situation

The place where a speech is delivered may be one of the most critical elements for the success of a presentation. It stands to reason why we added it as one of the 7 basic elements of public speaking.

It is recommended that you review the place or auditorium where you are going to make your presentation. You also need to know in advance the exact spot where you are going to speak in public and to coordinate all the details to take all precautions in advance. 

For example: the conditions of the place, the seats, the air conditioner, the lighting, the arrangement of the platform, the seats, the tables, etc. All details must be under control.

Having looked at the basic elements of public speaking, the next thing you need to know is that there are several types of speeches a person can deliver and that there are key principles you can follow to ensure a successful speech delivery.

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How many types of speech are there.

For this discussion, we will list nine types of speeches. They include;

• Demonstrative Speech : this type of Speech focuses on educating the audience on a specific subject. Here, the demonstration or presentation is aided by adding a visual aid which to describe further how to do something.

Examples of demonstrative Speech include topics like ‘how to make money on the internet,’ ‘how to write a cover letter,’ or ‘how to start a blog.’

• and enjoyment to the audience. 

They are usually very short. You are already familiar with an entertaining speech if you’ve ever been to a wedding banquet or reception.

• Informative Speech:  this type of Speech provides the audience with a piece of new information on a specific subject. Informative speeches rely on facts and statistics and various data to ensure that the audience learns something. 

Examples of informative Speech include topics on economic and social changes in a community etc.

• Persuasive Speech : the idea of a persuasive speech is to persuade the audience to believe that the opinion of the speaker is the right one. Some speakers will use solid facts, figures, and statistics to back up their argument. 

Examples of Persuasive speeches would be one delivered to try to raise funds for a cause.

• Oratorical Speech:  this type of Speech is usually given at special ceremonies such as graduation, which involve special activities such as ribbon-cutting or inauguration ceremony. Oratorical speeches are best kept short and informal. 
• Motivational Speech:  This type of Speech aims at self-improvement for the members of the audience. Motivational speeches are common in business executive meetings and aim at encouraging employees to complete a particular task. Other examples would be speeches made by life coaches who try to get you moving and pursuing your dreams.
• Forensic Speech : Here, the speakers perfect their skills while being supervised by experienced speakers. It is usually associated with students who seek to hone their craft while practicing at the same time. 
• Debate Speech:  debate speeches are not meant to persuade the other party to switch side; instead, the speaker justifies his or her opinion. Debate speeches are of different forms, which include mock trials, public forum, impromptu, Lincoln-Douglas, extemporaneous, classical, parliamentary, and more. 
• Special Occasion Speech:  As the name implies, these are speeches made at special events. 

Examples of special occasion speech include award acceptance speeches which describe what an award means to a person and used to thank someone for an award; tribute speeches which pay tribute to someone who is either alive or dead;

Now that you know that there are several types of speeches out there, check below 9 key principles for effective speech delivery.

8 Principles for Effective Speech Delivery

There are no secrets to public speaking. It’s all about learning! Politicians speaking on television or in front of an audience have developed their capabilities to captivate an audience by undergoing some personal training overtime.

Here’s a list of eight principles of effective speech delivery

#1 Practice in advance

Another challenge every speaker wants to overcome is tension. Rest assured, everyone feels apprehensive and tense when they are about to speak to an audience. A beating heart or trembling hands are normal symptoms.

To prevent these feelings from overriding the quality of your performance, or preventing you from speaking in public at all, practice in advance. 

According to experts, it is best to practice in the shower, since practicing in front of a mirror can be a great distraction. A good alternative is to train out loud, trying to identify those details that can be improved to make a brilliant presentation.

#2 Know your audience

Before giving your Speech, try to speak with part of your audience, so that if you feel nervous, there are some familiar faces inside the room that will give you back your security. Remember that one of the keys to a good speech is to make good eye contact with those present.

Knowing more about your listeners will help you determine your choice of words, the level of information, the organizational model, and lines that will motivate them.

Create the outline of your Speech: write down the subject, the general objective, the central idea, and the main points.

Most importantly, be sure to grab the audience’s attention within the first 30 seconds.

#3- Relaxation techniques

If before entering the room, you find yourself nervous, it is best to take a few deep breaths that allow you to regain your calm. Finally, try to channel that adrenaline into positive energy. The adrenaline rush that makes you sweat also makes you more alert and ready to give the best of yourself. It’s pretty positive, isn’t it?

#4- Do not read your Speech

If you are not in a formal event where reading your message is important; generally, you will want to deliver your Speech from the heart. However, you should refrain from reading the Speech completely (in most cases) because your message will come as something distant. 

Reading a presentation or a slide breaks the interpersonal connection. By keeping eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief overview of your speech outline can serve to refresh your memory and keep your plan in mind.

You can use audio-visual aids judiciously to highlight your point. However, using this tip too often can break the direct connection to the audience, so use it sparingly. These aids should improve or clarify your content, and thus capture and maintain the attention of your audience.

#5- Start with an anecdote or an interesting story

Many people often make the mistake of starting their speeches by thanking the presenter or expressing their happiness for being there. Still, it is proven that the best way to start a presentation in public is by an anecdote or story that projects the subject you are going to talk about.

Don’t hesitate to include a funny anecdote in your presentation. Spectators generally appreciate a personal touch in a speech.

Take advantage of every opportunity to put a face to the facts of your presentation.

#6- It must be simple

When making a presentation, you should put aside fancy speeches with hundreds of data. Keep in mind that people do not remember much of what they hear, so the best speeches include a relevant message and some great stories to illustrate the message you are going to convey.

#7- It must be short

A good speech should never be more than ten or twenty minutes long. According to experts, the ideal time is to last seven minutes.

#8- Use body language

If your body betrays symptoms of nerves or fear, those present will be more closed to adopt the message you want to convey. In order to succeed, the public must feel that you are having a good time and that the theme of the Speech arouses you a lot of passion and emotion.

Check out our 19+ Public Speaking Techniques article for more tips.

Understanding the basic elements of public speaking and the principles of effective speech delivery will be essential in taking you to that next level of preparing and delivering memorable and engaging speeches. Do not underestimate the importance of doing your best to accommodate each and every aspect of speech delivery that you can, in order to increase as much as possible the success of your presentation.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

https://www.opinionstage.com/jenniferjane1/7-elements-of-speech

https://www.amanet.org/articles/seven-principles-of-effective-public-speaking/

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What is Public Speaking? [Definition, Importance, Tips Etc!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

If you are an ambitious professional, you will have to engage in some form of public speaking at some point in time in your life! The truth is, it is better to start with public speaking sooner rather than later! However, to better understand the subject, we must start with the definition of public speaking.

Public speaking is the art of conveying a message verbally to an audience of more than one individual. An average public speaker addresses a crowd of over 50 people, while some keynote presenters can expect an audience of a few thousand. With digital public speaking, this can be scaled infinitely.

In this post, you will learn everything you need to know to get started with public speaking, including why it is essential in the modern world, what skills make up the art form, and what you can expect when trying to turn your public speaking skills into a revenue-generating business or career.

Why is Public Speaking Important?

With over 77% of people having some degree of public speaking anxiety, according to Very Well Mind , and some positioning it as a greater fear than that of death itself, you might wonder why one needs to conquer such fear? What could be so essential about public speaking, after all?

Public speaking is critical because it allows you to connect with a group of people and persuade them to see things your way. It is the highest form of scaled influence and has existed as a change-making phenomenon in politics, society, and culture for over 2000 years.

Compare this to any social media platform, CEO-position duration, and professorship, and you’ll see that public speaking has been the most persistent form of influencing across time. In other words, it is transferrable and timeless.

You don’t have to worry about it going out of fashion because it has outlasted the fashion industry itself. Every other position of power relies on some degree of public speaking skills, even if an individual is not actively delivering keynotes.

What Are Public Speaking Skills?

At this point, you might be thinking, “wait, how is public speaking different from public speaking skills?” And I understand that because people often assume public speaking itself is a skill. Public Speaking is a performance art that relies on multiple skills to deliver a cohesive presentation of a singular skill.

Public speaking skills are the pillars that hold up an excellent presentation and include argument construction, audience engagement, stage presence management, timely delivery, and appropriate pacing. You can also improve your public speaking by using humor, rhetorical questions, and analogies.

Argument Construction

The way you position an argument matters more than the argument itself. That’s why in most rhetorical classes, you’re made to pick the “for” or “against” side at random, so you get good at making arguments regardless of the legitimacy of the position.

Usually, an argument follows the “problem,” “potential solution,” “reasons the said solution is the best” model though some constructions include countering general skepticism regarding a proposed solution.

Audience Engagement

This skill will help you lengthen your talk without having to script every second, but that’s not its primary goal. Audience engagement shouldn’t be used as fluff but as a means to retain your public’s attention, especially if a topic is particularly dry or the talk is too long.

Stage Presence Management

This is the aspect of audience engagement that has more to do with yourself. For instance, if you ask a question, you’re getting your audience’s attention by engaging with them.

However, if you strike a particular pose, make an exaggerated gesture, or simply carry yourself in a way that draws attention, you’re managing your stage presence (and increasing your audience’s involvement).

Timely Delivery

Timing is critical in public speaking because, given the fact that speechwriters exist, one can get away without constructing an argument or even writing the words to their talk. However, you cannot get away with bad delivery because if you don’t hold your audience’s attention, you’re only speaking to yourself.

Appropriate Pacing

Pacing your talk is essential because you cannot dump data on your audience without producing a cognitive overload. That’s why you must balance information with rhetoric and pace your presentation to bring your audience along with you.

Importance of Public Speaking Skills for Students

Whether you’re a student thinking of joining a public speaking club or a debating society, or a teacher looking to introduce your students to public speaking, knowing that it is an extracurricular art form that brings the greatest number of long-term benefits to students can be quite comforting.

The importance of public speaking for students lies in its cognitive benefits and social significance. Students who learn public speaking are more confident, can communicate their ideas better, and use speaking as a tool to polish their thoughts. This sets them up for success in public-facing roles.

More importantly, these benefits go hand-in-hand with long-term career success and social satisfaction because, unlike academic skills, public speaking expertise remains beneficial even after students say goodbye to their respective universities.

Benefits of Public Speaking

As mentioned above, the benefits of public speaking often outlast the student life and remain relevant to personal success. Whether you choose a corporate job or want to be a full-time speaker, you will be able to take the skills you build as a speaker and apply them to your life.

Benefits of public speaking include but aren’t limited to higher self-confidence, clarity of thought, personal satisfaction with one’s ability to communicate, a larger network, some degree of organic celebrity status, and higher levels of charisma.

Higher Self-Confidence

Self-confidence, as essential as it is, is a tricky subject because it relies entirely on one’s self-image. And if you don’t view yourself as confident, you aren’t confident.

The best way to improve your confidence is to observe yourself being confident : i.e., get into an activity that requires confidence. Given that oratory is one of the earliest art forms developed by humans, we can safely assume that it is also the one that has more inherent prestige involved.

Clarity of Thought

Public speaking forces one to learn new words and improves how one structures an argument. Since speaking also allows us to think and formulate thoughts into full-fledged concepts, a public speaker is better able to think with clarity.

Improved Ability to Communicate

Building on clarity of thought, one’s ability to communicate is enhanced once they have thought through their positions and arguments. Public speaking helps you communicate better in both the content and delivery of your thoughts.

Better Network

Humans are social animals, and networking is intrinsic to our success. They say that most of life’s significant events aren’t “what” events (as in “what happened?”) but “who” events (as in “who did you connect with?” or “who connected with you?”). Public speaking affords you the confidence to multiply the odds of better “who” events.

Natural Celebrity

We admire those who can do what we can’t. And since public speaking is such a valuable artform regarding which over 77% of people have trouble, it is pretty straightforward to conclude that the one who can pull this off will have higher social status among any group.

Increased Charisma

Finally, building on the previous perk of better social status, with Olivia Fox-Cabane’s definition of charisma as power and empathy, one can see how an organic celebrity status among one’s friend circle can also lead to improved charisma.

That said, not every public speaker is charismatic all the time. And to make sure you make the most of your ability to be charismatic as a public speaker, check out Fox Cabane’s book .

Types of Public Speaking

In the artform’s infancy, public speaking was public speaking. There was nothing else but an individual speaking to fellow city residents in a forum, trying to persuade them to get behind a certain reform or rollback one. Now public speaking has branched into various types.

Types of public speaking are divided across two dimensions: medium and mission .

Digital public speaking, on-stage speeches, and pre-recorded talks are three types differentiated by category. Keynote address, seminar, and debate are three forms differentiated by end-result.

• Division by medium allows us to see the type of speech by the method of delivery. You can conduct keynote, seminar, and debate in the digital type, but a live discussion is very likely off the table when you’re uploading a pre-recorded talk.
• Division by end-result allows us to see how public speaking can differ depending on the content format regardless of delivery. You can give a keynote address on stage or even have it pre-recorded. As long as you get the key point across, you’re doing your job.

Apple’s keynotes are consumed far more often online than they are in-person. So, being clear on the end result allows hybridization across different formats, especially with technology. Still, you should optimize the content and delivery of your talk for the medium you set as the primary one and let the others be optional.

In other words, if you’re conducting a seminar and interaction matters, do not sacrifice live interaction trying to force your seminar into a pre-recorded format.

However, once the seminar has been delivered digitally, or in person, the video can be uploaded as pre-recorded for those who want to follow along or are simply curious about your seminar’s content and might sign up for the next one.

To understand which format or type to set as your primary one, you must know the pros and cons of each kind of public speaking.

Digital public speaking emerged alongside the telethon selling format on cable TV. While the first telethons weren’t entirely digital, the format’s inception lies firmly in this period because TV’s shift to streaming brought about the first boom in digital public speaking.

In 2020, there was yet another shift as Corporate America got thoroughly familiarized with Zoom, a digital conferencing tool.

And once people knew how to use it to participate in meetings, listening to live talks was only a few clicks away. Zoom launched webinar mode, making it even more convenient to start giving talks to a large digital audience.

Still, there are multiple platforms through which you can engage in digital public speaking, including Facebook Live, Youtube Streaming, and even Twitch.

Pros of Digital Public Speaking

• Low overhead – You don’t need to book a conference center; people don’t have to pay to fly.  
• Easy for higher frequency – You can easily deliver more talks in a shorter period, thanks to the lack of traveling involved.

Cons of Digital Public Speaking

• Harder to hold the audience’s attention – Task-switching is the key obstacle in digital public speaking, making it harder to deliver keynotes. However, interactive digital workshops really thrive in this environment.

Pros of on-Stage Public Speaking

• Better translates to other arenas – If you learn to speak from the stage, you can speak to smaller groups, give talks digitally, and hold a confident conversation. This doesn’t always work the other way: Zoom maestros aren’t as equipped to give a talk from a stage.  
• Instant authority – The Lab Coat Effect is one where we automatically infer authority if someone resembles a figure of authority. That’s why stage presentations are important for big ideas. The audience is more receptive when they see you on a stage regardless of your credentials.

Cons of on-Stage Public Speaking

• Limits the ability to interact – Since the format allows monologuing, it can be easy to get carried away giving your talk without bringing the audience along. In some instances, it can be downright tough to engage more personally with people because the crowd is too big.  
• Hard to master – While it can ultimately be an advantage, you must recognize it for the drawback that is initially, as getting on stage is difficult for most people with no prior experience. Even seasoned public speakers admit to being nervous before each talk.

Pros of Pre-Recorded Talks

• Room for error – Since pre-recorded talks are not live, you can get away with making errors, especially if you’re adept at editing. You also don’t have to be in front of a crowd and can talk to the camera as if it were your friend. This allows even the uninitiated to get involved with public speaking without taking extensive training.  
• Simultaneous delivery for multiple talks – While it isn’t important for most people to give multiple tasks at once, it is possible to do so with a set of pre-recorded talks. If you’re a busy executive or a business owner, you can be more productive. If you’re trying to elevate your career as a professional speaker, a few pre-recorded webinars delivered to potential clients for free can help get your foot in the door without too much effort.

Cons of Pre-Recorded Talks

• Can become a crutch – The convenience of these talks is also their greatest drawback. You cannot give pre-recorded talks exclusively because that severely limits your public speaking muscles. Using them in conjunction with other forms of speaking is the ideal balance for skill maintenance and productivity boosting.  
• Lower engagement – Since you are not able to interact live, you’re limited to predetermined engagement tools like asking people to imagine a scenario or posing rhetorical questions. You can pop in live at the end of your talk to take live questions. This hybridization or pre-recorded public speaking with digital public speaking is best for consultants and thought leaders.

Examples of Public Speaking

To be a great public speaker, you must consume great relevant content. That’s why you need to know what type of audio content constitutes public speaking. The following section covers examples of public speaking:

Basic Elements of Public Speaking

Now that you know what kind of content you should consume as a budding public speaker let’s look at the key elements to watch out for. Most well-constructed speeches will include the following:

• Signposting – The beginning portion introduces not just the topic but sections of the talk, including what will be addressed later on. Look at the third paragraph of this post to get an idea of what signposting is.  
• Main argument – This rests in the body of the speech, where the speaker makes the main point. You should never make a point without supporting it with logic, fact, and even a compelling narrative.  
• Supporting the argument – As mentioned above, your argument needs support. Use analogies, metaphors, and of course, data to back up the point you’re making.  
• Recap – The conclusion is the final part where your talk’s recap sits. Here, you tell your audience briefly the main points you have made without taking them down the details lane.

Tips to Become a Better Public Speaker

To become a better public speaker, you must use the observe, internalize, and practice formula. Here’s how you should go about it:

• Observe – Look at the types and examples of public speaking listed in this article and consume different talks that fall into all sorts of categories. Don’t rely too much on one speaker, or you may inadvertently become a knock-off.  
• Internalize – By consuming content without judgment, you’ll start to internalize what you find compelling. You must let go of conscious deconstruction tendencies and simply consume content until it is second nature to you.  
• Practice – Finally, the toughest and the most critical part of becoming a public speaker is simply practicing more often. Find opportunities to give talks. If you don’t find on-stage openings, simply give recorded talks or even stream your keynote. With enough practice, you’ll find your talks rising to the level of great public speakers whose content you so thoroughly consumed.

Credit to cookie_studio (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited)

Presentation Techniques, Public Speaking & Communication Skills

The good news is, good public speaking and communication skills can be acquired. Even so-called ‘natural born’ public speakers or communicators have to learn and practise important presentation techniques over time to perfect it. Some of these presentation techniques, public speaking and communication skills are highlighted below.

These presentation techniques are derived from many expert presenters on how to elevate their presentations from “good” to “outstanding”. Whether you are an experienced presenter or novice, these presentation techniques will help you improve on your delivery while minimising any potential pitfalls.

There are three parts to this guide:

• Planning the presentation
• Preparing the presentation
• Delivering the presentation

Planning Your Presentation

“The only sure way to create a successful presentation is to begin with the goal in mind.”

Jerry Weissman, leading corporate presentations coach.

Firstly, determine the purpose of the presentation. For example, is it to publicise a new product, make a sales pitch or to share information about your company or institution. Having a clear purpose will ensure your audience receive the right information.

It is also important to know the profile of your audience such as their age groups, educational background, professions and income levels. Such information will help you to tailor your presentation according to their level of understanding. For instance, if you are presenting to a group of mostly technocrats, more technical terms can be used. If presenting to a general audience, more layman terms will be more appropriate to aid their understanding.

Before the presentation, it is also important to gather information about the presentation venue. These include:

• Capacity of presentation room and expected audience size.
• Layout of room – is it squarish, elongated or pillarless?
• Equipment – are there sufficient projection screens and loudspeakers in the room, what is the projection screen size and what type of projector is in use (standard or widescreen?)
• Room lighting – is there a dimmer?

Such information is important as it can affect the effectiveness of your presentation. If the room is elongated and has many pillars, your audience may find it difficult to see your projection screen. Hence, more than one projection screen may be required. Also, check whether your audience at the back of the room can hear you clearly.

It is also advisable to arrive at your presentation venue early to check and ensure the room setup is optimised and the equipment are working fine. Even if you have mastered all the presentation techniques and meticulously prepared for your public speaking assignment, equipment failure could compromise everything that you have worked so hard for.

Preparing the Presentation

Decide the outline of your presentation and how your information will flow. Then create a story around your presentation. Story-telling is one of the most effective presentation techniques as it helps to engage and connects your audience emotionally and hence, enables them to digest information more easily. Every presentation should consist of these three parts for it to flow seamlessly:

At the opening, provide your audience with an outline of your presentation and what they are expected to learn or hear from you. A vital presentation technique is to start strongly in order to grab your audience’s attention and hold it. If not, most will switch off. There are three objectives in public speaking – to inform, convince and persuade. If you fail to engage your audience, you would lose these objectives. This is especially so in the middle of your presentation as this is the time when message recall is at its lowest ebb.

Use the 10-20-30 Rule for Slideshows – This is a presentation technique used by Guy Kawasaki, who suggested that slideshows should:

• Contain no more than 10 slides.
• Last no more than 20 minutes; and.
• Use a font size of no less than 30 point.

The last point is particularly important – it ensures your font size is big enough for the audience to see clearly, especially those sitting at the back of the room. It also prevents you from putting too much information on any one slide and eliminate the dreaded ‘Death by PowerPoint’.

If your audience requires more information about your presentation, you can provide them handouts after the session. Don’t give them before the presentation as many may end up reading your notes instead of listening to you. If this happens, your ability to engage them and listen to you will be lost.

Tell Stories – All presentations are a type of theatre and stories can help your audience relate to you, which reinforces what they learn. It also helps to make the presentation more effective and memorable.

“Story persuades by creating a sense of involvement.”

Josh Gordon, author of Presentations that Change Mind.

However, give the audience only what they need to know, and craft your story around it.

“A clear and concise story can give a presenter the clarity of mind to present with poise.” 

Jerry Weissman, renowned corporate presentations coach

To learn more about story-telling techniques, please refer to the article “ 15 Storytelling Tips and How to Apply them Today ”.

Closing the Presentation – After spending a lot of time preparing your presentation and sharing it, make sure that you reinforce the key information by summarising them. By repeating the key points, it will refresh your audience’s memory.

There are many presentation techniques for this, but one of the most frequently used is the ‘Rule of Three’, which suggests that people generally tend to remember concepts or ideas better, when presented in threes. Some examples are ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’, ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’ and the ‘Good, Bad and the Ugly’.

Work out what the three messages that you want your audience to take away before structuring your conclusion. This could be three words, phrases or sentences.

Delivering the Presentation

“Persuasion is the art in which all business presenters must be prepared.”

  Jerry Weissman, leading corporate presentations coach.

Build trust – Communicate to your audience the facts or quality about you, your company, the products you sell or an idea you are advocating. If you are able to gain their trust, what you say will carry more weight and sounds believable.

Be passionate to help connects with your audience – To connect with your audience, project your passion into your presentation. Be honest and enthusiastic with the audience about what you say, and your audience will respond likewise. As mentioned earlier, the objectives of public speaking are to inform, convince and persuade. You will not be able to deliver these objectives if you fail to connect with them.

Focus on you audience’s need – Always remember the main reason your audience is attending your presentation. Always bear in mind their needs and what they want to know, not what you like to tell them. Focus on your audience, make it easy for them to understand and respond to you.

Keep it Simple and Concentrate on your Key Message – Always remember what are the key messages you want your audience to take away. Tell them what benefits they will gain. To do so, communicate to them clearly while reminding them briefly throughout your presentation. You can use the ‘Rule of Three’ to emphasise your key points and make it easy for them to remember.

Smile and Make Eye Contact with your Audience – Surprisingly, even seasoned presenters have failed in this aspect. By smiling and making eye contact, you will build rapport with your audience. This helps them to connect with you and the subject you are talking about. Making eye contact can also help alleviate some of your nervousness because it gives you a feeling that you are talking to individuals instead of a mass of strangers.

Project Your Voice Effectively – Public speaking using monotone is a sure-fire way to put your audience to sleep. To present effectively, vary the speed you talk. Also, use different pitch and tone to emphasise certain points. This will make your presentation more interesting and help capture your audience’s attention.

Body Movement – Body movements can reveal much about you – whether you are confident, nervous, authoritative or weak. Some body language to avoid includes crossed arms, keeping your hands behind your back or in your pockets, looking down instead of making eye contact, and pacing back and forth. To project confidence, make your gestures open and move naturally around the stage, or even among your audience. If you want to emphasise a point on your screen, turn your body towards it while using your hand to gesture in the same direction. Your audience will naturally follow your cue.

Relax, Regulate Your Breathing and Enjoy – If you are nervous, your audience can easily sense it. One way to relax is to regulate your breathing and take deep breaths. Also, have occasional short pauses during your presentation to calm yourself down and collect your thoughts. Do not rush through your presentation and ‘get it out of the way’. You will be doing a great disservice to yourself and your audience.

Practice Makes Perfect – As mentioned earlier, public speaking and communication skills can be learned. To communicate effectively, rehearse your presentation as many times as required. One way is to video yourself presenting and you will notice all sorts of mistakes you are making. This includes the way you speak, your vocal tone, facial expression, body movements and hand gestures. You may even find yourself unconsciously making some involuntary movements. I have witnessed this before during a public speaking course when a participant kept rubbing his hand against his arm. He only realised it when the public speaking coach brought it to his attention.

Presentation Techniques And PowerPoint Design

Although mastering all the important presentation techniques is important, a good PowerPoint design is equally crucial for delivering a successful presentation. In a PowerPoint presentation, the following is a summary about what annoys audiences:

As can been seen, beside acquiring effective presentation techniques, public speaking and communication skills, we must also learn how to design good PowerPoint presentations. Meanwhile, the following resources will help you eliminate the so-called ‘Death by PowerPoint’:

Effective Presentation Design

• Education PowerPoint Design

Eight Common PowerPoint Presentation Mistakes

However, should you require creative PowerPoint design services or if you encounter any difficulties in crafting a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation, please contact us  for an obligation-free consultation. We offer very competitive and personalised  PowerPoint presentation services . We also provide three design options that will cater to the different needs and budgets. Here are some examples of our design ideas .

In addition, we also offer the following design services for your business presentation, advertising and marketing campaigns:

• Infographic Design
• Cinemagraph Design
• PowerPoint Video Design

Useful Presentation Resources

The following are some other useful presentation resources to help with your PowerPoint design.

• What PowerPoint Slide Size to Use?
• How to Change PowerPoint Aspect Ratio?
• Free PowerPoint Diagrams

Related Posts

Powerpoint design ideas for your next presentation.

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How to Present to an Audience That Knows More Than You

• Deborah Grayson Riegel

Lean into being a facilitator — not an expert.

What happens when you have to give a presentation to an audience that might have some professionals who have more expertise on the topic than you do? While it can be intimidating, it can also be an opportunity to leverage their deep and diverse expertise in service of the group’s learning. And it’s an opportunity to exercise some intellectual humility, which includes having respect for other viewpoints, not being intellectually overconfident, separating your ego from your intellect, and being willing to revise your own viewpoint — especially in the face of new information. This article offers several tips for how you might approach a roomful of experts, including how to invite them into the discussion without allowing them to completely take over, as well as how to pivot on the proposed topic when necessary.

I was five years into my executive coaching practice when I was invited to lead a workshop on “Coaching Skills for Human Resource Leaders” at a global conference. As the room filled up with participants, I identified a few colleagues who had already been coaching professionally for more than a decade. I felt self-doubt start to kick in: Why were they even here? What did they come to learn? Why do they want to hear from me?

• Deborah Grayson Riegel is a professional speaker and facilitator, as well as a communication and presentation skills coach. She teaches leadership communication at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and has taught for Wharton Business School, Columbia Business School’s Women in Leadership Program, and Peking University’s International MBA Program. She is the author of Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life and the best-selling Go To Help: 31 Strategies to Offer, Ask for, and Accept Help .

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Public Speaking Workshop

Public speaking workshop presentation, free google slides theme and powerpoint template.

Public speaking is an experience that many people avoid, mainly because they get nervous and don't have the necessary techniques to make a successful speech. We have designed this colorful template for you to structure your workshop and help many people overcome their fear of public speaking. With this presentation you will be able to talk about the theory of public speaking and its characteristics, give tips, and organize practical exercises. Download it and have an amazing workshop!

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Understanding the 5 Ps of Public Speaking (& How They Can Help You)

Hrideep barot.

• Body Language & Delivery , Presentation , Public Speaking , Speech Writing , Workplace Communication

Imagine you have just given a presentation or a speech in public. As soon as you have completed speaking there is a moment of silence, a moment of soaking in the presentation and and understanding it while staying in the awe of that moment. This is immediately followed by resounding applause, of the kind that is made when the audience feels excited and appreciative. This moment of validation is all you need to drown the nervousness that you were feeling a while ago before and during the presentation. At this instant, you realize how the audience felt a connection with you and portrayed their approval through a harmonious cacophony.

It feels too good to even imagine it, doesn’t it? What if you could make this a reality? Further ahead in this article, you will read about how to make your public speeches a resounding success through the 5 Ps of public speaking. However, we will first need to get our base clear of what exactly is public speaking 

What is Public Speaking?

Public Speaking is an act of speaking in front of a live public or even a group of 8-10 people. It can be either impromptu or fully practiced. Public speaking is generally listed as a skill in an individual’s resume or profile as it has gained a lot of importance in these days of technological advancements where one can have access to millions of people with the press of one button from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, being able to put out your opinion confidently has become a necessity based on which people as well as organizations would make decisions about you.

Public speaking is a soft skill as it is categorized under communication also known as a people skill which helps one have an effective interaction with others. Public speaking as a soft nowadays is much needed to create a positive and efficient work environment. To know more in detail about why public speaking is a soft skill and not a hard skill you can refer to our article Public Speaking Skills: Soft Or Hard?

Now you have an almost clear idea of public speaking but ever wondered if there are any types of public speaking?

Types of Public Speaking 

Indeed there are! Public speaking is further classified into these types to make it easier for you to separate and focus on your intention for giving the speech. These types include ceremonial, demonstrative, informative, and persuasive.

Ceremonial 

Starting with ceremonial public speaking, as the word suggests this kind of public speaking is done during ceremonies or special occasions like weddings, graduation parties, funerals, etc. In this one, you usually have a preexisting emotional or personal connection with the majority of your audience and you must also prepare your speech keeping that in mind.

Demonstrative 

Again as the word suggests here the speaker demonstrates something to the audience while also speaking. It is more like an instructional speech where the audience along with being told is demonstrated how something happens or works and is taught to do the same. This public speaking category practically involves a lot of observational learning from the audience’s side.

Informative 

This classification of public speaking is the one that is used most often. It does not do anything more than increase the knowledge of the audience and inform or educate them in detail about a new topic. Informative speeches are as common as the morning meetings or announcements where the people are updated about forthcoming events.

Persuasive 

Last but the most used type by the sales and marketing team is persuasive public speaking. Here the speeches are given in order to persuade the audience. It often uses plenty of compelling language which includes various tools like rhetorical devices, emphasis, repetition, personal pronouns, emotive language, comparison, etc. which makes it easier to persuade the audience. Having persuasive speaking skills is very important when you want the majority to agree with you and believe you.

Want to learn more about the 4 types of public speaking along with appropriate examples? We’ve got you covered, our article 4 Types Of Public Speaking (A Complete Guide) exemplifies these four types and uncomplicatedly explains them in brief.

However, knowing what type of public speaking you are going to do is an effective contributor to focusing on your intention but it is not enough to make your public speech a soaring success. In order to give an effective presentation as well as have an impactful speech one also needs to learn about the basic elements of public speaking, also quite popularly known as the 5 Ps of public speaking.

The 5 Ps of Public Speaking        

So, what are the 5 Ps of public speaking? The 5 Ps of public speaking comprise purpose, passion, preparation, practice, and performance. 

Starting with purpose, it is essential to know the purpose of why you are presenting or giving a public speech on a particular subject matter. It helps you to set an achievable goal for your speech in your mind. Subsequently, having a goal also helps you narrow down your focus so that you have a space to put all your attention. To get to know the purpose of your presentation you need to ask these questions – “Why am I here on this stage”, “Why did I choose this topic”, and “What will I get out of this?”.

For instance, if you are standing in a school election for a student body president and you are going to talk about too many books being asked to bring from home in your bag, the answer to the first question would be to convince teachers to lessen the number of books they ask the student to bring and to ensure students that their issues will be heard and worked upon. The answer to your second question would be to help students lighten the weight of their bags, especially for those who frequently have back pain due to this issue. Lastly, the answer to your third question will be that you yourself won’t have to carry heavier bags, and after successfully convincing the teachers you could get votes from the impressed students.

2. Passion 

If you are passionate about your subject matter or the message you want to convey then you automatically tend to do in-depth research about it. When you have more knowledge about your topic, you never fall short of words and get an urge to share your knowledge with others too, which makes you a good speaker. Therefore this skill makes an important part of public speaking by contributing to encourage you to speak to a group of people and share your knowledge. Additionally, the audience also respects and believes when you are passionate about your topic. The passion they can see on your face and your delivery resonates with them and increases their interest in your speech.

For instance, when you are passionate about saving the planet you list down all the points possible in your head that you think, and you try very strongly to convince your audience to think and act in a way to save our planet, so much so that it resonates on your face and makes an impact in the audience’s mind. Here you are encouraged from inside to make your public speech compelling.

3. Preparation 

Preparation is the key when it comes to engaging your audience and making a good speech as preparation involves researching your audience and adding content that they can understand and relate to. Likewise, preparation helps you gain a piece of in-depth and greater knowledge about your topic resulting in having strong grounds to support your topic.

For instance, if your audience is 7-year-olds and your topic is how junk and food with fats are not good for health, they might not understand complicated jargon like “some junk food might contain saturated fats high in low-density lipids which might result in a plaque buildup clogging your blood vessels”. One needs to make it easier for them to understand like “junk food has fats that can stick together and make your blood tubes messy. This mess can block the tubes and make it hard for your blood to move. It’s like when things get stuck in a straw. So, it’s good to eat healthy foods and not eat too much of those junk foods”.

4. Practice 

“Practice makes perfect” is a quote very well-known and unquestionably correct. Practicing means listening to your speech again and again and again. When you listen to yourself repeatedly it helps you point out any mistakes or improvements that you could make, avoiding you to fumble or misspeak in front of your audience. While practicing you could also take the help of your friends and family to help you have another perspective and give criticisms about the good points and bad points that you may have missed. Additionally, whenever you practice you can note down the errors and improvements that you have made. This way you could repeatedly work on the error till you perfect it and through noting your improvements you could see how far you have come. 

For instance, if you have an issue with using repetitive connectives like ‘but’, you could note that fault down while practicing and then learn some new connectives, add them to your speech, and stop when repeating the connective ‘but’ and try to think of another alternative connective of ‘but’ like ‘however’, ‘although’, ‘yet’, etc.

During practice, along with your speech, you also need to work out your presentation style or how you would present yourself in front of the audience. This includes your body language, your facial expressions, your tone, and your eye contact; all of this resonates with how you personally feel about the topic and can make either a negative or a positive impact on the audience. 

For instance, a slouched body and a tired expression with a monotone make the audience also feel tired and bored.

An additional tip to remember is if possible you should go on the stage where you are going to deliver your speech and practice there, this will help you get comfortable with your presentation space and help you have one less unfamiliarity to worry about.

5. Performance

Your performance is like the grand finale of your 5 Ps where you are directly put in front of an audience and are evaluated on how well you have understood and efficiently used the 5 Ps of public speaking, to have a great performance you need to have worked very well on the previous four Ps. Showing a good presentation style that you practiced is equally important as it contributes to 50 percent of your speech. Therefore, maintain eye contact, have a good posture, avoid having a monotone, have a perfect pace, and exude confidence through your expressions. Additionally, remember to show your passion as it will be appreciated by the audience and they will tend to become more invested in what you would be saying (Also remember the purpose and move ahead accordingly)

Lastly, perform while focusing on your audience. If you notice that the audience is bored, try to change the mode and make it interactive. If they seem tired and find something to eat, give them a break to refresh. This is important as at the end of the day you are performing for them to listen, understand, and get impacted.

People Also Ask 

What are the 3 ps of public speaking .

The 3 Ps of public speaking include preparing, practicing, and presenting. Prepare is when you do in-detail research and organize your content in an orderly fashion. Practice is when you work on your speech till you perfect it and feel confident about presenting. Lastly, presenting is how effectively you present what you have prepared and practiced and engage the audience.

What are the 4 Ps of public speaking?

Public speaking could broken down into four aspects namely preparation, practice, presentation, and performance. The difference between presentation and performance here is that in presentation speaks about how you present yourself, your look, your clothes, and your presentation slides as well, however performance is evaluated on how you perform how you maintain eye contact, your pace, your tone, your way of performing (more interactive with the audience or more monologue type)

What are the 6 Ps of public speaking?

The 6 Ps of public speaking specifically talks about your presentation style which includes pace, passion, pause, power, and pronunciation. To know more about these presentation skills and how to improve them you could refer to our article Top 9 Speech AI Tools To Teach You Public Speaking .

What are the 7 Ps of public speaking?

The 7 Ps of public speaking is an extended version of the 6 Ps of public speaking consisting of pace, passion, pause, posture, power, pronunciation, and punch. Here punch is used to put emphasis on or draw attention to a point. It is basically stressing a point. Likewise, power is the nonverbal communication done by the speaker to portray their effectiveness. This nonverbal communication includes eye contact, posture, facial expression, etc. 

Conclusion 

Public speaking is an important soft skill to master. These 5 Ps of public speaking are a holistic and important medium to help you achieve the skill. All these elements skillfully assist us in transforming our simple message or speech into an influential narrative. By having a purpose for the public speech and passion for the topic one strengthens the foundation on which they build their speech. Meticulous preparation also fortifies our base along with tailoring the speech perfectly for the target audience and creating a connection with them. Furthermore, practice polishes our speech and delivery until we emerge perfect and feel confident on the stage. Lastly, our performance will indicate how we have conveyed our opinion or knowledge and made an impact on the audience.

All of this together makes public speaking a joyful experience for the speaker as well as the audience. So, go ahead and conquer public speaking and the hearts of your audience through these 5 Ps of public speaking. Happy public speaking!

Want to polish your public speaking skills even further by practicing with professionals? We have got you covered! Through Frantically Speaking’s online coaching sessions (which you can access from the comfort of your home) you can improve your public speaking skills along with interview skills, presentation skills, negotiation and persuasion skills, group discussion abilities, and more all the way summatively acing your communication skills. Click here to learn more about the Frantically Speaking training program.

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10 Tips for a Persuasive Presentation

Powerful presentation is persuasion. here's how to elevate your impact..

Posted May 11, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Presentations aim to effect change. It's essential to be clear about what change you want to see.
• Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience.
• Substance and style both matter to create an audience-informed communication experience.
• Persuasive presentations are relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant.

How many of us realize that giving a presentation or making a speech is all about persuasion , influence, and emotional intelligence ? Impactful presenters understand the power of empathy to understand and engage their audience, the efficiency and kindness of having a clear objective and message, and the importance of substance and style—all as a way to connect in a way that engages and inspires.

Much has been written on the power and behavioral science of persuasion, not least by expert Robert Cialdini. His bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion explains seven research-based universal principles of influence .

From my experience as a leadership coach working with thousands of people worldwide, I have compiled a list of ten essentials to elevate our presentation.

1. Maintain an "other" focus. What do you know about your audience and how can you find out more? Ask yourself what kind of a speaker will appeal to your audience, what arguments are likely to resonate with them, and what feelings you want to inspire so the audience will positively respond to your ask. If your audience is predominantly data-driven, you may want to use more evidence-based arguments. If the audience is mixed, a combination of data, authority, and storytelling may be more appropriate. Extend Daniel Goleman’s three types of empathy to gather intelligence , understand your audience, and tailor your intervention to connect more profoundly.

2. Determine a specific objective: Presentations aim to effect change in some way. What change do you want to see in your audience? Every presentation aims to change the audience in some way. For instance, gaining their approval for a certain investment, soliciting their buy-in for a change, or creating a sense of enthusiasm for an idea or initiative. The purpose of a presentation is to bring about change so make sure you are clear on what kind of change you want to bring about.

3. Design a grabber: Our attention spans have shrunk as we have more and more competing demands on our attention . If you want to get someone’s attention you need to grab it at the outset and try and hold on. You can do this in a number of different ways. Throw out a question that demands a response from the audience. Give a surprising fact or statistic, or quote from a well-known figure. Tell a story or an anecdote. A good grabber captures the attention of everyone there, and makes them focus on what you have to say.

4. Crystalize your message and construct your arguments : Your message is the heart of your speech. Craft a brief phrase that clearly defines your proposal in 10-12 words. For example, “This post is about crafting presentations that inspire and engage others to elevate their presentations.” Make it memorable by choosing inspiring words, symbols, catchy expressions, something that will remain in the audience's mind. As Brené Brown says: “Clear is kind,” and a clear message provides a path to develop your ideas.

When you have a clear and concise message, it helps you formulate your arguments. Think of developing your arguments using the rule of three —three compelling arguments to convince but not overwhelm your audience.

5. Prepare a call to action: Remember, we want to change our audience in some way, so we need to make our ask in a clear and concrete manner.

Consider your call to action in terms of what you want your audience to think/feel/do:

• Think—“I want you to think about how you can improve your presentations.”
• Feel—“I want you to feel enthusiastic and motivated so that you can elevate your power to persuade.”
• Do—“I want you to try out some of these tips and tools for yourself.”

6. Craft a memorable closing: Close the speech in an elegant and memorable way. We need people to remember what we've told them, so prepare it well. This is not the time to improvise. Try to connect your closing to your opening grabber, which makes the presentation more memorable. Good preparation means preparing everything to the very end—finish well.

7. Plan your delivery: A dynamic speaker draws listeners in by using vocal variety (tone, intonation, speed, volume, pace, pauses, silence) and body language (posture, gestures, expression, and movement) to highlight important points and hold the audience’s attention. Be intentional: How will you use your voice and your body to emphasize a thought or idea? Think about it: If you increased the time you spent on style or delivery by 20 percent, what would it mean for the impact you make?

8. Think about how you will engage your audience : You want the audience to feel considered throughout. Include pauses so they can process what’s being said; connect with individuals throughout the room and make deliberate eye contact while speaking, especially when delivering key points. Read and respond to the audience by changing how you deliver as you go based on the audience’s nonverbal communication .

9. Rehearse and Practice: Practice is one of the most crucial elements of presenting—and probably the most neglected one. If this is new to you start by reading your presentation in front of a mirror to get comfortable speaking your presentation. Next, video yourself and watch out for nervous or distracting habits to eliminate them and identify any areas where you can improve your delivery. If you are feeling brave, practice in front of an audience and ask for feedback.

10. Prepare your success rituals and mantra: Public speaking and/or stage fright can feel debilitating for some. Have your calm-down ritual prepared and ready to go before you start your presentation. This might be a certain gesture, a power pose, breathwork, or a mantra. Try this tip: Identify three adjectives to describe how you would like to show up during this presentation. This sets an intention and helps focus our cognitive and emotional resources on success.

Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience. They use this intelligence to carefully make choices about substance and style to create an audience-informed communication experience that feels relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant and creates a pathway for change.

Palena Neale, Ph.D. , is a women’s leadership coach, lecturer, and founder of unabridged, a boutique leadership development practice.

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