It’s always wonderful to be asked to speak, and I am sure we all get excited at the opportunity. But how do we prepare for it in the best possible way? Here are a few tips.
The Message
What do you want to convey, or what do you want the audience to remember? When are you delivering the speech and to whom? How much time do you have? Speeches are broadly classified into informative, inspirational or humorous- your individual personality will decide how you will combine these and deliver them. If it is informative, what are the data points you want to cover, and in how much detail? If it is inspirational, what are the stories or anecdotes? If it is humorous, what kind of humour and what kind of jokes?
The Audience
What is their demographic profile, their level of expertise, what kind of visual aids will be the best? An audience of peers will require a higher degree of expertise rom the speaker, as in a technical seminar, but a college audience might require more motivational and aspirational examples. Humour is entirely dependent on the audience, in terms of references, language and anecdotes.
The Time Factor
This has two elements- the occasion and the duration. The occasion could be a national or international seminar or industry event, an annual College Day celebration. You may be the only speaker, as the Chief Guest, or one of the many lined up for the event; the time allotted will vary accordingly. Overstepping time is unprofessional and disrespectful to the audience and the organizers. The actual content planning comes only after all these factors are considered. Plan your presentation – tailor the number of points you are going to deliver and organise your slides and other material.
Technology plays a huge part in the presentation–use only as much as you are comfortable with. If you are a tech whiz who can have special effects, go ahead with all the bells and whistles. If not, stick to plain text on slides, or even eschew them altogether. Remember the online platforms can ruin a presentation with technical glitches. Keep these in mind and your next presentation will rock.
