05.07.07

Presentation & Public Speaking Tips

Posted in Public Speaking, UK at 12:11 am by Jeremy Jacobs

The internet appears to be awash with tips on how to speak and present your case in public. I’ve seen this recently at the CPRE site. That’s the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.

As with other helpful sites, there’s a few good tips here,but as I’ve posted here and said many times before, regular speaking in public is the only method, IMHO, one can improve.

Public speaking

Public speaking provides the opportunities to promote your campaign priorities and collect details of sympathisers and potential supporters.

You may be asked to provide public speakers to make formal presentations to decision-makers or others, promote a campaign or raising an issue of concern or educate others about your work.

To take advantage of speaking opportunities, it is important to pick the right speaker. Discuss within your group who is the best candidate.
Preparing a presentation

• Clarify your objective in giving the presentation - modifying the subject you will be addressing to meet your own aims
• Consider your audience: assess how much they know about you and the issue - this might not alter the content but may alter the tone
• Structure your argument with a stimulating introduction, a reasoned middle and a resounding end. Introductions should explain who you are, why you are there and what you are going to cover. Begin with an anecdote or striking statistic to illustrate your point. The middle is the message itself - keep to 3-5 key arguments or points. The end needs to say what needs to be done next or how people can help, as well as summarise what you have said

Making a speech

There is no need to feel anxious before making a speech or presentation - your audience have turned up because they are interested in what you have to say. Some steps to ensure your presentation goes smoothly:

• Prepare a clear outline for your comments under set heading. Use hand-held cue cards if helpful
• Prepare a memorable opening. If you can raise a murmur of support or a laugh, your confidence will grow
• Stick to the arguments you have thought about in advance and do not be diverted into side issues
• While you should not be afraid to speak passionately, do not be overly emotional, provocative or aggressive
• Be yourself - an audience will tell if you are trying to be something you are not

Answering questions

Many speaking opportunities will be followed by a question-and-answer session. This can be as important as the speech itself and can also be quite unpredictable.

Think in advance of questions you might be asked and rehearse your answers. Write a list of likely questions and possible answers.

Try not to be intimidated if you face aggressive questioning - you are not expected to persuade everyone and some people will not be swayed whatever you say. Agree to disagree if necessary. If you really don’t know the answer to a question, don’t be afraid to say so. You should be briefed on the issues that matter and be armed with a few key facts and figures - but you are not expected to know everything.

Stick to your concerns and politely decline the temptation to get drawn into debates that don’t really concern you. The more you stick to your own territory, the more you are likely to give confident, accurate answers.

Using visual aids

The key point with visual aids is that they are precisely that - aids to, but not a substitute for, your verbal presentation.

Do:

• Use graphics, pictures or press headlines to illustrate your arguments
• Use overheads/slides to reinforce the key messages in your presentation, highlight key facts, words or numbers and prompt your spoken comments
• Use large fonts/text
• Rehearse your presentation using the visual aids so you are familiar with the running order and can estimate how long it will take

Do not:

• Use too many words per overhead - ideally, 3-4 lines with no more than 3-4 words per line
• Read from your overheads/slides
• Use very intricate graphics or detailed tables of figures
• Use too many overheads - 5 -10 should be enough for a 10-12 minute presentation

My colleague, Annette Kurer, holds Presentation Skills classes. Check out her website here.

image courtesy of www.looklocally.com

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