Top Tips for Event Speakers

Jan 25, 2012 by admin

Next to death, the greatest fear of most people is public speaking, according to scientific surveys. Such fear is said to stem from fear of failure in front of many people, a symptom of which is ‘butterflies in the stomach’. However, there are public speakers who seem to excel in what they do and do not have qualms about going before people to speak. They recommend tips on how to speak before any crowd without fear.

 

No script

Reading from a prepared script shows you have not mastered your subject. This detracts from your authority on the topic and makes you less believable. If you must, use prompt or index cards instead where you can write your points of discussion, and can refer to once you exhausted what you want to say about a topic.

 

Connect with your audience

Look at them in the eyes (or between the eyes) as you make your points. Look individually from someone in the front to someone in the back so you include everyone in your talk. Do not forget those at the sides; they are part of your audience as well.

 

Time your talk

If you are limited to 30 minutes, then make your points before you run out of time. It is not good to have the emcee say you have two minutes remaining and you have not even mentioned the main point of your presentation. And while ad libs add color and spontaneity, you should not digress too much or too often from the flow of the talk.

 

Minimize audio-visual aids

Use less text and animations in your Powerpoint presentation so as not to distract the audience from your talk. It is easy to demonstrate your sophistication in presentation-making, but remember you are not showing a movie, just buttressing the points you make in your talk.

 

Never locate vital information in lower third of presentation frames.

They may get obstructed from view to people at the back in rooms with low ceilings or where you cannot raise your screen high enough.

 

Arrive early

Arrive early to check if your audio-visual presentations will work and how good they will be. Likewise, sometimes machine incompatibility happens or it may be necessary to make last-minute changes in your presentation to suit conditions.  Be prepared to do so. You will not want your presentation you labored on so much set aside because of some minor machine technical glitches.

 

Avoid clichés in your talk

Contrary to making you look sophisticated, it will only indicate to your audience you are behind the times. Clichés are passé, so talk like someone alive. You can use of course the language of the topic but not too much; a part of your audience may not understand what you are saying, being new to the topic. Use simple terms: they connect readily with the listener.

 

Avoid nervous mannerisms

Such as fidgeting, fiddling with things or clothes, holding onto the lectern/podium or shuffling papers. They distract the audience and show your nervousness. Also, remove the ‘um’ in your language: they indicate you are not prepared with what you want to say.

Public speaking is not easy, but not impossible either, even for normal everyday people like you or me. If you can talk to an individual friend, you can talk before many people. You just need to talk to them like you’re talking to your friend. Individually.

 

This is a guest post by Ben from EEF, a group of conference centres in the UK, conference centres in London and with conference venues in Warwickshire.