Problem and solution

Fellow speaker,

Here are some common fears and ways to handle those fears:

What if I forget what I am going to say?

• Keep your notes close by
• Ask your audience questions while waiting to recover your train of thought

What if I embarrass myself?

• Most likely nobody will notice  your errors
• Turn your error into an opportunity for humor and comedy

What if I make a mistake?

• Plan out solutions to your mistake in advance
• Keep your mistake solutions with your speech

Solutioned,

Tim

Fear not

Fellow speaker,

Getting afraid before doing a presentation is normal. Here are some ways to help handle this fear:

• Identify fears - know what exactly are you afraid of, sometimes are fears are silly and vanish once you closely look at them
• Practice presentation - this helps develop your confidence that you can do your presentation
• Plan for the worst - things happen, so prepare as best you can to handle whatever comes up

Unafraid,

Tim

Facing off

Fellow speaker,

To practice using facial expressions in your speech:

• Adjust your face's message based on your material
• Practice facial expressions in front of a mirror, getting your face to match the issues in your presentation
• Develop facial expressions that work for effectively communicating various kinds of information

Facially,

Tim

Face dances

Fellow speaker,

Use your face during your speech to show your:

• Moods
• Feelings
• Emotions

Facing it,

Tim

Getting handy

Fellow speaker,

When you are not using your hands to gesture, they should be:

• Hanging freely your side
• Elbows slightly bent
• Thumbs along pant seam and/or in middle of calves

Handily,

Tim

Making a gesture

Fellow speaker,

Use gestures in your speech to describe and emphasize the important ideas of your speech.

Gesturing,

Tim

Move 'em out!

Fellow speaker,

Benefits of moving into the audience are:

• Increased opportunity for eye contact
• Increased opportunity for personal contact
• Engages the audience
• Regains lost audience attention

Moving,

Tim

Stand up straight!

Fellow speaker,

Use good posture when you are speaking:

• Stand tall
• Square your shoulders
• Keep feet on ground – feet about 8 to 10 inches apart
• Hold head up high

Stood up,

Tim

Body talk

Fellow speaker,

Body language is your:

• Posture
• Poise
• Movement
• Gestures

Bodily,

Tim

Eye-deas

Fellow speaker,

Here are some ideas on how to use eye contact:

• Establish before presentation
• Focus on power players - if you can connect with these people, the audience will see the connection and so work to better connect with you
• Focus on people who appear to be enjoying the speech - builds self-confidence
• Maintain throughout speech
• Focus also on people in back row and side rows

Eyeing,

Tim

Eyeing the audience

Fellow speaker,

Benefits of making eye contact with your audience:

• Build and maintain audience rapport
• Establishes credibility and trust
• Conveys attitudes and feelings
• Makes people around the person you are looking at pay more attention
• Creates impression of a “personalized” message

Eyeing,

Tim

Drinking with an audience

Fellow speaker,

Before or during your speech avoid:

• Extremely cold drinks
• Caffeinated drinks
• Drinks that contains sugar

Drinking,

Tim

Say Ah!

Fellow speaker,

To get your voice going say, "Ahhhh!" as long as you can. Take a deep breath and repeat.

Ahing,

Tim

Tongue wagging

Fellow speaker,

To get your tongue relaxed before your speech:

1. Wag tongue left and right
2. Wag tongue up and down
3. Stretch tongue as much as possible
4. Repeat a few times

Wagging,

Tim

When off-topic...

Fellow speaker,

When someone responds to a question with an answer that is off topic or not what you are looking for, use the "yes and" method.  Say something like:  "Yes, that is definitely one answer to the problem.  And another thing to think about is..." then mention the point you wanted the person to bring up.

Yesing,

Tim

Necking

Fellow speaker,

To relax your neck:

1. Touch chin to chest
2. Tuck chin in tight
3. Point chin to ceiling, as high as you can
4. Open and stretch your jaw muscles from side to side
5. Repeat until you feel your neck relax

Chinning,

Tim

Synonyming

Fellow speaker,

To develop the best wording for your speeches use synonyms (words that mean the same thing):

1. Choose a word
2. Make a list of synonyms for that word
3. Write a sentence using your word
4. Write out alternate sentences using synonyms
5. Choose the sentence which best communicates your point

Synonymistically,

Tim

Choose to use

Fellow speaker,

Choose the words in your speech:

• Accurate - write and rewrite so your words say exactly what you want them to say
• Synonyms - rewrite your speech using different words that are similar in meaning
• Images – use words which leave images in people's minds
• Vocabulary – listen to and look up the meanings of the words you hear around you

Choosing,

Tim

Clearing up your speech

Fellow speaker,

To make sure your message gets across clearly:

• Say exactly what you mean - make sure your speech says what you mean it to say
• Speak definitely - be very certain in what you say
• Speak simply - keep the language easy to understand

Clearly,

Tim

Now hear this!

Fellow speaker,

You can use your voice to make the audience pay attention to your speech using:

• Pitch - make the important part of your speech in a lower voice
• Sound - make sounds to draw the audience's attention
• Volume - speak softer to force the audience to pay attention
• Silence - use pauses to "pull the audience into" your speech

Voicing differences,

Tim

Vary the voice

Fellow speaker,

To add variety to your choice change your:

• Rate - speak some parts of your speech fast and others slower
• Pitch - speak some parts of your speech in a higher voice and others in a lower voice
• Volume - speak some parts of your speech louder and others softer in your speech

Changeably,

Tim

Rules for visuals

Fellow speaker,

When using visual aids in your speech:

• Plan and practice your visual delivery
• Consider your audience’s needs and interests
• Help your audience, learn, understand, and remember the main points of your speech

Visually,

Tim

It's really great to be here!

Fellow speaker,

To get across your excitement to your audience use:

• Body language
• Vocal cues
• Eye contact

Excitedly,

Tim

Body talk

Fellow speaker,

To make your body talk:

• Make eye contact - one person, one thought
• Body language - be aware of the "message" your body sends to your audience
• Facial expressions - use your face to get your message across

Bodily,

Tim

Voicing your thoughts

Fellow speaker,

To improve the sound of your speech use:

• Variety
• Emphasis - choose what words to emphasize in your speech
• Quality - speak clearly
• Avoidance of problems - take care of your voice

Vocally,

Tim

For your consideration...

Fellow speaker,

When you are onstage, consider:

• Appearance - How do you look to the audience?
• Attitude - How do you act toward the audience?
• Image - What impression do you make on the audience?

In threes,

Tim

Q&A

Fellow speaker,

Here are some suggestions when doing a Questions and Answer section in your speech:

• Give guidelines for the question and answer session
• Repeat the question
• Be concise in your answers
• Avoid arguing with audience members

Questioning,

Tim

Styling a speech

Fellow speaker,

When creating a speech, use a combination of styles:

• Story-telling
• Round robin
• Humorous
• Emotional

Styled,

Tim