Speaking with Confidence: How to Dazzle an Audience with Your Speech

Whether you are in school or in work, there are bound to be situations that require you to stand in front of an audience and give a speech. It may be just a public speaking topic in one of your English or History modules which require you to literally talk in front of your whole class, or even the entire school. If you are a business executive, presentations should be fairly common. In fact, giving a speech or presentation is commonplace in all aspects of life! So, how exactly are you going to assume the role of a good speaker/presenter, and thus DAZZLE your audience? Here are some pointers.

Before the Presentation

Do your research

Usually, you are given a speech topic in advance. It can be a couple of weeks before. If so, make use of the ample time given to do some proper research. There are many ways to research on your topic. Check out the daily newspapers for example, and cut out any relevant materials that you might need. With the advent of technology these days, you can easily research for your speech materials online as well. Also, you can check out E-Journals and news articles from various portals. E.g. Factiva

Analyse your audience group

It is always good to know who you are presenting to. If you are presenting to a big audience, who are the main groups your topic is targetting on? It is only inevitable that each person from the audience has his or her own insights, experiences, goals or attitudes towards different subject matters. As such, you might want to conduct a survey if you have their contacts(presuming they are your classmates for example). In your survey, you can include “age group”, “ethnicity”, “occupation”, “hobbies” and so on, depending on the relevance to your speech topic. Once you compiled the survey, you will get a clearer picture of how your audience group is like, and “tailor” your speech accordingly.

Focus on your topic

Do remember to adhere to your speech topic at any time of your research. Do not digress and go into unncessary details. Make sure you know the focus of your speech topic and what it requires of your research. For example, a topic like “Healthcare for the Elderly” should focus mainly on “healthcare” and “elderly”. You should do your research accordingly and not deviate from the topic requirements.