You may have a great message that you audience needs to hear. If your speech is not organized and you end up meandering all over the place with your words your message may get lost. It is important then to structure your content effectively so that your message does not get lost. When you have too much content that is not organized effectively, it can become confusing for your audience. When you organize your speeches and presentations effectively, you take your audience members on a journey. The elements of basic speech structure are that you have a clear introduction, body and conclusion.

Your introduction sets the stage for an effective presentation by outlining what you will discuss. Since your speech introduction sets the tone for your presentation, it’s important that you introduce your speech topic in a compelling manner that captures the audience’s attention. For example, to engage your audience initially, you could ask a question for the audience to reflect on or start with a personal story. Set the stage for your audience by letting them know what points you will discuss first before you launch into your speech.

The body of your speech is where the main points of your speech would be discussed. You would have introduced these points at the beginning of your speech. To support the main points that you outlined in your speech, use stories, anecdotes, statistics and facts when required. In the majority of cases, for a short speech, having no more than three main points should be sufficient to get your message across.

The conclusion of your speech is where you summarize your content appropriately. Your conclusion should not be a regurgitation of the entire speech. A great conclusion will place a call to action to the audience so that they can reflect on the message that you delivered throughout your speech.

Your message will have a greater impact when you have a clear introduction, body and conclusion in your speech. Take the time to develop your speech’s organizational structure and you will be able to take your audience on a journey that they won’t forget!

If you received value from this post, please share and comment.

The basis of any great speech or presentation is your content. In order to structure your content effectively for maximum impact, you need to know the main purpose of your speech. Is your purpose to persuade? Is your purpose to inform? Is your purpose to inspire? Is your purpose to motivate? Or is your purpose to entertain? Your purpose will be your guiding principle throughout your speech. Although during your speech you may be doing several things such as persuading and entertaining, your speech will be more effective if you focus in on one main purpose.

In other words, what exactly do you want to communicate to your audience? Making sure that you have a clear purpose ensures that your core message (and call to action) will ultimately resonate with your audience. Again the purpose of a speech broadly speaking can be to: persuade, inform, inspire, motivate or entertain. Let’s look at each of these individually.

Persuasion
If you are being persuasive, you are convincing your audience members to either adopt a position that you hold or change their minds (and hearts) to another point of view. For example, if I am environmentalist, my purpose might be to persuade my audience that global warming is real. I might demonstrate the evidence by presenting research, facts and statistics that show the increase in temperature over the last decade.

Inform
If you are informing your audience about a topic, it means that you are relaying pertinent information. For example, if you are a scientist, you may be conveying the results of your research on an experiment that you conducted. You are in a straightforward manner explaining the results of your research. Depending on the type of research that you conducted, you might also be persuading the audience to adopt your research findings. Most likely, your primary purpose would be to inform.

Inspiration
If your purpose is to inspire your audience, you are interested in helping people to see and feel that new opportunities and transformation are possible for their lives. For example, if a speaker in his seventies took up writing and was successful at it, his speech purpose could be to inspire people that you can have writing success at any age.

Motivation
If your speech purpose is to motivate your audience to action, that would mean that you are encouraging your audience members to have a transformational shift in their mindset. You are motivating them by encouraging them to inspired action for a specific reason. For example, a personal trainer who was once very overweight might deliver a speech with the purpose of motivating the audience members to get fit for health reasons.

Entertainment
If your purpose is to entertain your audience members you want them to be entertained and enjoy themselves when you deliver your speech. For example, if you were to deliver an after dinner talk your purpose would be to entertain and you would include humour because people love to laugh especially after having a good meal.

In order to define what the purpose of your speech is, being able to describe it in one sentence is ideal. Clearly defining your purpose, will help you stay focused when you write and deliver your presentations. If you are unable to clearly define your purpose, take some time and reflect on what you ideally would like to communicate to your audience and the message that you want to convey. Defining your purpose will help you to connect with your audience and ensure that your message is delivered with maximum impact!

If you obtained value from this post, please comment and share.

As a speaker, when you have a winning attitude, it can help you to connect with your audience. Here are four components of a winning attitude that can help you to deliver a great presentation. They are:

1. Be positive. When you’re a designated speaker at a meeting or event, you are sharing your knowledge, skills and expertise with your audience. For some speakers, their thoughts are, sigh “Here we go again, ” they have a negative attitude towards public speaking and then they wonder why the audience doesn’t absorb their message. When you treat speaking before an audience like a chore, it disconnects you from your audience. Being positive is one way that you can truly connect with your audience. Audience members can sense positive energy. Life is such a gift. We have so many things to be grateful for and positive about. Some of them include: our health, family, friends, spirituality and creativity to name a few. If you are having negative feelings before you present, think of the things that you are truly grateful for in life and watch that energy spill over into your public speaking. If you want to connect with your audience, be positive.

2. Be Confident. Many of us struggle with self-confidence issues due to our upbringing. If you haven’t already, start valuing what you bring to the table. When you underestimate, discount or devalue your gifts, talents and abilities you do yourself a disservice. Being confident before an audience means that you believe in what you have to offer and it is of value to your audience. If you don’t believe in what you have to offer, how then can your audience believe in your message, your products and your services?

3. Be Bold. Have the courage to be bold! Speaking in front of an audience is a bold move since you have the courage to “put yourself out there.” When you speak in front of a group, you are in a sense subjecting yourself to other people’s judgments. In an earlier blog post, I wrote about having the audacity to be seen and heard.

http://deborahangelaustin.com/the-audacity-to-be-seen-and-heard/

People judge us based on our looks, weight, upbringing, education level, profession, and family just to name a few things! Having said that, as a speaker you can’t let people’s judgments stop you. In the majority of instances, your audience will be receptive to your message but sometimes some members of the audience won’t be receptive. Regardless, still have the courage to soldier on and proceed with delivering your message. Your message might touch someone so deeply that it changes their life!

4. Be of Service. While it is great that you are positive, confident, and bold when you present coming from the mindset of being of service to your audience is important. Being of service means that you really want to add value to your audience members’ lives through the information that you present. If you come from this mindset, it will help you to build rapport and connect with your audience. This is the most important aspect of a winning attitude because you care about the topic you are speaking about and you want your audience to benefit from the information.

As a speaker when you practice being positive, confident, bold and most importantly being of service your winning attitude will shine through to your audience.

If you received value from this post, please comment and share.

We all know that words are extremely powerful. Think about how powerful words are in your life. We know that words have the power to heal and wound. Think back to when someone said something that hurt your feelings. Chances are that even though you may have let it go, you probably do remember the words that were spoken and the hurt feelings you felt initially.

On the other hand, think about when you hear the words I love you from a loved one or when they say other empowering words, how do you feel? You feel supported and affirmed. In many cases, words can be life changing and transforming. Words can change the way that you see yourself. Even the way that you use words with your internal dialogue can boost or diminish your self confidence. Since words are so powerful, use empowering words that can uplift people’s spirits. Here are three tips that can help you use words powerfully in your speeches. They are:

1. Use vivid imagery. When writing your speeches, carefully consider the language that you use in order to have maximum impact. Use words that will really paint a picture for your audience. For example, you could say, I went for a walk along the beach. Your readers will obviously get the main point of what you are trying to communicate. Or you could say something that is more descriptive, such as, I sauntered across a white sandy beach as the sun set under a crimson and orange coloured sky. Using vivid imagery and being evocative with your language in your speeches will enable you to connect with your audience more.

2. Eliminate jargon. Research your audience before you speak. Knowing who your audience members are in advance will help you to determine the type of language that you should use. For example, if you were speaking to a group of IT professionals, doctors, lawyers or accountants you might use language or jargon specific to those professions. If you are speaking to a more general audience you might want to eliminate or reduce your use of jargon.

3. Eliminate Filler Words. Filler words are words like um, uh, like, you know etc. that we use in order to take up time or we use when we don’t know what to say. When we are nervous, unprepared or simply unaware the tendency is to overuse filler words. Filler words can make us seem less knowledgeable than we actually are. Recording yourself on video is a great tool in order to assess how often you use filler words. Seeing yourself on video can help you to become aware so that you can eventually eliminate those filler words.

Remember that words are powerful. They have the power to affirm another person in a positive way. On the other hand, if we don’t use our words consciously, they can also be used in a negative manner. As a communicator, take the time to consciously and carefully consider your words especially when you speak in front of an audience. Using positive words can have a major impact on the way that the audience relates to you.

If you obtained value from this post, please comment and share.