Public Speaking

1. Preparing Your Speech

You’ve given successful presentations to your team, to other groups in your organization, and maybe even to people outside your organization (external presentations). Now you’ve been asked to give a speech to 300 people! Though some elements are the same between a presentation and a speech, it feels like a big difference to address a big room full of strangers. At the same time, this is a big opportunity to demonstrate your expertise, grow your professional brand, and make new connections.

If you are already feeling your blood pressure go up, you are not alone. Public speaking is one of the top fears people have, along with heights and bugs! However, being well prepared can help you approach a speech with more confidence, just like a parachute or bug spray might help you with the other two fears.

Whether you’re facing a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen, the start is always the hardest part of a speaking project. We’re going to work through that obstacle by following these steps.

1a. Choose Your Topic

While the topic is broadly suggested by the occasion for the speech, you may not have much direction beyond that. For example, a school principal with a great track record and reputation for engaging presentations might be invited to address a conference for school administrators. The principal obviously will talk about education, but there are dozens of options. The principal might tell the story of one school, or focus on underlying principles that guide decision making, or even choose an unexpected topic like “five students who taught me how to run a school.”

If the event has a theme, it may help steer you in the right direction. Being plugged into the community for your field will also give you ideas: what are people talking about? What are they writing and publishing about? What are they posting about on social media?

In choosing your topic, you will also want to play to your strengths, speaking from your experience and expertise. That’s not to say that you need to know it all—that’s where research comes in—but you do need to be grounded in the topic. If the school principal has always taught in the suburbs, for example, she will not want to speak to the challenges of urban schools. What can you give the audience that only you can give?

1b. Develop Your Benefit Statement

Once you’ve decided on a topic, the next step is to develop a one to two sentence benefit statement that supports your credibility as a speaker on that topic. The benefit statement should answer the question: why you? This is similar to the question you’re often asked at interviews, “Why should we hire you?” In this case, the question is, “Why should we listen to you?”

What is the unique value—experience, expertise, point of view—that you bring to the topic? For different frames of reference on benefit statements, scan the speaker bios and bylines of writers that cover topics of interest to you.

1c. Develop Your Positioning Statement

The positioning statement is an expansion of the last step that tailors your benefit statement to a specific audience. Working through this step helps you clarify who your audience is and what you will be presenting to them. Although the positioning statement is for internal purposes, the focus is external—what’s the ROA (return on attention) for the audience? Don’t skip this step; it will help you focus your thoughts, minimize interesting but off-point digressions, and help maintain a coherent structure and flow through the research, writing, editing, and ultimately, speaking phases.

1d. Develop Your Title

In moving from your positioning statement to the speech title, think of your speech as a product or service. What would prompt someone to “buy” what you’re offering? Your title is a pitch, or your bid for the audience’s attention. To get to that pitch, select a few key words from your positioning statement and brainstorm a compelling title. You may want to browse the titles of articles and blogs posted to your target audience’s (i.e., industry or professional association) websites and publications. Remember that as you develop your content, your title might need some adjusting. If you don’t need to submit your title far in advance (to be printed in a brochure or program), revisit it once your content is complete to make sure it still fits. If you do need to submit it before your content is fully developed, try to leave a little wiggle room and not make it too specific regarding the conclusions you might come to.

1e. Develop Your Content

Once you have your title and framework from your positioning statement, you’re ready to start developing your content. Of course, you’ve been building useful content all along through your life experiences. Reflect on the relevant lessons you’ve learned, and make note of some of the experiences—a key quote or visual, an emotion or insight, people or places. Use these events as possible connections to consider and, if applicable, work them into your speech to illustrate your points.

1f. Opening Remarks

The most important part of the speech will be the very first sentence out of your mouth. This sets the tone for the rest of the speech, and hopefully hooks the audience. Some popular ways to open a speech are:

1. Delivering a quote that captures the mood of your speech.
2. Asking a rhetorical question that gets the audience thinking, such as, “What if?” or “How did we get here?”
3. Delivering an interesting and attention-getting fact, like a statistic or little-known historical tidbit.
4. Making an emphatic statement to create a sense of drama and anticipation.
5. Using a nonverbal attention-getter like a moment of silence.

One way not to begin a speech is by thanking the host, making “small talk” with the audience, or with self-deprecating humor. These remarks generally fall flat, and leave the audience waiting for the “real” speech to begin.

Of course, you do want to thank your host and audience, but this might wait until later in the speech. For example, consider Barack Obama’s first presidential acceptance speech and this powerful opening line:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy: Tonight is your answer."

Of course Obama does thank his supporters, his family, and his campaign team but a few moments later. By that time he has the audience’s full attention.

Because the opening remark should set the note for the entire speech, the best option is to wait until you have completed a full draft of your whole speech. Otherwise, you might have a great opening, an inspiring quote or story, that has nothing to do with the speech. Imagine if Obama’s acceptance speech had veered into his policy promises, with no attention to the historical significance of his election? The first line might get people’s attention, but they would be confused as he launched into a completely different speech.

The introduction essentially makes a promise, and the speech should deliver on that promise! For this reason, once you know the purpose and message of the speech, you can better find a quote, story, or statistic that perfectly captures the essence of your message.

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2. Vocal Variety

However good your speech is on paper, it will fall flat if you mumble it into the microphone. Be mindful of your voice and vocal variety as you speak.

• Develop your ability to project your voice and vary your volume appropriately.
• Strive for a pleasant pitch in your voice. Research suggests a general preference for lower vocal pitch, with participants ascribing more positive personality traits to lower pitched voices. Of course, you can’t help it if you don’t talk like James Earl Jones, but practice using the lower register of your natural speaking voice.
• Vary your intonation as you speak, such as going to a higher intonation for questions, or a lower intonation when you say something with gravitas.
• Be aware of and manage your speaking speed and practice your pauses, being sure that people can follow your train of thought, are given a chance to consider key points, and of course finish laughing after a good joke before you continue.

All of these work together to make a speech compelling to listen to.

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The two ways to get better at giving speeches are to practice, and to watch the masters. See the resources below to find speeches by great orators, and watch for their intonation and delivery. As with writing, with time and practice you will find your own style that becomes part of your professional persona.

• Classic Speech Transcripts
• American Rhetoric

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3. Body Language and Gestures

Body language and gestures can either add meaning to your speech or distract the audience. Think about how gestures can clarify and support your words, dramatize your ideas, or add emphasis to your points. Also think about how your posture and other body language might distract the audience or undermine your purpose.

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An additional benefit of gestures is that they can help relieve nervousness. They also keep you aware of what your body is doing so you don’t slouch or fidget.

Your use of gestures and body movement should reflect not only your personal communication style but should also match the audience and the environment. A good practice is to “preview” the attendees or venue by sitting in on a prior event, watching a video, or scanning the event’s social feeds. This will give you a sense for audience dynamics and the size of the room.

Consider adjusting your gestures to fit the audience, room size, and acoustics. For example, you may want to tone down your gestures in a smaller space and put more emphasis on vocal rather than physical delivery. A bigger room may require more movement, to make yourself feel close to everyone in the audience.

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As with the vocal delivery, developing a rapport with gestures and body language comes with practice. However, you have to see yourself to know what’s working. Prop up a cell phone or ask a friend to record you, so you can watch it back and take notes.

A final consideration is that wardrobe is both part of your body language and crucial to doing it effectively. You want your wardrobe to suit the occasion, but also make movement and gesture comfortable. For example, if you’re wearing a jacket, make sure your arms can move freely. Since you are likely to be under bright lights and also a little nervous, make sure your clothes are on the light side.

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Your “job interview suit” might next serve as your “speech suit,” so keep these considerations in mind the next time you add to your wardrobe.

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4. Audience Engagement

Although a speech might feel like more of a performance than a small presentation, it is still crucial to think of it as two-way communication. Audiences communicate with gaze, applause, and laughter. They can also communicate by fidgeting or whispering if they have lost interest. Keep your eye contact with the audience not only as one way to keep them engaged, but also to make sure they are with you.

Among the ways to engage the audience (and keep them engaged) are:

1. Surprise: Saying, showing, or doing something unexpected reengages the audience’s brains.
2. Suspense: Ask a compelling question, but wait a bit before giving the answer, perhaps giving a few hints as you go.
3. Storytelling: Share a unique and compelling story to illustrate your point.
4. Senses: Music or images are the most likely, but you can even use words to trigger other senses like smell and taste.

If the occasion and purpose of your speech are appropriate, you can also engage the audience directly by asking them to participate. This will make them more engaged and also make your message more effective. Some ways to involve the audience are:

1. Polling the audience, whether it is with a “show of hands” or an even higher level of participation, like having members of the audience move around in response to the question.
2. Ask for a volunteer from the audience to participate in an activity or dialogue.
3. Ask a question. Unlike the rhetorical question, in this case you will actually call on members of the audience to answer.
4. Pair or group audience members to answer questions, either about their past experiences or to discuss material from the speech.
5. Have audience members take a moment to write out an answer to a question, solve a problem, or even complete a quiz. After they have a moment to do so, you can call on people to give their answers.

As with the killer opening line, these need to align with the goals of the presentation, not simply be thrown in as gimmicks. Similarly, you wouldn’t want to ask any audience member to do something that will make them uncomfortable, such as revealing to the volunteer from the audience that you will teach her how to juggle (unless, of course, that’s the topic of your speech). But a part of your speech may lend itself well to these practices.

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All aspects of your speech will be easier to plan and easier to deliver if you have a clear message you are passionate about. This is also what ultimately engages your audience.