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Speaking Your Mind and Minding Your Speak: Prepare For The Best

The document provides tips for effective public speaking. It discusses preparing thoroughly, knowing the audience and topic, choosing presentation tools carefully, practicing in the space being used, speaking authentically, managing humor, timekeeping, and treating public speaking as an athletic performance requiring preparation and care of the voice.

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Joji Varghese
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119 views

Speaking Your Mind and Minding Your Speak: Prepare For The Best

The document provides tips for effective public speaking. It discusses preparing thoroughly, knowing the audience and topic, choosing presentation tools carefully, practicing in the space being used, speaking authentically, managing humor, timekeeping, and treating public speaking as an athletic performance requiring preparation and care of the voice.

Uploaded by

Joji Varghese
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Speaking your mind and minding your speak

In 2011, a film called The Kings Speech triumphed at the Oscars. It drew huge cinema crowds to
watch the pain of public speaking and see how that pain can be relieved. Britains George VI
suffered from a stammer, one of the worst challenges a speaker can face. Catapulted unexpectedly
into the front seat as King, he was very soon a monarch at war. Armed only with a radio microphone,
he learned how to deal with his fear of reading out loud, and indeed of free conversation.
Fortunately, most people asked to give a talk in public do not suffer from such serious handicaps.
Nor, however, can they call on the services of George VIs brilliant speech therapist. (Or want to
contact his present-day successors). But fortunately for those who need advice rather than therapy,
plenty of help is available. Numerous books, films, websites and courses provide tips and the
opportunity to practice better public speaking.
As any of us who have sat through many presentations know, speakers quality nonetheless varies
enormously! Whether your public talk is in front of a few work colleagues, a class of local school
children or a huge audience at an international conference, a few small changes can make all the
difference between a successful presentation and a flop. Whatever the topic, it can always be
presented even better.
Here without any claim to having all the answers are my personal Top Ten Tips:

Prepare for the best


Good speeches dont just happen. They need LOTS of preparation. Even the greatest rhetorical
talents in history did their homework. Start writing the speech, or the bullet points, good and early.
Practice in front of a mirror or a teddybear. Practice in front of somebody you trust to give you
useful feedback. Change things that havent quite worked. Practice again. Feel good about speaking
without reading a text. And remember that it will be different anyway on the day!

Prepare for the worst


On the technical side, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong (sooner or later). So be absolutely sure
that you could also give the talk without a microphone, USB stick, laptop or any other device that can
fail. Dont rely on a manuscript or even notes they can all get lost. Make sure in advance that you
can reach the organizers if you see you are going to be late. And have a fall-back option if you wake
up on the Big Day with serious bowel trouble or no voice.

Know your audience


How can I? Ive never met them! Well, yes, thats true of some audiences. But if youre presenting
for the first time to the European Radish Growers Association or the Hanoi Academy of Astronomy,
you can still find out a lot about them in advance. Visit their website. Ask the organizers to send you
a list of people attending. Talk the list through with the person who invited you. Try and connect with
the audience. What do they want to get from your talk? What special interests will they have? (Apart
from radishes or astronomy). How well do your listeners really (!) understand the language in which
you will be presenting? Which of their functions or activities could you usefully highlight? But be
careful about mentioning particular delegates in your talk: not everybody who says they are coming

actually turns up and if you mention Director A, Directors B and C may be insulted not to hear their
names.

Know the others


At many events, you will (thankfully) not be the only speaker. Ensure that the organizers tell you
about the others in advance, and who will present what. This should help prevent overlap and
repetition but its no 100% guarantee! So if you can, be there to listen to the speakers before you.
And be ready to change your presentation at very short notice for example by not repeating X,
building on Y, or making clear that Z really does need mentioning.

Choose your tools carefully


Ever wondered how the Ancient Greeks managed without Powerpoint? Sometimes, slides are a
useful tool. But keep them few, uncluttered and pictorial. (Better three photos than 20 bullet points!)
Sometimes, anything fancy can just get in the way (and you are lost when the technology fails see
Prepare for the worst). Think of other ways to support the spoken word. I recently helped 40 firsttime speakers to talk freely just using a single object as their visual aid. They all performed
superbly! And remember that the words you use are also tools. So keep them easy to understand
(also for international audiences) and ideally also pictorial leave clear images in your audiences
heads. And wherever appropriate, tell a story.

Be there first
Actors rehearse in the theater where their play takes place! So see beforehand where you are going
to talk. If you cant visit the Mumbai Conference Center in advance, ask the organizers to describe
the room youll be using, and send a photo. How big is it? What are the acoustics like? Do pillars
obstruct anybodys view? How will people be seated? (Lunch tables or cinema-style, for example).
Where will the session chairperson be? Where is the clock? (!) What noise will you hear from
outside? How much can you move around? And when you arrive at the university / sports club /
company meeting room or Mumbai Conference Center, take time to check the room out in person,
ideally with the responsible technician.

Be you
Sound a bit obvious? It should be but its strange how many speakers try to be somebody else! If
youre naturally a quieter type, dont suddenly start trying to shout. Use the quietness to your
advantage, for example by getting the audience to do the shouting for you. (Ask for suggestions you
can note on a flipchart). If you feel the need to walk around, dont hide behind the lectern. If its hot
under the lights, take your jacket off. Make sure when you are first asked to speak that the topic is
one on which you feel at home. Answer questions authentically, and admit honestly when you dont
know the answer.

Watch the humo(u)r


Danger country! Not only does English spelling vary around the world, so does what makes people
laugh. And the differences multiply with multicultural listeners. However, speeches that are too dry
can get very boring. Depending on the topic, a funny photo can help break the ice, and with a

homogenous audience you can often afford a humorous comment. But adapt your style according to
whether its the local Boy Scouts or the College of Cardinals. And (Be you) dont try and play the
Joker if you arent one.

Watch the watch


Why do so many academics find it so hard to tell the time? (Professors are not alone here, however!)
If your hosts have asked you to speak for 20 minutes, dont wander on for 40. When you practice
(Prepare for the best) and find your talk is far too short, beef it up. If, like me, you dont normally
wear a watch, make sure that you take one along, or can see the clock on your computer. (Be there
first preparations include wall-clock-hunting, too). If you are speaking out of doors, youll probably
have to ask somebody in the front row for a discreet time signal but be prepared to adapt your
speech-length to the weather!

Public speaking is an athletic performance


Positive energy is enormously important and not just for the first presentation after lunch on a hot
day. Whether you stand at the lectern or bounce around the room, whether your topic is cancer
therapy, smallholder agriculture or Spanish guitars, and whether your audience is in a disco, a
warehouse or a cemetery, your speech is a demanding physical and mental performance. So follow
the professionals, and prepare like an athlete. Get enough sleep, dress appropriately, eat carefully.
Look after your voice (avoid coffee, milk or nuts just before speaking, as well as coleslaw and people
with coughs) and do a proper warm-up there are lots of good exercises for breathing, jawloosening and hitting the right tone. Also check your equipment, keep water nearby, remember what
your coach said, focus on the task in hand, and if you need it, ask for quiet including from mobile
phones.
And like an athlete, also show the spectators that you enjoy what you are doing!

The author, Paul Castle, is the Syngenta Foundations Communications Manager. From a family of amateur actors, vicars, lawyers and other
presenters, he began public speaking as a schoolboy. Alongside his professional engagements as a speaker, moderator and presentation
coach, he is an international sports commentator in his spare time. London 2012 were his fourth Olympics.
2014, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Basel, Switzerland. Please quote this source if republishing content.

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