Public Speaking Confidence

Speech ideas

Public speaking courses and speech ideas…You can’t have one without the other

One of the most disheartening, frustrating and irritating aspects of writing a presentation is coming up with a novel speech idea.

For example: a friend asks you to be the best man at their wedding. Two days before the happy event, because their original best man was swept away by giant waves after a boating accident. And all of his carefully prepared notes for the speech with him.

While you may be slightly upset about having been the second choice, you still want to dazzle the happy couple and the audience with your oratory skills.

The only question now is how you’re going to go about doing this.

How are you going to produce a captivating speech topic?

Brilliant speech ideas which pave the way for effective speaking that wows the audience are different to the run of the mill “I’ve run around with John since we were in kindergarten…” etc. etc. etc.

Dull…! Mind numbingly tiresome…

The people in the party want to be amused. To have fun. And they want to celebrate the newlyweds.

You may be wondering how you can come up with good speech ideas, make your speech different.

Let me give you my personal formula for coming up with a great speech:

I begin by introducing myself and telling the audience what I’m going to be talking about. I keep this part as short as possible because I’m not a celebrity, they’re not especially interested in me. They want to be entertained and educated. After that I thank thank them for being there. Acknowledge them.

If anyone has made huge efforts to attend, I give them special mention.

Such as: “…and I really want to thank the groom’s cousin Bobby and his daughter Sue who came here all the way from Tierra del Fuego in their trusty old stage coach pulled by their team of andalucian mules. It was one tough time crossing the Gulf of Mexico under cover of darkness to avoid thepirates. We all really appreciate their gifts of fine beer from Paraguay”

Even if the happy pair don’t have a relative Bobby from Tierra del Fuego, you can still  ask him to identify himself, as the mules have fouled the road outside ….and the time is up on their parking meter.

Now it’s time to get your audience interested. You would explain how you came to be there, before them, teeth chattering while you tremble in fear. You explain how the groom’s first choice for the position of best man isn’t available to be here today. Express condolences to his widow, parents and children.

The next thing  I do is tell the audience that I’m going  to make the afternoon more interesting by telling them about, the hay barn and what happened at summer camp last year .( Please, please remember to smile at this point or you may be torn apart by the crowd)

By this time, the crowd is all ears, sitting on the edge of their seat, waiting to get the inside line on the scandal. I then proceed to tell everyone how lucky the bride and groom are and tell them that I’ll get to the hay barn story later on.

I’ll tell the guests about the fine families of the bride and groom, the virtues of their upbringing, that they are fine hard working people and what wonderful people they are.

Make mention of little acts of kindness carried out by the happy couple. The good works they do, the work they did with the local community, or any other good deeds they have performed.

This is the part where you express your appreciation to them for letting you share the same planet. 

I would then ask the gathered guests to raise their glasses in a toast, offer your best wishes for a happy future to the newly weds, wishing them much success, many healthy offspring  and a good and happy life together. I will also wish them financial success to be able to afford the children.

Have you seen the price of diapers theses days…?

Once all the traditional parts of your speech are dispensed with, I’ll then say, “Oh, by the way… the hay barn… summer camp… last year! John’s construction company made a fine job of building it and all the kids are really grateful to him for building it.”

The hay barn is an example of an embedded loop.

If it worked for Dallas, it’ll work for you. Does anyone really know who shot JR? I’m sure that, like me, you’re still wondering “Whodunnit”.

Through your knowledge of your audience, you can easily come up with an attention-grabbing cliff hanger.

Try it and see, next time you’re looking for speech ideas.

Cliff hangers work every time.

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Public speaking fear can incapacitate you and stop you from doing all you’re capable of.

Perhaps you have to go for a job interview and you want to impress the interview panes with your expert knowledge and skills…

…or you give a professional, accomplished and expert speech to your work team or to
management in your company in an engaging way…

…or you even speak to a large audience with passion and self-assurance…

Public speaking is a key skill that you will need to get a rise or even land a job. And ideally, you want to be relaxed, confident and persuasive.

In reality, though, you may not be feeling quite so assured, confident and relaxed. Your nerves may be playing up, or you may be terrified of public speaking while just contemplating your presentation.

Perhaps you’re very accustomed to public speaking fear if you’ve given any presentations or done any public speaking. You’re standing in front of your audience and all of a sudden you observe all sorts of strange things in your body.

I have often wondered why it was that when I was standing in front of people some years ago, my hands started to sweat, my knees threatened to give, my stomach was a bunch of knots, and when I was finally speaking I didn’t breathe anymore. And then I was breathless after a couple of sentences, and I had to stop and take big gulps of air.I was aiming for a professional, calm and relaxed impression, and I got anything but.

When I went to interviews the same thing happened.

And even when I attended training courses and we had to give a short introduction to ourselves, our names and why we were there, I felt the same.

In those situations, I used to sit there, listening to all the others being so confident, and thinking desperately what great things I could say. And when it was my time, in a split second I got hot and cold, my breathing stopped, and my voice was croaking.

It was not surprising that I used to hate training courses, workshops and especially introductions at the start.

Well, not anymore, because I learned to get over the fears that come over us when speaking to an audience.

One of my big fears was that everybody listening would be judging me. I was worried what they would think of me. I would look at all their faces, when I wasn’t gulping air and being a quivering mess, and would notice that some people would watch me closely and critically.

What a relief it was when I noticed that my audience was listening intently to what I was saying and were waiting for more.

And I realised that when I was focusing on my audience and what they are interested in, and I was able to engage them with what I was talking about, it became easy and very enjoyable to talk about something I was passionate about.

It wasn’t important anymore that I was feeling a little nervous, that my hands trembled slightly, or that I forgot what I was going to say. Because I knew my audience didn’t actually notice.

The next time you need to give a presentation, or you go to a job interview, one key tip to reduce your public speaking fear is to prepare beforehand. You will feel more confident when you know what you’re going to say, even at an interview.

Another thing you can do to stay calm is to remember to breathe. And take a couple of deep breaths before you start. Slow down when you talk and pause at the end of the sentence.

It may sound too slow for you, but for your audience it will be just right because they will have time to understand what you’re saying. And it will give you time to breathe.

These two effective methods, and many others, will help to reduce your public speaking fear and you will feel much more assured and in control of what your saying and how you say it.

The other thing that will help you immensely, of course, is to do any one of a number of good public speaking courses.

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Deciding on your public speaking topics can be a problemsometimes. Captivate them with your brilliance, and motivate them to take action .

Before you write the first word of your speech or presentation, here are a couple of ideas. By following these steps, the chances of capivating your audience are much greater.

I am assuming that you already have confident public speaking skills after completing some public speaking courses.

To create the greatest effect you must first decide what objective you want to get with the  speech.

Is the purpose of your public speaking event to teach , add fun, promote a product, or is it for a contest ?

Knowing this will help you to refine your focus when  deciding on your public speaking topics.

Knowing your audience is crucial . If you have knowledge of what they want or are hoping to learnfrom your event, your job will be so much easier.

Other useful information to have is things like how old your audience is, income levels, employment status, and anything else you can discover .

Knowing this allows you to create a laser like message that will resonate with the needs, fears and hopes of your attendees.

Prior to proceeding any further, it is critical to emphasise how much more masterful you will seem to your audience appear to be the thought leader in the topic of your speech.

A way to get expert status is to spend some time in the library, reading all of the books available on your subject matter. You don’t have to read them cover to cover.By the time you have spent a weekend you will be more of an expert than the majority of the people on the planet.

This is simply because once they have left education something in the region of 92% of the population will never pick up a book again. Shocking data but you can use it to your advantage…

Once you have chosen your public speaking topics, draft out your presentation using bullet points to start, then fill in the spaces in between. This will form your first draft. Be mindful of the need to write current , targeted information and, if it feels right, use some jokes as well.

However, if you are presenting to the national association of mortuary workers, it would probably be best not to tell thestory about the nun and the coffin.

Once you have your first draft written out, recite what you have written to a friendly ear. As you read, observe whether you have held their interest. If they fidget or are distracted, make a note of the place where the loss of interest occurred. These are the parts of your presentation that will need editing and polishing.

When you next present to your friendly ear, use someone else and see if the response is improved.

When you can read your speech through from beginning to end whilst still holding the attention of your audience of one, it’s a pretty good sign

Having passion for your public speaking topics is one of the tricks of the trade to creating a dazzling performance. As well as having polishedyour presentation, you will know to the minute how long it will take to deliver your presentation. Doing this will mark you out as a professional and will also give you more confidence as you know your start and end points.

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