You step onto the stage.
Your audience stares back at you – a sea of unknown faces. If you’re lucky, they’ll be receptive. If you’re not, they’ll be bored.
And if it’s just not your day, they’ll even be hostile.
There’s a lot of information out there on how to make sure your speech is effective. But what most people don’t realize is that half the battle is won if your audience is awake and eagerbeforeyou even open your mouth.
Here’s 10 things you should know so that you can win even more than half that battle!
1.Mingle with the audience before you start the speech.
The author of Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience, Joanna Campbell Slan, advises that you should arrive as early as possible and mix with the crowd of people beforehand, and many other experienced speakers do the same.( See, I’m not the only person who preaches about doing this) Make small talk, introduce yourself, and get a feel of what the audience already thinks about the topic. It helps you be prepared and is better than simply fretting alone backstage and getting more nervous.
You don’t have to tell them that you’ll be speaking later if you don’t want to. You can surprise your audience when you walk out on stage. Wave at the people you spoke to for more effect. This also gives you an effective starter. Be careful, though: if your audience is likely to be hostile to your topic, it’s best to be honest from the beginning.
2. If there’s no chance to mingle beforehand, simplyBE ON TIME
If you’re half-an-hour late in beginning, the audience will have long settled down to a nap in their comfortable auditorium chairs. Having to wake them up at that point doesn’t earn you brownie points, and even if you get their eyes open, sleepy people don’t pay attention. And sleepy people don’t like to have their sleep interrupted.
3.Dress well and appropriately.
The first impression is made within ten seconds – and it’s been estimated that up to 90% of that impression is made based on how you look. Gail Hogan, a former news anchor writing for business journal Business First, tells us:
“Take a former politician of a large city in the Midwest. At the start of a luncheon speech to announce his new economic plan, the candidate was greeted by snickering and hushed whispers from the crowd.
It seemed a piece of the poor guy’s cherry cheesecake missed his mouth, found his chin and decided to stick around for the speech. Post-speech chatter centered around the candidate’s embarrassing public moment and not on his well-thought-out economic plan.”
If you look sloppy or if your hair is messy or if your clothes are not professional, your audience is less likely to take you and your speech seriously. This doesn’t mean that you can’t wear casual clothes for a more laidback atmosphere, but you must be sure that it’s appropriate for the occasion
4.“More speeches than you can imagine are doomed to fail by bad introductions…Instead of kindling fires of enthusiasm within the audience, the introductions lead to an epidemic outbreak of brain freeze.”
From The Toastmaster, a public speaking journal
Don’t let your intro be a dry narration of your academic credentials or the bare facts of your life’s story. The audience isn’t really interested in that. Either keep it as short as possible or find some interesting( humor would be a bonus) way to say it – possibly through a narrative story about an interesting incident. Let me give you an example:
“Eric just loves to be gawked at..even if it is in a pervert kind of way..”
Introduce yourself if possible, but if someone else is introducing you, make sure that you have control of what will be said or you’ll have someone shout “BRAG!” from the back of the room.
5.Make the venue interesting.
Put up posters or visuals of your subject. If you’re giving a presentation on aid for places struck by natural disasters, tack up images of victims or of the devastation caused by the hurricane/earthquake/etc. If you’re giving a corporate presentation on a product, put up images of the product, or better still, have the product there for your audience to fiddle with first.
6. Think upinnovative ways of leading them into the topic, such as printing memorable statistics or quotes of key points and pasting them to the floor or even the ceiling.
Your audience will find themselves actively treasure-hunting for the information you’ve left them, and this will ensure that they’re warmed up for your actual presentation.
7. If possible,leave a quick introduction of your speech topic on the seats.
Don’t write a six-page article, though!( If not, we’ll be back to the sleeping problem ) The idea is to tantalize your audience and allow them to get a better idea of what you’re about to say without giving the game away. Give them one or two pertinent questions at the end of the introduction, to get them to think and warm up their brains. Once again, humour will be a bonus here.
8.Give out freebies.
Especially in Singapore! What better way to please Singaporeans then giving away free stuff?
Business writer Meredith Pond advises that freebies are a great way to help people remember your business. For her, ‘giving away free stuff, even if it’s just your advice, shows people that you’re willing to help them out’, and they ‘help your customers remember you’.
This is equally applicable to public speakers – it builds goodwill even before you start speaking. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Besides this, if you customize it or make it relevant to your product/speech topic, people will remember you whenever they use it.
9.Get them moving.
While this may be limited by the place constraints, just getting your audience to get up and do a few stretches before your speech will provide a change of pace and get the blood moving. It’s not possible to fall asleep while doing a jumping jack. More importantly, get the audiences involved in your presentation. By doing these 2 things, you’re giving the audiences the much desired attention and they’ll love you for it!
10. And before you move into the body of your presentation, use your opening to grab attention.First impressions matter.
We size a person up in the first ten seconds or so, so don’t waste it. Toastmaster J. A. Gamache once opened a speech by blowing a whistle and yelling, ‘All aboard!’ Not only does the noise wake up any potential sleepers, it intrigues the audience and creates a genuine interest in your speech. In his case, it transported them from a boring auditorium to the train he wanted them to be on.
These are just a few ideas to begin with. You don’t have to do all of them, but bear in mind that you definitely want the audience to like you or to fire their interest in your topic (best if both, of course). They’re be warmer, more likely to be forgiving of any mistakes you may make later, and far more receptive to your message.
And of course, they will LOVE YOU!
