4 Simple tips in delivering your power packed speech
- Copyright 2003 Sunny Tung -
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1. How do you open a speech
When I first started my journey in toastmasters, I often wonder how does one starts a speech. How do I create a personal impact on the audience and connect them to my message?

"It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is;
What are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau

A simple but powerful way I found is to start your speech with a quotation just like the one above. It could be a quotation from a speech, from friends, from songs, etc. You could even start with a joke.

For example, "..the other day, a close friend of mine told me about this crazy joke..."

See how easy it is. When you start with quotes, your audience will be glued and focused to find out further what will lead on next. It's a great way to hold your audience attention. This is what we want when delivering a speech. To start with a bang and then slowly bit by bit let your speech message be absorbed by the audience. With the vast amount of information from the Internet, magazines, newspapers and books, you can start a huge collection of quotes.

So start collecting now.

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements
of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is
something to be enthusiastic about" - Charles Kingsley
 

2. Commercial breaks are good for your speeches
"The night was pitch dark and suddenly..." - cut to a commercial break. Don't we all experience this sudden interruption while watching our favourite television program. 

Though commercial breaks are not something we look forward while watching TV it's great when we apply them in our speeches.

Just imagine saying, "The night was pitch dark and suddenly (a brief two secound pause)... I was greeted by the most beautiful girl that you can imagine"

Isn't it better than saying it as "The night was pitch dark and suddenly I was greeted by the most beautiful girl that you can imagine. (all said within 4 seconds flat as though we catching the last bus home!).

This is what we call the commerical breaks in your speeches or commonly known as the power of pauses.

We can apply this pause techniques to further magnetize our audience attention to our speeches. It makes them eager to find out further what you are going to say next.

With more training of pause usages at toastmaster meetings you will be able to hone your skills as master of pauses or commercial breaks. 
 

3. Handling nervousness
- Sometimes you may feel a bit nervous during your speech presentation. To counter it you will feel the urge to walk -front and back. This is good as it helps you get warm up.

However this action may distract the audience if done too frequently during the presentation.

Solution: Instead of walking up and down, try moving your head instead. Scan/ sweep around/across the audience. This not only helps in relieving your nervousness, but provide you an opportunity to keep in contact with the audience attention.

Your audience will be more attentive because it gives them an impression that you are looking at them as your eyes scans at them for a brief moment.
(Remember what happens when you stare long enough at someone?)

Note of caution: Don't ever tilt your head to look at the ceiling or the ground (unless you are using them as props for your speech). Doing so will make it appear that you are unprepared, nervous or unsure.
 

4. Setting the mood you want to communicate
Many a times when we prepare for a speech, we focused too much on the contents. We forgot that it's important too to set the mood (feelings) that we want to communicate. Whether the mood need be happy, energetic, sad, educational, instructive, persuasive or in a formal or casual mood.

All these need to be set even before you start preparing for your speech assignments. In addition, when you know the mood to set, your speech contents will come naturally to you. Saving you time and effort in your speech preparation.

Bear in my mind, when you communicate you're not only delivering just the bare message but also channeling your feelings to your audience. Being humans, your audience not only hear but can feel what you are talking. So start setting the mood you want now.

Do try the above tips and I believe you'll be surprised at the positive results that it will bring to your speeches. (...you might want to try them at meetings or in your office)

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Sunny Tung is a member of Speecom Toastmasters Club. He currently help individuals increase their monthly income as a result of starting a part-time business. Visit  http://www.formorebusiness.com for more information on how you can start increasing your monthly income.
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