Presentation Skills: Body Language

The Eyes Have It, And They're All On You...and Your Gestures

The most important visual is you. Let's start with one simple truth: The most important visual in a presentation is not that dazzling animation or PowerPoint slide overflowing with data. The most important visual is you. And when presenting, a large part of the "visual you" is conveyed in your body language. Study after study confirms that gesture, movement, and facial expression contribute significantly to helping your listeners grasp what you say.

One study, done several years ago at the University of Chicago, examined "the spontaneous, ephemeral, made-up-on-the fly" gesturing we do every day. It concluded that at least half of language is imagery and that body language gives form to that imagery more than spoken words.

"Gesture is a hand movement that is as much a part of language as speech."

"When we're speaking, we're thinking in two forms simultaneously," the study noted. "Speech and gesture are one system. Gesture is a hand movement that is as much a part of language as speech."

So, when you're presenting at the front of the room with your hands resting limp at your sides, you're diminishing your listeners' ability to appreciate your ideas. The same Chicago study claimed that speaking without gesturing could cause an audience to miss large chunks of your presentation.

So how do you gesture? And how do you make it both effective and natural?
Gestures need to arise from the content of talk and fit both the circumstance and your own personal style. However, they also need to be effective. There are some core guidelines to delivering effective gestures. What feels natural or comfortable is not always what works.

Many people gesture during a group presentation the same way they do when they're talking one-on-one. This is their accustomed habit so it feels comfortable. Other people's gestures become constrained both in size and frequency when they stand up in front of an audience. All these people are probably not gesturing at their best.

One-on-one gestures tend to be small. They are right for an audience of one, not twenty one or 501. The bigger the audience, the bigger the gestures need to be. One rough gauge is that gestures should be large enough to embrace most of the audience. This doesn't work for audiences of 1000s (unless your arms are really long), but it is a good reminder to scale up the gestures to match the size of the room.

Penguins can be cute, but they're not good presenters.

One key to enlarging gestures is to start them from the shoulder. Wrist or elbow gestures are automatically smaller and tend to be limited in their variety, too. In fact, this is the single most common problem that drives people to "repetitive gesturing." If you keep making the same gesture, it rapidly becomes meaningless and ultimately annoying to the audience. The misguided feedback becomes "Stop talking with your hands!" The better feedback would be to start really talking with your hands-to make your hands more powerful and expressive.

Next, make sure your gestures are high enough. Low gestures draw the eyes of the audience down and away from your face. They become distractions. If you watch for it, you can sometimes catch people doing a vague imitation of penguins, with their hands flipping about at their waists. Penguins can be cute, but they're not good presenters.

Finally, tap your own natural style, but then expand on it. Try doing what feels "natural" and then make it bigger. If you don't naturally gesture at all, start by just adding one or two gestures to a sentence you practice in private. Try using words that have obvious gestures associated with them (large, tall, small, all, etc.). It probably will not feel or look natural at first, but, with a bit of practice, you can build on your innate gestural vocabulary to become a more powerful and eloquent speaker.

Thank you.

How to Identify Speech Anxiety Symptoms

Public speaking is difficult for many people. While some try to avoid it at all costs, others don't have that option. If you can't get over your fear, the next best thing is to recognize your speech anxiety symptoms and try to overcome them. Use the following steps to help you identify your speech anxiety symptoms.

1. Listen to your voice. If your voice is shaky, cracking, uneven, or low in volume, you are showing signs of speech anxiety.

2. Check your fluency. Are you keeping a good pace when you speak?

3. Notice if you do anything with your throat. Do you clear your throat a lot? Does your throat get dry or scratchy?

4. Recognize any erratic breathing. This is common in all situations that deal with fear and nervousness. It can be distracting to the audience while you're speaking.

5. Notice your facial expressions. Your eyes can be moving in an unusual manner or not at all. Your nervousness can show on your face. Some people scrunch their face.

6. Notice any abnormal activity in your arms and hands. Shaking or sweaty hands are common. Also, some people hold their arms stiffly so that they don't move.

7. Check your body movement. Are you swaying, pacing, leaning, or moving in an odd manner?

8. Check how you feel. You could have butterflies in your stomach or even feel hot. You'll start to sweat, literally.

Tips : Videotape yourself during a speech and evaluate your behavior.

Thank you.

Quick Easy Effective Tips for Vocal Variety or: How to STOP Boring your Listeners!

Here is ONE good reason for practicing 'quick easy effective tips for vocal variety' and it should be enough to persuade you. It is, if you haven't got any variety in your voice you run the risk of boring your listeners.

Your speech content may be excellent. It could match your audience's needs very well but unless you deliver it in an interesting way, few people will actively listen.

A monotone voice is boring. It turns people off. An expressive energised voice keeps them turned on.

Vocal variety is achieved through combining pitch, tone, volume and rate.

To understand pitch, think of music. It has high and low notes as do people's voices. Everyone's voice has a natural pitch. Women's tend to be higher than men's and everybody has a pitch range: the number of notes we habitually use. When that range is very small, the effect is monotonous.

Tone refers to the emotional content carried by our voices. It is not the words themselves, but 'how' we say them. To speak expressively, is to fill or energise our words appropriately.
For example: a person who puts very little energy into their speech, no matter what they are saying, is often described as being 'flat'. By contrast someone who fills their speech to overflowing with energy is described as being 'exuberant' or 'enthusiastic'.
If you think of a word as a basket carrying its meaning along, you'll get the idea. Some people put very little in their word baskets. Others stuff them so full they almost burst.

How loudly or quietly you speak is called volume. Some people are habitually loud and others,quiet.The tips and exercises below will help you conciously play with your volume control.

The term 'rate' refers to speaking pace. How fast or slow do you speak? Can you vary the rate? Do you know the effect of slowing deliberately? Speaking rate matters because how fast or how slow you speak alters the listener's perception of your topic.

The goal for every speaker is:

• to find the most appropriate expression to meet the audience's needs



• And to match those needs with the content of the speech.



• to have a range of vocal varieties to select the most appropriate from. This gives you flexibility.

Quick Easy Effective Tips for Vocal Variety

Have fun with these. The more you can relax and enjoy the exercises the more you'll get out of them. If you have a recorder, use it. Often what we think we're doing with our voices is very different from the reality. A recorder helps you hear where you need to put in the work.

For PITCH:

One Note Charlie:
Take a deep breath in and begin speaking on whatever topic you choose until you run out of breath. It could be what is front of you in the room, or out the window, what you had for breakfast...anything. Remain on the SAME note all the time. When you have finished, choose another note. It could be higher or lower and repeat. Pay careful attention to the effect it has on you! Notice the difference when you pitch your voice higher and then lower. You should feel a physical difference as well as an emotional one.

See-Saw, Up-down:
Practice swinging between your upper and lower range. Using any piece of text from a newspaper, magazine...,and read aloud. The first sentence is up, the next is down. Continue see-sawing for at least a minute. Now make the see-saw work faster. Read the same passage but this time it is three words up and three words down. Play with variations!

(It will sound ridiculous but it doesn't matter. We're not going for meaning. This is flexibility practice for range!)

Pitch Experimentation:
Say the sentences below in your high, middle and low pitch range. Note what happens to the intensity and the way you perceive the emotional content of the sentences. There will be a distinct variation between each.

Her Grandmother died yesterday.

I want a new car.

This dinner is delicious.

People should love their neighbors as themselves.

For TONE:

The Ham Sandwich Exercise:
Repeat the words 'Ham Sandwich' in as many varying ways as you can. For example say it angrily, happily, sadly, lovingly, despairingly, laughingly, importantly, slyly, snidely, shyly... This is a fantastic exercise to share with a partner. Take turn about giving each other the way to say the phrase. Repeat until you run out of variations. NB. Listen for emotional truth or believability!

Extension Ham Sandwich:
Use the phrase to 'converse'. Take an emotional state and build a whole conversation around the phrase 'Ham Sandwich'.
For example:
Imagine you've just seen the most exciting thing. You want to share that experience with a friend. You ring to tell them. The catch is you must use the words 'Ham Sandwich' to convey your feeling and NO others.
Try consoling using 'Ham Sandwich' or congratulating. Experiment with as many different ways as you can.

And yet Another Ham Sandwich:
This time take two opposite emotions, for example: happy - sad or angry - contented...
Start with one and gradually switch to the other. Make sure you grade the switch. Unless we're very, very excitable emotionally, we seldom alter suddenly from one to the other.
(Don't worry if you feel silly ie. several sandwiches short of a picnic! Let go and have fun.)

Telephone Book Readings:
Open the telephone book at any page. Select a style* or emotion and read aloud whatever is there. Sustain each feeling state for at least a minute. This gives you time to get into it. Listen to yourself to make sure you are filling those words with the appropriate emotion.

* Style?
For fun and variation read your page in the style of a newsreader, a race commentator, a preacher, Marilyn Munroe...

Reading Children's Stories:
Take a familiar story and read aloud. As you do make sure your voice carries the meaning of the words. If a scary voice is asked for, use one. If somebody is bossy, sound bossy. If someone is teasing, put a teasing tone in your voice. If there's a beat to the words, go with it. Find and emphasise it. Children's stories are often written to be read aloud. The way to communicate their message fully is to live into them. This a great exercise to record. When you listen to yourself, be alert for areas to improve. Record it again with the changes. And remember to try out your new improved reading skills with a child. Their feedback is direct and honest. You'll soon know whether they enjoy the story or not!

Listen to Recordings of Famous Speeches:
For example: Be inspired by Martin Luther King's 1963 speech, 'I Have a Dream'. Listen now.

Listen to Recordings of Novels,Short Stories, Autobiographies...
Many of these are read by highly skilled actors. Apart from enjoying the story, you will learn a great deal about expression. You can find audio tapes or CD's at your local library or download from the net. Many are Free!

For VOLUME:

Use the following exercises if you decide not to use a michrophone and want to project your voice naturally.
The skill involved with getting louder (or softer) is to maintain tone and pitch while altering the sound level. Many people lose them both, particularly when they get louder. Shouting may guarantee you get heard but it doesn't usually mean heard with pleasure. And the other down-side to shouting is straining your voice. Good breath control is one of major keys to upping the volume while maintaining tone and pitch.

Practice Breathing Using your Diaphragm:
Stand in front of a mirror. Make sure your feet are a comfortable shoulder width apart. Pull yourself up straight and let your head sit square on your neck. Place one hand on your stomach. Breathe in. You should feel your stomach rising and then breathe out. This time your stomach falls. Watch your shoulders. If they rise and fall noticeably you are most likely breathing off the top of your lungs! Try until you can feel a definite rise and fall of your stomach. Keep relaxed.

Distancing Technique for Projection:
Maintain the breathing technique outlined above while adding voice. While watching yourself to check for tension, (tightening of muscles), practice greeting yourself at ever increasing distances from the mirror.
(If your room is small, do the exercise outside and imagine the mirror! It remains in the same place all the time.)
'Hello Bob', is right up close. Take two steps back and repeat. Now take more steps back and so on.

If you feel any tension in your throat or chest from forcing the sound, stop. Breathe and begin again.
It helps to imagine the sound arcing through the air, in a concentrated focused stream to reach its target. The further away you get the more control you need to have over the outflow of air carrying your words.

When you think you have a neutral 'Hello Bob' mastered, add emotional color. Say 'Hello Bob', nastily, lovingly, sweetly etc. while keeping relaxed.

Laugh Out-loud:
Stand in front of your mirror breathing easily. On your out breath begin a series of Ha-ha-ha-ha's until all your breath is used. Take an in breath and start again. Vary your laughter. Make it louder, make it quiet and then build it up again. Repeat until you are laughing loudly and easily without any strain.

Read Out-loud:
Make sure your stance and breathing is good. Pin point a place at the far end of your room to talk to.
( I used a painting on the back wall of the rehearsal hall.)
Read aloud from your text, making sure you maintain your relaxed state while using as much vocal variety as you can.
A good way to test you're working as you should is to do this exercise with a partner. Have them stand at the far end of the room you're practicing in. Give instructions to give you feedback on clarity, variety and pitch.
If you find yourself rising in pitch, check your breathing. When we tense, we strain the throat and when that happens our vocal chords are restricted. The result is we force the pitch up and limit the range or color we can put into our words.
If you haven't got a partner available, be very aware of the changes in your body as you tighten. You will feel the strain in your upper chest and throat. In addition your shoulders will lift and you will run yourself out of breath easily.

That's it! Have fun practicing your Quick Easy Effective Tips for Vocal Variety. Aim for control over one or two aspects at a time. Remember it's not so much the length of time you practice but the regularity. Ten minutes once a day over several weeks is more effective than an intense hour long session once in a blue moon.

Thank you.

How To Speak With Confidence

Speaking or giving a talk publicly can be very nerve racking. If you find it hard to speak in front of a crowd then doing so may make you panicky, break out in a sweat or just extremely nervous. To try and avoid nervousness and to speak confidently it is best to be prepared.

Unless it can’t be helped and you have a set topic to speak on, always try to speak on a subject you know well and may be comfortable to talk about. The better you know the topic and the more information you know about your subject matter, then the easier it will be for you to talk about it. Try to prepare your talk or speech first. Write out exactly what you are going to say or at least some strong points to go on. The more prepared you are the more confident you will feel about giving your speech or talk.

Unless you will be standing behind something like a lector or table, try to put the points for your talk on to small cards that you can hold in the palm of your hand. This way it will be easier for you as you will not be struggle with sheets of paper. It also it hides your notes from your audience.

If you can, only check down at your notes every now and then or as needed. Try to look at your audience as you talk to them. If you find it daunting to look at your audience and all the faces, try looking just above their heads and be sure to move your eyes around the room, so that everyone feels like you are talking to them.

Try to stand with good posture because this will make you look confident even if you are not. Use hand gestures as necessary to explain yourself and your points. Try to pace yourself and not talk too quickly, and remember to pause at moments when a pause is needed, so that you can catch your breath and get your thoughts together.

If you really struggle to have confidence to speak to publicly, try to build confidence a step at a time. Try speaking in front of smaller groups first and gradually increase the size of your audience. You could also join a group like a drama group or poetry club. Groups or clubs like this will encourage you to gain confidence and will offer exercises that you can do to build your confidence.

Confidence can be gained through practice. Once you have practiced something and feel safe in the knowledge that you can do it, in this case – when you know what you are talking about, you will feel more confident about doing it. Practice your speech or talk as much as you can prior to your speaking engagement. Get someone you trust to listen to you give your talk and ask them to give you their opinion and any suggestions that may help you. Although it may sound stupid, practicing in front of a mirror is another good way. This helps to you to see what you look like as you give your speech. You can get your posture right and see how your hand movements and so on look to the audience.

The best thing you can do is to relax. Don’t worry too much about. Every public speaker starts somewhere and everyone has nerves, so just relax and try to enjoy it. The more relaxed you are, the easier you will find it and better you will come off to your audience. Before starting your talk or speech, take a few deep breaths and try to relax. If you still feel uncontrollably nervous you could always try the good old “picture your audience in their underwear” trick!

Thank you.

Overcome the Fear of Speaking to Groups

A great fear that many people have is speaking before a group or audience. The primary reason is that they are afraid of looking foolish in front of other people. The way to overcome this fear is through preparation, a safety net, and a positive attitude toward the audience.

Questions you may have include:

• Why are people so afraid of public speaking?
• What are ways to overcome this fear?
• How can I apply these methods?

This lesson will answer those questions.

Reason for fear

The fear of speaking is rated as only second to the fear of snakes and before the fear of dying.

Effects of fear

What happens to many people is that--even before they start speaking--their heart starts beating faster and their mouth gets dry. Some may even get nauseous or feel like fainting.

Once the person starts talking, the heart keeps beating rapidly and the person may hear his or her voice tremble. The legs or even the whole body may start shaking. The person may also stutter or start speaking rapidly.

Although some people calm down, once they get going, others may ramble through the material incoherently.

Do you wonder why many people don't want to go through that ordeal again?

Looking foolish

The reason most people get anxious when required to speak to a group is that they are afraid of looking foolish or stupid in front of many of their peers and important people. They are afraid that their mind will go blank or that their lack of speaking skills will lower the opinion others have of them.

Being humiliated can destroy a person's ego and confidence. In fact, it can really ruin your day.

Steps to overcome that fear

There are several steps of tricks to use to overcome the fear of making a mistake or looking foolish when you speak to a group:

1. Be well-prepared before speaking to a group
2. Practice your speech
3. Have a backup, in case you forget what you want to say
4. Reduce the fear of your audience
5. Relax yourself just before you speak

In the following material, I will explain each of those points.

1. Be well prepared

One of the best ways to make sure you don't make foolish mistakes is to be well prepared before you speak to a group. You should know what are going to talk about, who you will speak to, and under what conditions you will speak.

Leave nothing to chance

A professional in any field does not leave anything to chance before a big game, important performance, or critical presentation to corporate executives. Strategies are laid out, all material is ready, contingency plans are made, and every detail is taken care of.

When you are well prepared, chances of failure or goof-ups are greatly reduced. You feel more relaxed and sure of yourself, because you have all the bases covered.

Your material

You need to know exactly what you are going to talk about. This doesn't mean to memorize exactly what you plan to say. Rather, it is to have a good outline of facts and information that you can talk about.

Know audience

It is good to be aware of what type of audience you will be speaking before. This will give you an idea of the subject matter and tone of your speech. If you are speaking before some important people or at an important event, that fact may increase your anxiety. But it is good to know up front, so that you can properly prepare for the occasion.

Conditions

It is good to check over the conditions under which you will speak. If you can, go up to the lectern to check things over and get a feel for things. If you will use a microphone, check it out.

In some situations, a person may simply make a presentation in a meeting room at work. Even then, it is a good idea to check out the room beforehand and try to visualize how you will be doing things.

Note that going through this process will actually relax you and give you more confidence when it is your turn to speak.

2. Practice

You should practice your speech many times before you give it.

Even if you know your material very well, practice is extremely important. The more you give a talk, the more automatic it becomes, the more meat it can have, and the more confidence you have in your abilities to give the speech.

Practice alone

Ways to practice alone are to first simply say the speech out loud. This is good to get the material more ingrained in your memory.

Use a mirror

Then say the speech, looking into a mirror. This is good to do, because you must concentrate more. You also get an idea of how you look when speaking. Finally, if you must refer to notes, it allows you to practice eye contact with the audience.

Stand in the corner

An interesting trick is to say your speech while standing in the corner. The sound reflects back to you, and you can get a good idea how you sound when you speak.

Record your practice

Another way to practice is using a tape recorder. This forces you to avoid pausing to try to remember things. It also allows you to play the speech back to study how you sound, your phrasing, and the content of the material.

Use a friendly audience

Practice before friends. This is a very important way to practice, because it is getting closer to the "real world" of speaking to a group. Even an audience of one person is good for this type of practice.

3. Have a backup

It is worthwhile to bring along a "security blanket" or "safety net" in case something goes wrong in your presentation. The main thing to worry about is forgetting what you were going to say next. This can happen even if you've done extensive practicing of the speech.

Outline

It is good to have your speech outlined on a few sheets of paper or on 3 X 5 cards. You can then refer to them in case you have a mental lapse. Referring to your notes is certainly acceptable to an audience, as long as you are not reading a speech word-for-word from a script.

Reduces anxiety

One thing that having a safety net provides is that it reduces you anxiety about forgetting what you were going to say or having your mind go blank. You may never even use the cards, but the fact that you have them--just in case--can greatly reduce the butterflies.

4. Reduce fear of your audience

The more important the audience or the occasion, the greater your fear can be. You don't want to look like a fool in front of the bosses at work, your peers, or even your friends and relatives.

Not that important

One method to overcome this fear is to visualize the people as not all that important. An old trick is to imagine that the audience is naked. Or perhaps imagine them all in clown outfits. A ridiculous image will make them seem not all that important.

Use positive approach

The problem with that method is that it seems somewhat negative. If you look down at your audience, it may be reflected in your speech. I prefer a more positive approach.

You have to realize that the audience is usually on your side. They want to hear what you have to say and to see you do well. Before you give your speech, think of them as caring, friendly people who want to hear you speak. It is just like talking to your friends.

The positive image should relax you and put you in a good frame of mind. The audience will also read your body language and respond accordingly.

5. Relax before speaking

When you are introduced to speak, take three breaths to settle you down before you get out of your chair. Then when you go up to the lectern, thank the person who introduced you and then count to 10 before you start speaking.

This will allow the audience to get settled and ready to hear you. It also is a way that you are showing that you are now in control.

It is not easy to do, because you have to look at the audience and panic may settle in. But if you have made all the preparations, you can be sure of yourself and deserve to be in control of the situation. It is a good feeling.

Applying your skills

If you have to speak before groups at school, work or in some organizations, it is good to practice speaking more often to hone your skills and to reduce any fears you may have. You can take classes in public speaking in night school, join Toastmasters, or find other opportunities to speak to groups.

Summary

Many people are afraid to speak before a group or audience, because they fear looking foolish in front of other people. The way to overcome the fear of speaking to a group is to make sure you are well prepared, have some backup material ready in case you forget your lines, visualize your audience as not so important, and practice as much as you can before you speak.

Thank you.

Starting a Presentation

In modern English, Presentations tend to be much less formal than they were even twenty years ago.
Most audience these days prefer a relatively informal approach. However, there is a certain structure to
the opening of a Presentation that you should observe.

1. Get people's attention
2. Welcome them
3. Introduce yourself
4. State the purpose of your presentation
5. State how you want to deal with questions

Get people's attention

· If I could have everybody's attention.
· If we can start.
· Perhaps we should begin?
· Let's get started.

Welcome them

· Welcome to Microsoft.
· Thank you for coming today.
· Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
· On behalf of Intel, I'd like to welcome you.

Introduce yourself

· My name's Jane Shaw. I'm responsible for travel arrangements.
· For those of you who don't know me, my name's Tom Stotter.
· As you know, I'm in charge of public relations.
· I'm the new Marketing Manager.

State the purpose of your presentation

· This morning I'd like to present our new processor.
· Today I'd like to discuss our failures in the Japanese market and suggest a new approach.
· This afternoon, I'd like to report on my study into the German market.
· What I want to do this morning is to talk to you about our new mobile telephone system.
· What I want to do is to tell you about our successes and failures in introducing new working
patterns.
· What I want to do is to show you how we've made our first successful steps in the potentially
huge Chinese market.

State how you want to deal with questions.

· If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them as we go along.
· Feel free to ask any questions.
· Perhaps we can leave any questions you have until the end?
· There will be plenty of time for questions at the end.

Of course, these are only suggestions and other language is possible. Even within this limited group of
phrases, just choose a few you feel comfortable with and learn and use those.

Thank you.

15 Common Persuasive Speech Topics For Persuasive Public Speaking

Common persuasive speech topics including examples of persuasive common issues, grounds, sense and experiences for a persuasive public speaking speech. These are very tasty speech topics to listen to. Because they appeal to the thoughts, feelings, experiences and even situations every member of the public will recognize. Yes, you have to do a little homework, to do some audience analysis.
It will help you to narrow the speech ideas down till they fit the public's mindset. In other words, this page is not about tired and general common persuasive speech topics that have been used too often. Like adoption, the death penalty, public prayer in education, and so on. On my other pages you can find many, many focused fresh and creative speech thesis statements on themes like that. Here I show you some fresh and creative examples of common speech topics to persuade and three simple ways to tweak and twist too broad subjects into a more handy size for research.

So, how to write a persuasive public speaking speech about common personal experiences that draw you and your audience together? Just find the missing link between you and your public. E.g. search in the school library or on the world wide web for:

• New trends, ideas, stories, opinions, information and knowledge your listeners do not know, but really like to know.
• A new exciting twist. E.g. Tie two speech ideas together and invent a new controversial insight.
• The way they are affected by your common persuasive speech topics.

Simple as that! The secret lies in the connections you make. Here are ten examples of persuasive public speaking topics on common grounds in thinking, behavior and attitude:

1. Parents should not spank their children.
2. MP 3 players are an aid to concentrate.
3. Sometimes it is okay to lie.
4. Why breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
5. Men and women speak different languages in love matters.
6. The majority of graduate students struggle with emotional fatigue.
7. Time is much more worth than money, and that's not a cliché.
8. Men are obliged to put the seat down for the convenience of women.
9. Our generation has a different life style than the generation of our parents.
10. Shoes and socks tell a lot about men.

Common persuasive speech topics on common sense in public debate are also very popular to talk about. Most audiences like to hear you performing and discussing about:

1. Work and other facilities need to be easily accessible for everyone.
2. The pros of garlic are greater than the smell the day after.
3. Borrowing money from a friend damages friendships.
4. Juvenile delinquents should be sentenced to bootcamp.
5. Obesity with children must be prevented by all means.

And what do you think of this example of persuasive public speaking on a common experience you have: Personal experience is more valuable than knowledge gained at school. Yes, list some shared personal experiences and moments, and turn them into great common persuasive speech topics.

Thank you.

Speech Preparation : Don’t Skip the Speech Outline

This article describes how to support your core message with a speech outline, and provides numerous examples. This is the second step in the six-step speech preparation process.

Writing an outline is, unfortunately, a step that many skip. The most common excuse is simply “No time.” This is unfortunate because time spent on an outline is time well spent. It is necessary to ensure that you craft a coherent and focussed presentation.

Writing a Speech Outline

An outline is a blueprint for your presentation.

• It highlights the key logical elements. i.e. what points are being made to logically support the core message?
• It highlights the key structural elements. e.g. introduction, body, conclusion, stories, high-level concepts
• It links these elements together in a sequence, perhaps allocating very rough timings.
• It can also map out the transitions between elements, although this may be deferred to a later stage of preparation.
• 
  

Basic Speech Outlines

“An outline is a blueprint for your presentation.”

The basic speech outline template for structural elements is:

1. Introduction
2. Body
3. Conclusion

Similarly, the basic speech outline template for logical elements is the familiar advice:

1. Tell them what you’re going to say
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you’ve said

Put these together, and you have the start of a generic speech outline:

1. Introduction — Establish topic and core message; list supporting points
2. Body
1. Supporting Point One
2. Supporting Point Two
3. Supporting Point Three
3. Conclusion — Recap main points; summarize core message; call-to-action

It is surprising how well this simple 3-part outline template works for a wide range of speech topics. Incidentally, this same basic formula can be seen in novels, short stories, movies, plays, reports, business briefings, emails, memos, and many other forms of communication.

Thank you.

A Detailed Speech Outline

Top of Form

This page explains how to make a detailed outline of a speech. It should be remembered that depending on the type of speech, the outline may vary. However, if you base your speeches on this outline you should be able to make a successful speech.

In order to make a detailed and useful outline you must understand the structure of a speech. The basic structure of a speech and how to make a simple outline has been explained on another page. On that page it was shown that there are three main parts to a speech; The Introduction, The Body, and The Conclusion. These three parts can be further broken down. The structure of these three main parts can be seen in the outline below.

A presentation outline is a way to organize your material logically and clearly. You should make an outline before you start to write a speech. In fact the writing of a speech comes towards the end of the speech creation process (see '11 Steps to Creating a Speech'). By using a presentation outline, you can "see" your speech and determine where you need to add or revise information. It provides the structure for the introduction, body, and conclusion of your speech. In addition, it can serve as your speaking script.

This outline consists of Four parts; The Header, The Introduction, The Body, and The Conclusion. Before you start writing your speech you should make an outline using these 4 headings and their sub headings.

1. Header

Topic

Decide on your topic.

Audience

Analyze your audience. What do they already know about your topic? Are they interested in the topic?

Refine and limit topic

Based on your analysis of the audience you may need to slightly change you topic, by either changing the focus, or the scale of the topic.

Purpose Statement

Write down a clear statement of what it is you intend to achieve. What is the purpose of your speech.

For example; The purpose of this speech is to inform the audience how to travel in Japan without spending to much money.

Organizational Method or Pattern

There is no single way to organize a speech. The pattern you will select will be determined by the information you have and the specific purpose you want to achieve. There are six basic patterns for organizing a speech:

§ Logical or topical

§ Chronological

§ Spatial

§ Classification

§ Problem-Solution

§ Cause-effect

Once you have completed these five parts of the 'Header', you are then ready to start planning the speech itself.

2. Introduction

Greeting and Attention getter

How will you greet the audience? How will you get the audience's attention? Think of a sentence that will make the audience sit up and listen.

Thesis Statement

The 'purpose statement' is where you simply state what your goal is. However, it is not possible to use this in the speech. You need to convert it to a 'thesis statement'. A thesis statement is one sentence in the introduction in which you declare your purpose and topic.

For example, a thesis statement of the above purpose statement would be; 'Traveling in Japan need not be an extravagance.'

Credibility

If the audience do not know who you are, you will not only need to introduce yourself, but you will also need to 'establish your credibility'. This means you will have to explain to the audience why you are 'qualified' to speak about the subject.

Outline of main the points - overview

What are your main points?

Why?

Tell your audience why you think your presentation will be useful to them.

3. The body

Transition

Think of a sentence that will make it clear to the audience that you have finished the introduction, and are now about to start the body of the speech.

Main points and ideas

Main ideas	Supporting ideas	Details & Examples	Visuals
Write your main points and ideas here	What ideas will you tell the audience to support your main points?	What details or examples do you have?	Will you have any visuals to help explain your points?

main ideas = sub-topics

supporting ideas = sub-sub topics

evidence = details and examples

4. The conclusion

Transition

Think of a sentence that will make it clear to the audience that you have finished the body and are now coming to the end of the speech.

Restatement of main points

Summarize your main ideas and think of which piece of information you really want the audience to remember.

Closer

Think of a final sentence to help the audience remember your speech.

Note that the presentation outline is not a word-for-word script for the speech but an outline of ideas to serve as an organizational and presentation tool for the speaker.

Once you have finished the outline you are then ready to start writing.

Copy this into a word processor document, and use the headings to make your own outline for your demonstration speech.

Thank you.

Bottom of Form

Good Sample Speech Outline

The sample speech outline below will help clarify what you want to say as well as help organise your material.

Read the page through to familiarise yourself with the terms and the process.

An outline forms the foundation of any successful speech as it guides you logically and sequentially through all the aspects you need to consider before you write.

When completed well it saves you time and helps avoid any anxiety caused by inadequate preparation.

The process is broken down into 4 steps:

• Preparation:- deciding on your topic, considering the audience, refining your topic to suit them, deciding on the purpose of the speech and the organisational method you will use

• Introduction:- opening greeting and attention getter, defining your thesis statement (a summary of what your speech is about) establishing your credibility, an overview and the benefit to the audience

• Body:- transition or link between introduction and body, main ideas with supporting ideas, examples and details

• Conclusion:- summary of main points and closer or call to action

Sample Speech Outline - Step One - Preparation

Topic - decide what you are going to talk about

Audience - consider who will be listening to you and what aspects of your topic is best suited to meet their needs

Refine or Limit Topic - reframe in view of your audience -decide on the angle you will take and whether or not you need to limit the scope

Define Purpose - Is it, for example, to persuade, inform, demonstrate, entertain, or welcome? Is it a combination of these?

Organisational Pattern or Method - There are 6 basic organisational patterns or methods of arranging the body of your material. Choose the one most appropriate for your need.

These are:

• Cause - Effect Because event A happened, event B occurred.

• Problem - Solution The problem is X. The solution is Y.

• Logical This pattern suits a broad topic which is broken down into naturally occurring sub-topics.
  Example:- Broad topic: Vocal Variety Sub-topics: rate of speech, use of pausing, voice tone, volume, articulation...

• Spatial or Geographic Topics dealing with physical space. Example:- The popular tourism areas in New Zealand

• Time or Chronological Historical topics dealing with the sequence of events or demonstration speeches, for example, how to bake a cake

• Advantage - Disadvantage For examining the range of positive and negative aspects to an idea or event

Sample Speech Outline - Step Two - Introduction

• Greeting - Attention Getter - How are you going to greet your audience, grab their attention and compel them to listen?

• Thesis Statement - A one sentence summary of your speech topic and your point of view or angle.
  Example:- Green politics is no longer a fanciful, fringe fad. It is a neccessity.

• Credibility - Establishes your right to speak on the topic, cites your qualification or expertise

• Summative overview - Brief outline of the main points to be covered

• Benefit - What's in your speech for your audience? Why will they want to hear what you've got to tell them?

Sample Speech Outline - Step Three - Body

• Transition - the link between your introduction and the main body of your speech.
  
  
  
• Main Idea 1 - Supporting ideas - Details and examples - Visuals or props - Transition to...
• Main Idea 2 - Supporting ideas - Details and examples - Visuals or props - Transition to...
• Main Idea 3 - Supporting ideas - Details and examples - Visuals or props - Transition to...

Sample Speech Outline - Step Four - Conclusion

• Summary of main ideas - from body of speech

• Re-statement of thesis statement - from introduction

• Re-statement of benefit to audience - from introduction

• Closer, Clincher or Call to Action - final sentence

Thank you.

Variants or Examples of Speech OutlinesVariants or Examples of Speech Outlines

Example: Story-based Outline

Some people believe that stories are the best building blocks for speeches. For example, in The Story Factor (Annette Simmons), the author claims that storytelling is the key to business communications.

1. Attention grabbing opening which introduces the topic and core message
2. Tell a story.
• Make a point
3. Tell another story.
• Make another point.
4. Tell another story.
• Make another point
5. Memorable conclusion which ties together all three stories to support the core message.

Example: Scientific Conference Talk Outline

The outline for many scientific talks mirrors the scientific method:

1. Define the problem needing a solution
2. Describe the hypothesis which will explore one aspect of the problem
3. Describe the experiment performed to test the hypothesis
1. Detail 1 — schematic
2. Detail 2 — photograph
3. Detail 3 — description
4. Show the data collected and subsequent data analysis
1. Data analysis 1 — chart
2. Data analysis 2 — chart
3. Data analysis 3 — table
5. Draw conclusions relating back to the hypothesis
6. Suggest future actions

Example: Community Association Meeting Speech Outline

1. Story to introduce the symptom (e.g. vandalism)
2. Use facts and evidence to trace back to the core problem (e.g. lack of “safe” activities for youth)
1. Statistics
2. Reports
3. Interviews
3. Suggest a solution
1. Budget
2. Volunteers
3. Stakeholders
4. A strong call-to-action motivating the audience to join the cause

Example: Business Proposal to Investors

1. Be direct: “Invest $___ for %___ of the shares”
2. Story to illustrate the need for the product XYZ
3. Story to describe the vision of how product XYZ improves lives
4. Demo of product XYZ
1. Benefit #1 (focus on benefits, not features)
2. Benefit #2
3. Benefit #3
5. Invest now and make product XYZ possible
1. Story illustrating strength of the team
2. Market analysis
3. Financial projections
6. Repeat call-to-action: “Invest $___ for %___ of the shares”

Other Speech Outline Writing Tips

“When sequencing your outline points, try to avoid random order. Seek and extract the meaningful relationship.”

Note that all of these speech outline examples are appropriate for a short six to ten minute speech. Longer time windows will obviously allow for more detailed outlines.

You may be able to customize one of the generic speech outline formats for your speech; more likely, you will need to craft your own to fit your situation. A few other things to consider:

• The granularity of your outline should be roughly one outline point per minute of speaking time, perhaps less for lengthy presentations.
• For presentations which are complemented with slides, your outline might include slide concepts, but no finer details.
• Remember that your presentation is much more than your set of slides. Your outline should reflect your speaking elements which the slides complement.
• When sequencing your outline points, try to avoid random order. Seek and extract the meaningful relationship.
• Chronological – e.g. a biographical speech
• Spatial – e.g. an entertaining travel speech
• Cause-effect – e.g. speech relating crime rate to drug use
• Low to high importance – e.g. reasons to exercise
• Broad vision to specific details – e.g. a management speech outlining new company direction
• Your outline is not the same as cue cards, but they are related (if you use cue cards). An outline contains high-level speech elements; cue cards might additionally contain selected speech details e.g. transition phrases, key words/phrases, key numbers, or punch lines.

Speech Outline Example — Face the Wind

Here is the original outline that I put together for the Face the Wind speech. Comments follow which represent my thinking at the time of writing the outline.

1. Opening humor – connect with audience as typical home owner
2. Story #1 – Backyard tree battle
• “Strong roots… strong tree”
• Foreshadow: neighbour’s monster tree falling
3. Story #2 – Winter storms knock over many trees
• National news (trees falling on houses), but our house okay
• Arborists: “Wind came from a different direction”
• Establish key analogy – Trees cannot face the wind.
4. Story #3 – Baby Maximus
• Michelle and Lance have strong roots
• Maximus is born
5. Conclusion
• Call-to-action: “We must face our problems”

Comments on Face the Wind Outline

At the outline stage, I set up many key elements of the speech. I determined the three main stories, planned humorous opening, identified a few key phrases to incorporate, established contrast (tree/people), used a metaphor (roots of people), and concluded with a call-to-action.

Opening – I wanted to open with humor to offset the drama later in the speech. Also, I wanted to connect with the audience as a homeowner as many in the audience are also homeowners.

Story #1 – I wanted the first story to establish the “strong roots… strong tree” connection. By establishing that trees have strong roots, it makes the fact that they were toppled in the storm (story #2) more dramatic.

Story #2 – This story was essentially an expansion of the “wind came from a different direction” theory of arborists that I picked up several months prior from my friend. The fact that trees cannot face the wind is the key analogy in this speech, although the audience doesn’t know it yet.

Thank you.