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| Public Speaking101- Tips for Success. |
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| Audience Analysis |
| Q: How can l adapt my speech to my audience? (Natasha*- Corporate Affairs Manager) |
Good speakers are always audience centred. As a public speaker you must study your audience and adapt your speech directly to their interests, values and beliefs. The first step you need to take in studying your audience is conducting a demographic analysis. This involves identifying important demographic traits such as age, gender, ethnic, religious or cultural background. The second step will involve situational analysis, which in essence is identifying traits unique to the particular speaking situation at hand, you must know the size of your audience, attitudes held by them, the occasion and disposition towards you the speaker.(is it a hostile or friendly audience). Once you have conducted audience analysis, you must then strive to adapt your presentation in order to be convincing and clear. And finally during the delivery keep an eye out for audience feedback, frowns, smiles or posture will enable you adjust your remarks in response. |
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| Introducing and concluding a speech |
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| Q: I recently gave a speech and really stumbled during the introduction how can l improve in order to capture my audience’s interest? (Wesley*- Marketing Executive) |
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Opening statements are very important. You need a strong introduction which will get the attention and interest of the audience. At the same time it must reveal the topic of your speech, establish your credibility and gain you goodwill. You can employ various techniques to gain attention; you could begin, with a story, or a quotation. You could shock your audience, by showing the importance of your topic as it relates to them or engage your audience in a question. African cultures especially like stories and this is one sure way of grabbing attention within this context. Always strive to establish credibility at the beginning, by letting the audience know why you are qualified to speak on the topic at hand. |
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The conclusion of a speech is equally important. A good speech seamlessly flows from the body to the conclusion, without ending abruptly. The conclusion serves two major objectives-reinforcing your message and letting the audience know you are done. The techniques used to end are many and could include summarizing the speech, making a dramatic statement, making a call to action or ending with a pertinent quotation. Always strive to be creative in your ending statements. |
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| Q: I recently got a new job, that entails many speaking engagements, l use three languages mostly, how can l effectively bring my words into life? (Wanjiru*- researcher) |
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Language is very vital to successful public speaking. It helps create our sense of reality, by giving meaning to various events, ideas or experiences. As a speaker you must realize that words are tools of expression and must be used clearly and appropriately. When preparing for a speech, audience analysis will reveal the most appropriate language to use, or whether to utilize the services of a translator. It is important to ask yourself, what do l really want to say or mean? Then choose words that are precise and accurate. It is important to avoid the common mistake most novice speakers make of using jargon. You can avoid this by choosing familiar words known to the average person.
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Strive to captivate your audience and bring your speech to life by using imagery and rhythm. Imagery which is the creation of word pictures is quite effective in the African context and can be achieved by using a simile or metaphor, while rhythm can be created through parallelism, repetition, alliteration and antithesis. |
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You will also be advised to avoid, racist, sexist and derogatory language. And a key to remember is that if your language is appropriate in all respects; your speech is much more likely to succeed. |
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| Q: Since l expressed an interest in alternative good governance for my constituency, I’ve been involved in persuasive presentations, how can l be more effective in persuading my constituents to vote for me?(Mary*- Politician) |
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Congratulations for taking a stand to make your constituency a better place. It’s true that most speeches you will make as a politician are persuasive in nature, and persuasion is most challenging, but it also offers the greatest satisfaction with success. |
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Your success depends on how well you tailor your message to the values, attitudes and beliefs of your audience. It’s important to know that listeners don’t just sit passively, but are actively assessing the visual, vocal and verbal aspects as you present. They are also assessing your credibility on the topic at hand. With this in mind, it’s important that you identify your audience, anticipate the possible objections and answer those objections in your speech. |
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As a Politician your persuasion will mainly center on questions of fact, value and policy. When persuading on questions of fact, you must strive to get your listeners to accept your view of the facts. Persuading on value transcends the immediate facts to involve a person’s beliefs on morality or ethics. As you speak on values you must justify your opinion by establishing standards for your value judgment. Beyond persuading on what is wrong or right you will then move to the question of policy. When persuading on policy your goal is to evoke passive agreement or to spark immediate action. The key issues to focus when giving a policy speech are the need for change, the plan of action to be taken and the practicality of the solution you have on offer. |
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| Speeches for special occasions |
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| Q: I speak mostly during special occasions, please give me some tips on how to improve my delivery. (Frank*- Community Mobilizer) |
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Special occasions are a part of your day to day life and like you said; its either you put up or put out. It’s important to note that speeches help to give the occasion its special ness.” It’s therefore important for you to give a delivery befitting the occasion. Common enquiries we have received are on introduction speeches, presentation of awards speeches, dinner speeches, acceptance speeches and inauguration speeches.
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I will focus on handling introduction and presentation of award speeches. More is covered in our extensive Executive Public Speaking Program. An introduction speech is mainly given to introduce the keynote speaker to the audience. Its purpose is to build enthusiasm, for the upcoming speaker and boost their credibility among the audience. You need to be brief, remember the focus of attention is on the main speaker not the person making the introduction. It’s also important that you adapt your remarks to the occasion and ensure that they are completely accurate. Also ensure that you make the speaker comfortable but never set expectations which are almost impossible to fulfil. And finally strive to create a sense of anticipation since your aim is to try and make the audience want to hear the speaker, you will also want to enhance the credibility of the speaker by recounting some of their achievements and why they are best suited to speak on that particular topic. |
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When it comes to award presentation speeches or some form of public recognition, the main theme of the introducer is to acknowledge the achievements of the recipient. The key is focusing on achievements related to the award in a way meaningful and relevant to the audience. |
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| Dealing with Nervousness |
| Q: Nervousness really interferes with my delivery, l have great interpersonal communication skills, but in front of crowds, lm a total disaster. How can l overcome my fear of speaking to an audience? (Rachael*- Medical Representative) |
While it is normal for every public speaker to get nervous before any presentation, it becomes a problem when the symptoms of nervousness substantially interfere with your delivery. It’s important to note that even experienced speakers have stage fright and instead of trying to eliminate stage fright you must strive to transform it into “positive nervousness”-this is an enthusiastic, lively feeling with a slight edge to it.
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To gain Positive nervousness, you must prepare adequately and if you have a choice on the topic, l would suggest you pick something you are enthusiastic and passionate about. Positive thinking and visualization also assist in managing stage fright. You should visualize yourself giving a successful speech and just before stepping up to the podium you can do some breathing exercises. Always keep in mind that most nervousness is not visible to the audience and your speech is a communication process as opposed to a performance in which everything must be done perfectly. Finally practice, practice, practice, its true most of the greatest orators of our time, have taken years to attain such high levels of competence, and l would encourage you to practice by creating or taking advantage of any opportunity to speak. |
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