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Have you ever found yourself in a position where after forty-five minutes of sitting and listening to a speaker, you walk away wondering what that person was trying to say? You immediately think to yourself "That was a waste of time!" Unfortunately, this situation occurs all too frequently. The reason for this is usually because of poor structure.
Every speech or presentation should be comprised of three parts; an introduction, body and conclusion. While each part is necessary, the introduction might be viewed as the most important part of your speech. That's because if you don't get the audience's attention within the first thirty seconds, you have lost them. From that point on, it's an uphill battle to regain their attention. One excellent way to get their attention is to open with a short story, especially a personal story. Bear in mind however, it must be relevant to your topic. It must make a point. A story which doesn't support your point simply confuses the audience. Another excellent way to open your talk is with a relevant quote. Quotes are useful because they generally get right to the point in very few words. After you have the audience's attention, you can then move on to the body of your talk.
The body is the meat' of your talk. This is where you present your key points or ideas. A good rule of thumb here is to cover three to five main points, depending on time restrictions. Most listeners will not remember any more than that. Once you have chosen your main points, the next step is to elaborate on each key point through the use of statistics, facts or illustrative stories. After each of your main points has been addressed and clearly illustrated, it is time to move to your closing.
Generally speaking audiences remember best, what they hear last. So for that reason, you want to have a memorable closing. Simply summarizing your key points is one way to close. Another way is to tie your closing to your beginning. This can be done by reusing a quote that you opened with in your closing, and is very effective.
By following this three step process, you'll ensure people aren't walking away from your next presentation wondering "What did that person say?" You will definitely hit the mark!
Greg Smith is a police officer, father, husband, educator, writer, speaker and student of life. Some of his previous works have been featured in Readers Digest, Blue Line, Legion Canada, and Our Canada magazines. He also writes a monthly column for his local newspaper on speaking and communication. Visit Greg's blog at: http://copservations.com
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Greg - good article, thanks. As a public speaker for more than 40 years, I learned to use three important tactics. Stand up to be seen - speak up to be heard and sit down to be appreciated. JP
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