Deliver an effective speech

I like to share with you some points that may help you with public speaking. As from what most of us have experienced, talking before a crowd can actually weaken our knees, wet our palms, shake our voices, and so much more. These points may somehow assist you whenever you need to speak before the audience (may it be a large crowd or three panelists).

Point #1 Know your audience
Being a speaker to a crowd, first thing you should consider is to know your listeners. This will greatly help you from point of planning the outline of your speech to choosing appropriate words and strategies of getting their attention.

Point #2 Nothing beats preparation
If you have the time to prepare for your speech, please do so. Try to make a simple plan on how you want your points to be delivered. Making an outline will be a great help. In this manner, you will keep track of each point you want to drive to your audience. This will also help you avoid forgetting important details that you want to emphasize.

Point #3 Don't let them scare you. Scare them.
Put this in mind: The reason you are speaking in front of them is because you have something for them to learn. In addition, if you have prepared, you have nothing to be scared about. Audience often evaluate the speaker even before you speak. If they see that you are confident, they will most likely think you're competitive enough to listen to. If you show them you're scared, you will never get their attention.

Point #4 Catch their attention and never let it go
Since you know something about your audience, this point should be easier. The next thing to accomplish is to catch their attention. You can do so by giving a very interesting introduction. You can crack jokes, tell a short story, you choose. It really does not have to be related to your speech. It's about getting their attention and making an impression.

Once I was asked to talk for at least 3 minutes inside a classroom. I used the technique of the senator delivering a political speech in the movie "Maid in Manhattan". It's about how he handled the tension whenever he spoke in public by merely using a paper clip. Silly introduction but it really worked.

Point #5 No 'uh...' and 'ah...' fillers
This syndrome may be avoided by good preparation. The more you do this, the more your speech gets boring.

Point #6 Be sensitive to your audience
When you speak in front of a crowd, you should be aware if you still hold their attention or if you have already lost them. In this manner, you can do necessary acts to get them to listen to you. No speech has ever been successful without the audience attention.

Point #7 Do not practice in front of a mirror
You see, the point #6 talks about being sensitive and conscious about what your audience feels. If you will be practicing on a mirror, you only see yourself, which makes you focus also to yourself. Practice in front of your friends instead. Ask their cooperation to observe and then give their comments (or constructive criticisms) for you to make your speech more effective.

Well, I really hope this would help you with your speech. :p

How to have an Effective Powerpoint Slide Presentation

In presentations, may it be for work or for school, slides to aide the reporter IS A MUST. For making slides for any type of presentation, we usually use MS Powerpoint. Thanks to this application, preparing visual aides never been this easier.

Since this is widely used, I have some points that you might want to consider in creating powerpoint presentations.

Point #1: USE BULLETS, NOT PARAGRAPHS - presentation tend to look boring whenever you show paragraphs onto your slides. Slides only help you to emphasize the thought you want your audience to catch. Paragraphs NEVER catch attention.

Point #2: USE APPROPRIATE TEMPLATES - set the ambiance or environment of the room (where you are presenting) in accordance with your topic. Say you are giving a presentation on a science project, maybe you could catch and hold your audience's attention by showing them slides designed with pictures, animations, etc. that relates to your topic.

Point #3: PICTURE, TEMPLATE AND TEXT HARMONY - Use colors that are 'eye-friendly'. This do not only apply to your template, but also to the images and texts you use. Make sure that texts are still readable even they are mixed with the pictures and images.

Well, these three point have always worked for me. I hope you get something from it too. (^_^)

Have you tried making slide presentations on Microsoft 2007? If not, I suggest start making powerpoint presentations with the newest Office version. It's loaded with totally useful features. Maybe I can post some of my presentations that I made with MS Office 2007 for you to see them. Be back soon!