Describing a situation like a news report is informative, but not engaging for an audience. Avoid facts and statistics unless they are interesting and help you illustrate part of your speech. Judges be impressed with a speech that resembles a Wikipedia page. won’t unless for a reason Don’t move it’s Hand gestures to emphasise points are expected. However, pacing around the floor can often be distracting. Unless you think it will help emphasise a point, standing confidently with feet shoulder width apart should be your default position. talk into your palm cards Don’t Using palm cards give you an excuse not to know most of your speech with a high doesn’t degree of familiarity. constantly looking down at them instead of at the audience, If you’re quickly lose their attention. Palm cards are meant to be used as prompts or as a backup you’ll if you find that a line. you’ve forgotten use unnecessary language Don’t The audience only gets one chance to hear your speech. Unless a complex word or phrase makes your meaning clearer, avoid complicating your speech with it. restate common knowledge Don’t Most people know about issues such as global warming, so explaining what it is will not be particularly interesting. To make these topics interesting, you should provide creative and original solutions and ideas. Choose a topic and stick to it labour over selecting the problem address. Be decisive and give yourself Don’t you’ll you’ll much more time to work on your speech. Chances are perform similarly with most you’ll topics as long as you have enough time to develop your ideas. Choose the best of your ideas Start by listing possible ideas and views. Sort through them and be as critical as possible. Think about which solutions are the most original, engaging and feasible. Focus on a few
Describing a situation like a news report is informative, but not engaging for an audience. Avoid facts and statistics unless they are interesting and help you illustrate part of your speech. Judges won’t be impressed with a speech that resembles a Wikipedia page. Don’t move unless it’s for a reason Hand gestures to emphasise points are expected. However, pacing around the floor can often be distracting. Unless you think it will help emphasise a point, standing confidently with feet shoulder width apart should be your default position. Don’t talk into your palm cards Using palm cards doesn’t give you an excuse not to know most of your speech with a high degree of familiarity. If you’re constantly looking down at them instead of at the audience, you’ll quickly lose their attention. Palm cards are meant to be used as prompts or as a backup if you find that you’ve forgotten a line. Don’t use unnecessary language The audience only gets one chance to hear your speech. Unless a complex word or phrase makes your meaning clearer, avoid complicating your speech with it. Don’t restate common knowledge Most people know about issues such as global warming, so explaining what it is will not be particularly interesting. To make these topics interesting, you should provide creative and original solutions and ideas. Choose a topic and stick to it Don’t labour over selecting the problem you’ll address. Be decisive and you’ll give yourself much more time to work on your speech. Chances are you’ll perform similarly with most topics as long as you have enough time to develop your ideas. Choose the best of your ideas Start by listing possible ideas and views. Sort through them and be as critical as possible. Think about which solutions are the most original, engaging and feasible. Focus on a few
Public-Speaking-Guide.docx