Tips for Public Speaking I. The process of preparation

Tips for Public Speaking
    Good morning. Welcome to today’s lecture about tips for public speaking. The efforts in the process of preparation are crucial to your successful public speaking. When you are speaking in public, ensure your speech will be captivating to your audience as well as worth their time and attention aside from knowing the needs of your audience and matching your contents to their needs, knowing your material thoroughly and putting what you have to say in a logical sequence. In the meantime, you also have to practice and rehearse your speech at home or where you can be at ease and comfortable, in front of a mirror, your family, friends or colleagues. Then use a tape-recorder and listen to yourself and videotape your presentation and analyze it. Thus you will get to understand what your strong and weak points are and be able to emphasize your strong points during your presentation.
    How you are being perceived is very important and is also the precondition of a successful speaking in public because when you are presenting in front of an audience, you are performing as an actor is on stage. So these tips you should know: Dress appropriately for the occasion. Present the desired image to your audience. Look pleasant, enthusiastic, confident, proud, but not arrogant. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Speak slowly and show appropriate emotion and feeling relating to your topic. Establish rapport with your audience. Speak to the person farthest away from you to ensure your voice is loud enough to project to the back of the room. If a microphone is available, adjust and adapt your voice accordingly.
    Now let’s move on to several key points you have to bear in your mind when your public speaking starts.
    First of all, please remember body language is important. Standing, walking or moving about with appropriate hand gesture or facial expression is preferred to sitting down or standing still with head down and reading from a prepared speech. Use audio-visual aids or props for enhancement if appropriate and necessary. Master the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint well before your presentation. Do not over-dazzle your audience with excessive use of animation, sound clips, or gaudy colors which are inappropriate for your topic. Do not torture your audience by putting a lengthy document in tiny print on an overhead and reading it out to them.
    Then, speak with conviction as if you really believe in what you are saying. Persuade your audience effectively. The material you present orally should have the same ingredients as that which are required for a written research paper, i.e. a logical progression from introduction to body to conclusion.
    Thirdly, do not read from notes for any extended length of time although it is quite acceptable to glance at your notes infrequently. Speak loudly and clearly. Sound confident. Do not mumble. If you made an error, correct it, and continue. No need to make excuses or apologize profusely.
    Also, remember to maintain sincere eye contact with your audience. Use the 3-second method, e.g. look straight into the eyes of a person in the audience for 3 seconds at a time. Have direct eye contact with a number of people in the audience, and every now and then glance at the whole audience while speaking. Use your eye contact to make everyone in your audience feel involved.
    Speak to your audience, listen to their questions, respond to their reactions, adjust and adapt. If what you have prepared is obviously not getting across to your audience, change your strategy mid-stream if you are well prepared to do so. Remember that communication is the key to a successful presentation. If you are short of time, know what can be safely left out. If you have extra time, know what could be effectively added. Always be prepared for the unexpected.
    Moreover, you can adopt some methods to make your speaking interesting, such as humor, audio-visual aids and handouts. Add humor whenever appropriate and possible. Keep the audience interested throughout your entire presentation. Remember that an interesting speech makes time fly, but a boring speech is always too long to endure even if the presentation time is the same. When using audio-visual aids to enhance your presentation, be sure all necessary equipment is set up and in good working order prior to the presentation. If possible, have an emergency backup system readily available. Check out the location ahead of time to ensure seating arrangements for the audience, whiteboard, blackboard, lighting, location of projection screen, sound system, etc. are suitable for your presentation. Have handouts ready and give them out at the appropriate time. Tell the audience ahead of time that you will be giving out an outline of your presentation so that they will not waste time taking unnecessary notes during your presentation.
    In the end, you have to know when to stop talking. Use a timer or the microwave oven clock to time your presentation when preparing it at home. Just as you don’t use unnecessary words in your written paper, you don’t bore your audience with repetitious or unnecessary words in your oral presentation. To end your presentation, summarize your main points in the same way as you normally do in the conclusion of a written paper. Remember, however, that there is a difference between spoken words appropriate for the ear and formally written words intended for reading. Terminate your presentation with an interesting remark or an appropriate punch line. Thank your audience and sit down.
    In short, I have introduced several tips to present a successful public speaking. I hope today’s lecture might be of great help to your public speaking in the future.