Public Speaking Series, #11: Rules about Delivery

Rules about delivery
1. Your speech starts the minute the audience can see you (and ends when you are no longer in their vision). The way you walk to the front of the class and the way you walk away from the lectern (the podium is a stage, by the way) is part of the overall package of your speech. It sets an impression if you walk up confidently and walk away as if you know you did well. It sets a different impression you look as if you are going to the guillotine and walk away as if you just had a root canal.

2. Don’t talk to anything except the audience. Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact.

3. Enthusiasm covers a multitude of problems. The old corny saying is “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” We expect a public speaker to be passionate and having conviction about what you are saying.

4. Practice. Practice. Practice.
 Standing up.
 In a room like the one where you will be presenting, if possible
 With an audience if possible
 With shoes on
 With your visual aids
 Make the practice as much like the real delivery as possible.

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