How To Make a Good Speech: (Top 21 Public Speaking Tips)

Today you’ll find out how to make a good speech.

The biggest fear many people face is not getting fired from their job, jumping off a bridge, or taking finals_- it’s public speaking. Almost everyone seems to be afraid of public speaking.

They fear that they will not have the ability to deliver the goods when they stand behind the podium or when the spotlight is shining on them.

Anyone can find out how to give a good speech by preparing and practicing.

Someone normally spends 1 hour preparing for each minute they want to speak. For a speech that lasts ten minutes, one must practice ten hours.

Therefore, to give a speech, one must start instantly, research the subject. Giving an awesome speech involves a few easy steps. to help someone overcome anxiety and come across as an expert on their chosen topic.

People like to listen to people who are experts, or seem to be experts on their topic of choice.

These tips can help you overcome your fear of public speaking.

How to Make a Good Speech:

1. Prepare as soon as possible.

Making a speech on the spot, or at the last minute is a botched speech. The person doesn’t come as an expert. People like to listen to an expert because what they’ve to say is true and can be trusted.

By practicing ahead of time, you can even ensure your words slot in the time allotted, and you will find solutions to the spots where your tongue trips.

Preparation does not must take quite a lot of time, but the sooner it starts, the better chance you have of giving the needed time to prepare your speech.

2. Choose Your Purpose and Topic

You have a speech to give and the best way to give it’s to break it down into its elements. The first element is preparation or research, the next step is to choose a subject that’s neither too general nor too specific.

The topic of weight loss is general. Losing 30 pounds is 30 days too specific. However, the way to lose 30 kg in 30 days through nutrition and exercise is correct.

The people in the latter example are given driving directions from point A to point B and are allowed to enjoy the ride at the same time.

Choosing a subject that’s not too general or specific allows a speaker to become an expert. Again, an expert in a chosen field allows a speaker to be more reliable than a non-expert.

Therefore, prepare your speech by doing your research and sounding like an expert, and choose topics that are neither too general nor too specific for all sorts of audiences. .

3. List Your Bullet Points

When you start writing your speech, you should focus on your topic, and make a list of the points you want to cover.

Bullet points help you to focus on the subject without giving the impression of reading. Anyone can read speeches, it takes a special person to pronounce them.

People aren’t coming to watch you read the speech – they can do it themselves. People come to hear, feel, and live your speech.

Once you have a list of topics, consider a place where you can insert anecdotes, examples, or even jokes to help get your point across. People love stories and the more stories you tell, the more engaged your audience is likely to be.

4. Don’t Memorize, but Write the Speech

To most people, it wouldn’t sound natural for you to memorize your words word for word, However, memorizing word for word can seem monotonous, or lifeless.

To write a complete speech, help the speaker ensure it covers everything she or he wants to say and stays on schedule.

If you’ll have a power point presentation, you’ll benefit from notes that guide you through your speech. Don’t put every word on the screen.

People come to meet you in person so they can get more than simply reading your texts. It is better to replace emphasised informational slides with entertaining and interesting pictures.

Take your notes on index cards if you do not have a projector for your presentation (1).

5. Engage the Audience

An important part of giving a speech is engaging with the audience.

During your presentation, try to look at the audience members and talk to them directly.

Even if you’re giving a presentation to a large audience, you can still incorporate phrases and questions that will make the audience feel as although they’re part of the communication process.

Often, speeches and presentations are given with the intention of eliciting a particular response or action from audience members.

If possible you give a sales presentation and promote the product you want them to buy.

Maybe you want them to be involved in a particular cause or group. As part of your speech writing process, you should have a summary and a call to action at the end of your speech.

One way to continue your message even after you are done and done with your speech is to keep in touch with the audience.

You can do this with a program like Present Now. This kind of program lets you continue communicating with your audience by sending emails and following up on leads that may be generated through audience participation.

6. Incorporate Emotion into Your Speech

You must believe in the emotions you present. If you are trying to be funny, you must believe the subject and knowledge is funny.

If you are trying to get people to do something, then you must believe in the cause and deliver the words with passion.

The speech must be written using your normal speaking style to be effective. As you write down the words in your speech, do not be afraid to write them precisely as you would say them.

This will help you create a memorable speech and will also help you keep the flow of your speech as you deliver it.

When writing your speech, you need to have the ability to say it out loud and make it sound natural.

If your tendency is to use brief emotions to convey important points, then keep the words concise and make any changes that will help you convey the emotions correctly.

A well-written speech will remind you of the emotions you felt while making it and let you recreate those emotions as you deliver them.

7. Use Humor

One of the best public speaking tips is using humor. In most cases, a humorous anecdote or an appropriate, non-offensive joke is appropriate.

Laughter breaks the ice between the speaker and the audience. It’s also a way to add interest to boring topics and create rapport with listeners.

Self-effacing light jokes or humorous anecdotes about the speaker’s own life are less likely to offend anyone.

They tell the audience that you do not take yourself too seriously and add a new spin to your speech.

The speaker should relax and pretend as if he’s entertaining guests in his own home. Make a joke related to the subject being discussed.

If you hear a lighthearted joke related to your topic, it can be helpful to write it down and practice it later.

This will let you ease it into a presentation and make the delivery seem natural. Remember timing is key. Distribute eye contact evenly throughout the audience and fully commit to the joke.

If it does not lead to laughter, continue as planned and do not panic.

Always use humor moderately. It’s way more appropriate to entertain a bit than to make the audience roll down the aisles laughing.

Humor is great for engaging listeners when used moderately, but too much humor can distract them from the subject at hand.

8. Think about what you want your audience to remember

As you undergo your outline and begin building your speech, you will want to remember the information you want your audience to remember.

There are statements that set the mood and statements that make an impact. Audiences hardly ever remember statements that set the mood, but they will remember ones with impact.

Statements that set the mood are things like the joke you tell to open your speech to create levity, or the emphasis you place on certain phrases to create a feeling of urgency.

These additional statements are essential for creating a vehicle for getting your message across, but it is the message that will be remembered.

9. Shape the speech to your audience

A good speech does not must repeat important information to be effective.

Important information stands alone and becomes the focus of the speech. When you write your speech, you need to use a deliberate way to organize the delivery of important information.

For example, put a pause in your speech after a joke to ensure everybody hears the important statement you are about to make.

The hardest thing about speech writing is ensuring that you emphasize important information while maintaining audience interest.

This is where speech revision becomes very important. If you must show your test audience where the important information is in your speech, you’ll need to rewrite your speech to separate the key points from the points used to set the mood or tone.

Once you see the reaction from your test audience when you make your key points, you will know you have written a very great speech.

10. Capture your audience’s attention from the starting gate

Perhaps the most significant part of your speech is the introduction.

The adage, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression,” holds true when delivering a successful speech. You only have a couple of minutes to hold your audience’s attention before they decide whether to listen or stop your speech.

Engage the audience early on by sharing an interesting fact, incredible statistic, or a funny line.

11. Make it personal

Try to connect with your audience on a personal basis. Sharing a relevant story or experience gives meaning to your message and makes you more relatable and human.

Viewers will come away remembering a compelling personal story that’s more than simply a set of facts.

Remember, people are more interested in the things that are about them, or shape them. No one cares about information that does not apply to other people.

Are you interested in how other people got rich, or how other people got rich, and you can apply those same skills for getting rich in your own life.

12. Look Them In The Eyes

Making eye contact with your audience is extremely important. This makes them feel like you are talking directly to them and that they’re included in the discussion.

Eye contact shows the audience that you’re open, reliable and assured about what you must say. For small groups, making eye contact with everyone seems to be easy.

For larger audiences, divide the room into sections and choose a few people to make eye contact from each section.

13. Work the Pause

Don’t worry if you must pause every now and then. You may need to catch your breath or get your thoughts back.

Furthermore, pauses can create thought-provoking statements that can apply a person to take action in their own life.

Pauses sound longer to the speaker than they do to the listener. In fact, one common mistake of novice speakers is speaking too fast. Take time to breathe between paragraphs. Pause and let your point sink in.

14. Practice, practice, practice

Fully practice your speech and time it with a stopwatch. If you are far from the deadline, adjust by adding and subtracting stories or details.

When you must cut the length of your speech, consider whether there are any passages you can quote and offer other than your speech.

Maybe you have planned to explain the history of your craft in your speech, but find you will not have time to do more than the top five tips for fulfillment in the field.

You can offer historical information in a handout after your speech or send it in pdf format to those who sign up for your e-mail list.

While practicing your speech, make note of the places where you stumble, so you can practice those parts to make them more fluent. Double-check the pronunciation of words you do not normally use

15. Stay away from the Podium

The podium is not a life jacket. The podium won’t save you from tomatoes thrown at you.

Stepping away from the podium will deflect the tomatoes because the audience wants to see you- all of you. About 55% of your speech is your body language.

So people want to see what your body is telling you about your speech. If you aren’t an expert on your topic, or look like you are- it will show.

If you can visit the place where you’ll be speaking ahead of time, take this opportunity to see how much space you’ll have to move. Moving around relaxes you and brings the audience closer to you.

16. Use Relaxation Techniques to Prevent Stage Fright

The prospect of encountering a crowd excites our “fight or flight” response. This can cause an increased pulse and shallow breathing. Left unchecked, it could get much worse.

You can use breathing techniques to control your body’s response to your fear of public speaking.

As your talk time approaches, practice taking deep breaths to calm your nerves. Focus on a soothing thought or image to stop your mind from racing.

If you can relax your body in the moments leading up to your presentation, and you have prepared your speech beforehand, you’ll gain momentum once you start speaking.

17. Expand Connections

At the end of your speech, you may want to continue the dialogue with your audience. When talking to a crowd of individuals who aren’t already members of your organization, you can capture your listeners’ emails, so you can expand your relationship beyond this one.

18. Arrive at the Talking Engagement Early

Standing in an unfamiliar place in front of strangers can be very stressful. Arrive at the lecture location early and walk around the room, standing at the podium or on the stage, and familiarize yourself with the layout of the room.

This will make you feel more snug in the space. Be sure to practice using the microphone and do a run-through of every visual aid you’ll use. Familiarity breeds confidence which will make speeches more fluid.

Plus, arriving early lets you greet your audience as they enter. Take a moment to look them in the eye, introduce yourself, and get a feel for them.

Knowing your audience lets you find a tone and delivery style that suits your listeners. It’s much easier to talk in front of individuals you meet than it’s to strangers.

When you introduce yourself, you also make connections with audience members. You’ll be more memorable, keeping in touch with audience members (2), much more effective.

Maintaining communication before and after a speech is a robust tool for marketing.

19. Relax and Focus

Try using deep breathing or listening to relaxing music before speaking in public. When a speaker is relaxed they have a tendency to stumble or forget parts of the speech.

It’s also easier to keep your audience’s attention and let them absorb the information if you sound natural and authoritative. When you reach the podium, it is best to take a few deep breaths, wait a few seconds, then address the crowd.

This gives you time to calm your nerves and gather your thoughts.

Visualizing the speech going well and getting a positive response from the audience is a confidence-building technique that can be used just before speaking. Confidence is key in conveying a message to others.

If you make a mistake or get nervous during your speech, you should not apologize to the audience. Instead, proceed as smoothly as possible.

Most likely nobody saw the error. By focusing on the content of the speech and the audience, it removes the mental energy and focus from one’s own worries.

Drawing attention outward can help increase concentration and reduce uncertainty.

20. Educate Yourself on the Topic

Again, even if you are delivering a speech that includes material you are familiar with, it is still helpful to do research when writing content.

Get to know the subject inside out. Know more than what you include in the presentation.

By having thorough knowledge of a subject, you will have the ability to answer questions and even provide information if you miss a spot or make a mistake.

Knowing your material will boost your confidence. If you feel like an authority on a subject, you’ll sound like an authority on a subject.

When a speaker is knowledgeable, the audience trusts the information they receive and is more likely to be persuaded by your ideas and arguments.

When using public speaking as a marketing tool, it is extremely important to know the subject well. Audiences want authenticity, compelling facts and figures, and new and fresh information.

21. Follow up

Businesses and individuals who will use public speaking engagements as a form of marketing want to stay at the forefront of audience minds.

Following up with emails and growing an e-mail list of audience members will help you strengthen your message. Maintaining a connection with your audience after the speech creates the required connections to drive business or promote yourself.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read my article on how to give a good speech.

I actually hope that its content has been of good help to you.