HOW TO STREAMLINE YOUR SPEECHES!

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G

My Toastmaster Club, Tick Talk Toastmasters of Carlsbad, CA, recently joined the local Chamber of Commerce. We wanted to build our membership and felt that business owners, companies, professionals, sales staff, etc. would benefit greatly from knowing how Toastmasters can help them communicate better, in both their professional and personal lives. Hence, the following is an article I wrote for their Business Journal.

"You know you’ve 'arrived' when someone asks you to give a presentation to a live audience. Whether you talk about your business, products, services, new market trends, or hobbies, the rules are the same.

As a newbie, It is very tempting to want to tell your audience everything you know about your specific topic. But, a word of advice “Less is More!” It’s better to leave your audience clamoring for more than overdoing it with minutiae clichés, pet words, and jargon. The mind and the seat can only absorb so much. Better to save some material for a follow-up speech than to overdo it.

While the topic may be of utmost interest to you, if you’ve not engaged your audience, or given them something to think about, or take action on, then you run the risk of losing them!

Here are some tips, from a 28 year veteran of public speaking, to help you streamline your talk:

• Organize your material. Make sure it has a strong opening, body, and conclusion!

• Rehearse your speech! Make sure you “own the words” before getting in front of an audience. This will help you stay focused, handle nerves, stay within a specified time frame!

• Start your presentation with a quote, statistic, or controversial idea … it’s a good way to grab your audience’s attention.

• Use audio/visual aides: a handout, or miniature CD to give more details or examples.
Use slides, an overhead projector, flipchart, or music to create a mood.

• Wrap it up by asking your audience a question, e.g., “Before I conclude, are there any questions?”

• Tell your audience you’d be happy to send them more information, if they’d like to leave their name and email address at the end of your presentation.

The latter point is an excellent way to follow up with them and to assess if they have a genuine need of your products or services. It is a non-threatening way to market to a possible future client

These are just a few tools to help you streamline your presentation so that it flows, is interesting, and lets the audience know you are an expert on your subject. Hence, Less is More! If you’d like more information, please contact me at: 760-732-0663 or www.ticktalk.org."

Happy Speaking!

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Artist ● Speaker ● Writer
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2008 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you.