Imagine you have to give a speech in 5 days. It could be a college class speech, business speech, or even a wedding speech. How do you prepare for this public speaking event? Here are four steps that will help you create an excellent speech.

Step #1: Choose your topic

I used to waste hours and hours thinking of a topic to speak on. Then I discovered a brain storming tip which has helped me choose speech topics.

Take two minutes and write out 10 topics you could talk about. For an example I could brainstorm these topics:

• How to reach your goals
• Lessons I learned from my first job
• Three qualities every good leader has
• How to overcome fear of public speaking
• How to improve your public speaking skills fast
• How to write a book in 90 days
• Why a cruise is a great vacation
• Funny moments in child raising
• Overcome procrastination
  
• Organization made easy

In two minutes I have a list of topics. After two minutes select the best three and analyze them.

Pick the best one. Don’t waste a lot of time choosing a topic. Find something you are interested in, know something about, and meet the expectations of the audience, meeting planner, or professor.

If you don’t like the best one, repeat the entire process. Within 10 minutes you’ll either have your topic or a nice number to choose from.

Step #2: Write out your speech or make a detailed outline

The first time I gave a thirty minute speech, I did not use notes. Worse, I had not even practiced it. I rambled. I was boring. I was very discouraged afterwords. None of that would have happened if I had used this step.

The process of putting your thoughts on paper can double the quality of your speech. If you don’t write it out word for word, make a detailed outline with points.

Step #3: Practice, Practice, Practice

You can reduce your nerves by up to 83% through good preparation. Now take your notes and practice out-loud. Practice while your walking around the house, showering, or during the advertisements of favorite TV show. (By the way TV stands for “time vacuum”)

There is no substitute for good practice!

Mentally practice in the theater of your mind.  This will help implant your speech into your mind.

Step #4: Deliver with power and confidence

Backed with solid preparation, you will be able to stand up and speak with power and confidence.  Make eye contact. Have enthusiasm. Smile. Your public speaking presentation will be great.

(C) Arlen Busenitz – Speakinginfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

Have you suffered from a monotone voice? Would you like more vocal variety and a public speaking voice that sounds like music to the ears of the listeners?

In high school I was chosen to be a narrator for the spring concert. Confidently I stood on stage and delivered to several hundred people. My speech was clear and easy to listen to. However, it lacked vocal variety.

The music director told me I was emphasizing every single word. It is like having a sentence with EVERY WORD IN CAPS. Or as one of my speech mentors said, “It was like listening to a machine gun fire.”

Do you remember the old records and how sometimes they would get stuck on the same phrase and repeat over and over again. Many people get their voice stuck in one gear. They may be loud/fast, slow/soft or any combination. When it stays the same, it is monotone and can put an audience to sleep or make it difficult to concentrate.

How to Improve Your Vocal Variety

Patricia Fripp, an executive speaking, coach taught me the following public speaking technique.

Vocal Variety Technique: Only emphasize 2-3 words in a sentence.

Look at the following sentence:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

To deliver with vocal variety you may say:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

In high-school I delivered the line like this:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

Every word was emphasized. You can improve your voice and vocal variety by following Patricia Fripp’s advice: emphasize 2-3 words a sentence. Do this and it will sound like music to your audience’s ears.

To emphasize a word, change how you say it. Even pause for a micro second beforehand. This subtle shift in your voice will cause the words to stand out. Record yourself before and after. You’ll notice the extra vocal variety and your audience will love you for it.

Practice for just a couple minutes a day, and you soon develop good vocal variety and avoid being monotone.

(C) Arlen Busenitz – Speakinginfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

I shrank in my chair and tried to hide. It felt like half the audience was staring at me. My job was to run the sound at a wedding.

Simple job–except the soloist did not know how to use a microphone. He treated like it had a contagious disease and stood about three feet away! This standard sub par microphone was picking up nothing.

As the sound man, I had the microphone volume turned all the way up to catch any waves of sound. During the chorus, the soloist decided the mike was cured of it’s contagious disease. His face and voice came within inches of the mike. A sharp, high pitched shriek blasted out the loudspeakers.

Everyone was instantly on high alert and looking around for someone to blame.

I wanted to hold up a sign which said, “It was his fault–not mine!”

Too many people fail to properly use a mike. The result? Their excellent speeches are either barely heard or other sounds distract the audience. Here are several good microphone tips:

Microphone Tip #1: Test right before the event

One time I spoke at an event where the microphone was working 20 minutes before it started. Sometime between sound check and speech kickoff, the sound system was shut off. To make matters worse, there was no sound person in sight!

What did I do? I spoke a little louder for a few minutes, until the sound person returned. Now, I like to check the microphone 20 minutes before a presentation and again right before the presentation.

Get on the same page with the sound person and run through a live check for volume, etc. This is especially important with hand held microphones. You need to know how far to hold them from your mouth.

Microphone Tip #2: Stand close to the microphone

Have you noticed how most people have microphone phobia? They stand too far back or don’t speak directly into it. Do you do this?

Many microphones have limited pick up distance. You almost have to eat the microphone. Have you heard the squealing feedback that sometimes comes across a sound system? That actually means you are too far away from the microphone. Move closer so the sound guy can turn down the microphone and reduce the feedback.

Microphone Tip #3: Turn it on and off

I love lapel mikes. They free up my hands and give me freedom of movement. However, they have two drawbacks:

First, we have to remember to turn them on.

Second, it can make for some interesting and embarrassing moments if we forget to turn them off.

At college their was a professor who forget to shut off the lapel mike when he went to take a restroom break. Imagine his surprise when he walked back in the room and wondered why everyone was snickering and trying to act normal!

The microphone is a speakers best friend. It helps save our voice and helps the audience listen to our message. Apply these public speaking microphone tips and your message will be heard.

(C) Arlen Busenitz. All Rights Reserved – Speakinginfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

Five days ago I watched as Tom took first place in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. He practiced a technique that only a few out of one hundred speakers use.

Speech Delivery Tip #25: Act out your Presentation

During his Speech Tom used several phrases:

"Men took off their suite coats and threw them down."

"Audience rushed out."

"The Speaker pointed at the audience"

Good action sentences. However, Tom acted out every single one. He woound up and pretend to spike a suite coat. He rushed to one side of the stage to give us a visual of the audience rushing out. When he talked about the speaker pointing at the audience, he pointed at us also.

The result? His speech came alive, the audience's attention was held throughout the speech, and it was very memorable.

How can you act out your next presentation? Look through your speech and see what you can act out.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

On a Tuesday evening, I plugged my camcorder into the TV, and carefully screened my latest speech. One fact jumped out at me. My eye contact was too congested. If the audience had been a slice of bread and my eye contact the peanut butter, there would have been gaps the size of the Nevada Dessert. Do you connect with all members of the audience?

Public Speaking Tip #14: Spread your eye contact to every section of the audience.

As mentioned elsewhere, it is good to have eye contact for 5-8 seconds with each person. You don't have to look at each person, just hit every section of the audience. When you look at one person, the people around feel like you are speaking right to them. Hit all corners, the front, the back, the middle. If you struggle in this area, try doing a figure eight with your eyes. Start in the back on the right side, move to the center back, the left back, the middle, right front, etc. It takes practice, but this is how you have good eye contact and connect with the audience.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

In high school I was chosen to be a narrator for the spring concert. Confidently I stood on stage and delivered to several hundred people. My speech was clear, easy to listen to, but lacked vocal variety. The music director told me I was emphasizing every single word. It is like having a sentence with every word in caps.

This made me easy to understand but can quickly bore the audience.

What’s the answer?

Presentation Tip #10: Only Emphasize 2-3 Words in a Sentence.

Look at the following sentence:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

If you were delivering it, you might say:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

In High-school I delivered this line like this:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

Every word was emphasized. You can improve your voice and vocal variety by following Patricia Fripp’s advice: emphasize 2-3 words a sentence.

To emphasize a word, change how you say it. Even pause for a micro second beforehand. This subtle shift in your voice will cause the words to stand out.

Record yourself before and after. You’ll notice the extra vocal variety and your audience will love you for it.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

I was suffering from public speaking embarrassment. For 20 minutes I had walked around the room greeting people. I smiled, made small talk, and burned off some nervous energy.

Seven minutes before Showtime, I was slammed with an embarrassing realization.

My zipper was wide open. Have you been there? My mind raced back to the ten plus people I had talked to. How many had noticed? Why had no one said anything? Friends don’t let friends walk around with unknown wardrobe malfunctions!

If I had gone on stage with the blinds open, that could have been embarrassing. Thankfully, I caught it before I went up on stage. However, as speakers it’s very important to check our zippers, our buttons, and anything else that could be a distraction.

Not only will a wardrobe malfunction distract the audience but it can throw us off once we realize it. Every speaker has to recover from this, so don’t feel too bad.

What’s the solution? Do a full body mirror check before you walk into the room. Is your hair fine? Food on the face?

Next, as you are waiting your turn to speak make sure your zipper and buttons are OK. Tuck the shirt in. Consciously do this, so you don’t have to do this on stage. It is hard to speak and be checking your wardrobe at the same time.  

What if you are speaking and notice something is wrong? If you can discreetly fix it, do so. If the audience is well aware of it, make a joke out and keep on going. You could say, “My worst nightmare has come true. (pause for laughter)” Fix the problem and try and work it into your content.

Don’t be caught with your zipper down. Check your wardrobe before you go on stage and you’ll prevent public speaking embarrassment.

(C) Arlen Busenitz – Speakinginfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts

A speaker can prepare and deliver a great presentation. However, if people can’t hear the message, it’s like having a table full of pizza and no one able to eat it. The microphone is every speakers friend or worst enemy.

Have you noticed how most people have microphone phobia? They stand too far back or don’t speak directly into it. Do you do this? Unfortunately this can hinder the audience from hearing us adequately.

Here are three public speaking tips for using a microphone properly.

Microphone Tip #1: Test right before the event

Several weeks ago I spoke at an event where the microphone was working 20 minutes before hand, but then was shut off in the back of the room prior to my speech kickoff. To make matters worse, there was no sound person in sight!

What did I do? I spoke a little louder for a few minutes, until the sound person returned. Now, I like to check the microphone 20 minutes before a presentation and again right before the presentation.

Get on the same page with the sound person and run through a live check for volume, etc. This is especially important with hand held microphones as we need to find out how far to hold it from our mouth.

Microphone Tip #2: Stand close to the microphone

Many microphones have limited pick up distance. You almost have to eat the microphone. Have you heard the squealing feedback that sometimes comes across a sound system? That actually means you are too far away from the microphone. Move closer so the sound guy can turn down the microphone and reduce the feedback.

Microphone Tip #3: Turn it on

I love lapel mikes. They free up my hands and give me freedom of movement. However, they have two drawbacks:

First, I have to remember to turn them on.

Second, it can make for some interesting and embarrassing moments if we forget to turn them off.

At college their was a professor who forget to shut off the lapel mike when he went to take a restroom break. Imagine his surprise when he walked back in the room and wondered why everyone was snickering and trying to act normal!

The microphone is a speakers best friend. It helps save our voice and helps the audience listen to our message. Apply these tips and we can make the microphone our friend.

(C) Arlen Busenitz. All Rights Reserved

http://www.Speakinginfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

Website - More Posts