Not all of us are born Cicero, but in the lives of almost all of us there are situations when we need to make a speech. For a person who has no experience in public speaking, such a prospect causes excitement and serious jitters. What can I say: even experienced lecturers experience similar emotions before meeting with an unfamiliar audience. A shy person will most likely try to avoid such a situation. But if you want to make a career, become a recognizable person, then you definitely cannot refuse to make a speech in front of the public, be it a congratulation, a campaign appeal, an annual report or a scientific report.
Moreover: it makes sense to volunteer to give a speech if there is such an opportunity. It is only important not to lose face and make a favorable impression on the audience by demonstrating erudition, sharpness of mind, a subtle sense of humor, competence, and sometimes even solidarity. By being well prepared to give a speech, you will be able to achieve your goals, and you will feel confident in front of the public. In this article you will find answers to all the most pressing questions regarding how to properly prepare for a public speech in front of a large audience.
Do you need to prepare for a performance if you have the ability to improvise?
People are divided into several categories:
- on those who do not mince words;
- for those who have difficulty finding words;
- on those whose eloquence depends on the situation.
The most eloquent people are certainly more likely to give a good speech spontaneously, but even they cannot always count on success if they have to improvise in front of an unfamiliar audience, answering unexpected questions. Even famous showmen, who have a lot of looseness, a sense of humor and a vocabulary, claim that the best improvisation is prepared improvisation.
It will be a great idea to prepare jokes, witticisms, answers to tricky questions so that they seem to have been born during the performance itself and spontaneously uttered. But not a single experienced speaker will dare to let this matter take its course, and we do not advise you to do so.
Oratory: exercises
Many of us would like to have public speaking talent: the ability to speak beautifully and persuasively and present our ideas can greatly improve everyone's life. But what steps do you need to take towards becoming an outstanding public speaker? This is where special exercises come to the rescue. They relate to voice, breathing, articulation, diction and other components that are of great importance for any performance. There are very few of them, even this amount is quite enough to improve your speaking skills and learn to be a charismatic and memorable speaker. Read more…
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What does preparing for a public speaking include: plan
Typically, preparing to perform in front of an audience consists of the following main steps:
- Audience assessment.
- Setting the purpose of the speech, choosing a topic.
- Selection of material.
- Structuring, drawing up a plan.
- Decoration of speech.
- Speech memorization, rehearsal.
Let's look at each of these stages in more detail.
Audience rating
The most important thing is to create a social profile of the group you are speaking to, to understand what brought them together.
The audience can be scientific, student, gathered together to get acquainted with new scientific developments, discuss their work, and so on. These people will not be interested in listening to the truisms that the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea and the Earth revolves around the Sun. But such an audience will understand complex terms, and you will not need to try to describe complex phenomena in accessible language. It is advisable to immediately get to the point, reducing the introduction to a minimum, and pay more attention to the essence of the issue, rather than chewing on certain concepts.
It is completely different to speak to residents of a building who have gathered, say, to meet with a candidate for deputy. You need to speak to them in simple language, touching on issues that concern them. Similar advice can be given regarding speaking to the company team. Only the employees of your organization will be concerned about working conditions and wages, and the residents will be concerned about major home renovations, landscaping of the yard, or the opening of a kindergarten or school in the neighborhood.
Determining the purpose of the speech, choosing a topic
It often happens that the purpose and topic of the speech are already predetermined. For example, when your supervisor invited you to share your research on a specific problem with the scientific community at a thematic conference. Or when the head of the enterprise instructed you to tell the workforce about the results of work for the year and share with the employees plans for the development of the company.
But sometimes the choice of topic is left to the speaker. Then you should find where the interests of the audience intersect with your competencies. For example, at a meeting with the population, a teacher can speak on the issue of developing a network of educational institutions in a microdistrict, improving the quality of education, and organizing children’s leisure time. It’s not worth making the main topic of your speech solving the residents’ communal problems, if this is clearly not your strong point. Listeners will still feel that the speaker is “floating” on this issue, and these points will not be in his favor.
The choice of the topic of speech also depends on the purpose for which it is pronounced. Goals are often divided into:
- socio-political (reports at non-scientific conferences and congresses, including response, parliamentary, campaign and rally);
- academic (lectures, scientific reports);
- spiritual (sermon);
- judicial (accusatory speech of the prosecutor, defensive speech of the lawyer);
- social and everyday (toasts, greetings, congratulatory and funeral speeches).
The goals and occasion of the speech dictate the choice of speech style, the possibility of using terms, jargon and colloquial expressions. So, at a business forum, colloquial words will be inappropriate, and complex terms will be incomprehensible to ordinary people. Professional jargon will decorate a speech delivered in front of a work collective, but it will also spoil it if people who have nothing to do with the relevant profession have gathered in front of you.
Selection of material, or invention
When choosing what to say, what information to touch upon in your speech, you can focus on the semantic models proposed by Socrates. The content of speech may include:
- definition of certain concepts, phenomena;
- indication of properties, characteristic features, distinctive features;
- classification, place of the subject of conversation in it;
- considering the subject of conversation as part of the whole;
- comparisons, comparisons;
- description of cause-and-effect relationships;
- designation of the circumstances of the case (what, where, when and how it happened);
- giving examples from life, history, literature, films or from personal experience;
- reference to authorities (quotes, aphorisms, proverbs).
Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to include in your speech:
- contrast analysis (before – now, with us – with them);
- indication of the future;
- justified (reasoned) assessments;
- identification (“I’m the same as you”) or solidarity (“I share your feelings”);
- opposition (“your enemies are my enemies”).
It is clear that it is impossible to include all of the above at once in a speech. But it’s still easier to select the right one when there is plenty to choose from.
Structuring the introduction, or disposition
Any speech consists of three blocks:
- Introduction.
- Main part.
- Conclusion.
The introduction usually includes an etiquette moment (greeting, introduction) and an indication of the topic of the speech. You need to figure out how to attract the attention of listeners, since this is also an important task of the introductory part. Tell a story, make a joke, ask the audience a question, and the task will be accomplished.
The main part can be built in different ways. Most often, information is arranged in a speech according to one of the following schemes:
- inductive (from general to specific);
- deductive (from particular to general);
- analogies (comparisons);
- concentric (around one idea to which the speaker constantly returns);
- stepwise (sequential consideration of several problems);
- historical (that is, chronological).
The choice of scheme is dictated by the material selected at the previous stage. A combination of several options is welcome.
The final part of the speech contains a summary of what was said in the central part and a conclusion. The conclusion should not be dry; it can carry a certain emotional charge or even a call to action if this corresponds to the purpose of the speech.
Decoration of speech, or elocution
Good speech is understandable, engaging, lively. What makes it so is not only the behavior of the speaker, but also his language. To decorate speech, so-called rhetorical tropes and figures of speech are used.
Examples of tropes:
- metaphor (transferring the name of one object to another based on their similarity in some way);
- epithet (figurative definition);
- allegory (indication of a phenomenon using an abstract image, as in fables);
- hyperbole and litotes (figurative exaggeration and understatement);
- allusion (hint).
Some of the most commonly used figures of speech by speakers include:
- a rhetorical question;
- rhetorical exclamation;
- sermocinatio (conditionally direct speech, for example, a speaker’s retelling of a dialogue in free presentation).
These techniques contribute to the dialogization of oratorical speech, creating a feeling of communication and feedback.
Memorization and speech rehearsal
Do I need to learn the speech by heart? Is it possible to read it in front of an audience? These are the questions that often worry a person who does not have much time to prepare for a performance.
We have to disappoint the laziest: reading a speech from a sheet is not the best practice. It seems that the speaker is unfamiliar with the topic of his speech, and this does not contribute to the formation of trust in him. This is only permissible in two cases:
- it is important to deliver a speech in specific terms;
- The speaker is out of shape (not feeling well), but is familiar with the topic of the speech.
But even in these cases, it doesn’t hurt to read what you’ve written at least once before the performance.
Regarding learning speech, on the contrary, we will support those who do not want to spend time and effort on this. This is really unnecessary. It is enough to give a speech 2-3 times, rehearsing it the day before the speech.
Instead of trying to remember everything, it is better to sketch out an outline of your speech, writing down numbers and dates, as well as quotes that you cannot reproduce from memory. If you sometimes look at the “cheat sheet”, there is no harm in it, because of this the impression of your performance will only improve. Let people see that you prepared for the meeting with them, and did not treat this event with disdain.
At the stage of memorizing a speech, it also doesn’t hurt to think about what questions listeners might ask you and how best to answer them. This home preparation will allow you to feel much more confident in front of an audience and overcome anxiety before a performance.
It is necessary to express yourself not only precisely, but also figuratively
Here is an example from the book of the hypnologist Boule. The person in hypnosis was told: “You ate fatty foods.” Then the processes in the gallbladder were experimentally studied, but no results similar to the picture of real saturation with fatty foods were found. Then they changed the formula of suggestion: “You see on the table in front of you a lot of delicious, nutritious, fatty dishes - scrambled eggs with lard, sausage, butter, ham with mustard, pork with horseradish. You start eating by choosing what you like...” X-rays of the stomach and gallbladder showed a picture similar to that which occurs after actually eating such food.
The more specific the speech, the brighter the visual ideas, and in vain, in the pursuit of scientism, the imagery of speech is eradicated. Thus, the newspaper wrote about how the director of the popular science film “Be Clean Air and Water” handed it over to the customer. The announcer's text began with the words: “Scientists formulate this problem simply: either people will make there is less smoke in the air, or smoke will make there are fewer people on Earth.” Two respectable customer specialists saw sedition in this and corrected the text as follows: “Scientists formulate this problem simply: either people will ensure sufficient purification of emissions into the atmosphere and water bodies, or the fauna and flora will be subject to destruction.” And it became boring.
ALSO SEE: Learn to speak clearly and expressively: exercises for developing speech breathing
The poetry of speech contributes to its perception. For example, architect F.O. Shekhtel once addressed his listeners with the following words: “There is hardly a fairy tale more magical than the fairy tale about three sisters: Architecture, Painting and Sculpture. Since our world has existed, we have never ceased to be fascinated by this constant fairy tale, in which Music, Poetry and other muses are no less involved...” The audience remembered this performance for a long time.
It is advisable to use direct addresses more often in speech . This technique helps to activate the thinking of listeners, since they are thereby directly involved in solving the problems presented.
The beginning of Cicero’s speech against Catalina, from which many generations of orators learned, sounded like this: “How long will you, Catalina, abuse our patience? How long will you continue to mock us in your rage?”
Expressions like: “We’ll try to solve this issue together with you”, “Now let’s approach this same issue from a different angle...”, “Let’s look at this problem from a different point of view”, “What do we know about this matter?”, “So what do we see? invite the listener to actively interact with the lecturer. Use personal pronouns and colloquial abbreviations.
Psychological preparation for public speaking
It's normal to feel afraid of speaking in public. Don't be shy to admit to yourself that you are feeling anxious and worried. This is necessary in order to learn how to remove them.
Exercise to overcome pre-show jitters:
- Imagine a room filled with unfriendly people. In the front row are the sharks of the pen, who are eager to “bite you” to feed their self-esteem. And so you go on stage, go to the podium. The crowd cheers, the journalists grin wickedly. And now you will give your speech. Feel your muscles tense and your heart beat faster. The next step is to learn how to relax muscle tension.
- Imagine that you are lying on the seashore. We roll up a warm bath to you and wash your feet. The next wave gently washes you to the waist and so on, until the positive energy under the guise of a gentle sea wave covers you completely, forcing you to plunge into a relaxed, blissful state.
- Remember this state and, when you are about to go on stage, try to resurrect it.
You can also paint yourself a picture that you are standing behind the scenes.
There are kind, beautiful, smiling people in the hall. They applaud, inviting you onto the stage. The applause gets louder and you finally part the curtain and step onto the stage, catching the admiring glances of the audience. Try to treat your upcoming public speaking not as a test, but as a reward, and you will definitely do well.
Keep it short
Even ancient rhetoricians warned against long phrases, since they were bad for the audience’s ears and the speaker’s breathing. Cicero argued that the greatest virtue of an orator is not only to say what is necessary, but also not to say what is not necessary. How is Caesar's famous saying “I came, I saw, I conquered” better than “First I came, then I saw and then I conquered.” It is advisable to be more precise.
The famous physicist P. Dirac spoke precisely and demanded accuracy from others. One day, after finishing his message, he turned to the audience: “Any questions?” “I don’t understand how you got this expression,” said one of those present. “This is a statement, not a question,” said Dirac, “are there any questions?”
What else should you consider when preparing to speak in public?
Before you utter your first words, a certain opinion has already been formed about you. The fact that people are greeted by appearance has not yet been canceled. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to get yourself in order, relax, and dress appropriately. Clothing should match your status and occasion.
Many women intuitively know what can be worn and what should be left for another time. But still, do not hesitate to seek advice from a stylist-image maker, especially if your career is at stake.
Speaking in front of a large audience is an excellent chance to express yourself, and you should not miss it. If you prepare well for giving a speech, this event will not become a nightmare memory for you, but quite the opposite. It is possible that over time you will even enjoy speaking in public. Eloquence to you and responsive listeners!
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Online program "Modern Rhetoric"
In 8 weeks in this program, you will master and learn how to apply traditional and modern rhetoric techniques for speeches, presentations, vlogging, stand-ups and much more. You will learn to speak clearly, distinctly, control your voice, behave correctly on stage and work with the audience, cope with public fear, prepare a good speech - from planning and searching for material to the actual text of the speech, and master many other important skills related to performances. Find out more...
We wish you strength to overcome any fears, and endless inspiration to learn everything you want!
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- Beginning of public speaking
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- Oratory: exercises
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- How to win the hearts of your audience: a cheat sheet for successful public speaking
- How to become a storyteller
- Tips for working effectively with your audience
- Techniques for maintaining audience attention
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Key words:1Rhetoric
