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1. Knowledge. It is important that you know what you are talking about. Read, read and read. Being a wide-reader is a great help because you have a better idea of the topic you need to discuss.
2. Preparation. Nothing can replace good planning and preparation. Analyze what you need for your speech, like visual aids. Review your speech. The more prepared you are in your speech, the more likely you will succeed in delivering it.
3. Message. Your message should suit your audience. Evaluate your message. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does it teach something new to your audience that they did not know before?
- Does it entertain your audience?
- Does it persuade your audience to practice what you have discussed?
- Does your speech share knowledge that can help people?
4. Language. Learn to use the appropriate words to suit your audience and occasion. Avoid using jargons. Use simple and understandable terms. Refrain from using uhm's and ah's. Using these words convey lack of confidence and knowledge of your subject. Instead, pause whenever you need to recall what you need to say.
5. Self-confidence. By no means should you let your audience doubt your ability. You can show your confidence by looking well prepared and delivering your speech well.
6. Enthusiasm. A good speaker can reach out to his audience and exhibit enthusiasm in his work no matter how he feels. He shows vitality in his topics, his choice of words and his gestures.
7. Listening skills. You also need to be a good listener in order to be an effective speaker. There are three type of listening according to their purpose:
- Emphatic listening - you provide emotional support to the person who is talking.
- Comprehensive listening - you gather information to form an accurate conclusion or idea. You focus on details and facts.
- Critical listening - this type of listening is most useful in decision making.
8. Sense of self. This pertains to how you perceive yourself. It is communicated to your audience as confidence, self-assurance and power.
9. Integrity. Your sense of self forms your integrity. People listen to you if you have respect and confidence in conveying your message.
10. Sincerity. A good speaker believes in what he is saying.
The ability to speak in public pays well in every part of your life, whether you are in a small group sharing opinions or delivering a speech in front of an organization.
During presentations, it is the question and answer part that serves as a good occasion to know how much the audience understood or how much they did not understand from all of that speaking you did. It is also the best opportunity to be able to show your sense of humor, if you have one. Also, the question and answer portion is a good means to get your audience to participate.
The most used way, if not the most boring one, to open up the question and answer portion is: are there any questions? Or, “Now let's take in questions.”
To make the presentation more fun for them as well as for you, as the presenter, to appear you are enjoying your time and are also having fun, why don't you try saying this as a way to open up the session on question and answer: “The last presentation I had, the first question I received was, `Aren't you tired yet?' and `Do you have the time?'”
In order for you to continually captivate your audience, you should as much as possible try to do something different from the regular presentations people do. It is also a good idea if you prepare for the question and answer part. Try to spend time thinking of the possible questions some people in your audience may ask after your presentation. Now that you have a fairly good idea, create some good natured humor to go along with your answers. Use these before you provide the answer that is serious and real.
The audience will think best of you if you provide them with a witty remark that in their opinion seems spontaneous and does not appear rehearsed, even if it is.
But what if no one dares ask the first question? This problem will be automatically solved by planting – this time – rehearsed questions on some members of the audience.
What you could do is to select some people from the audience and ask them ever so politely to assist you with your post-presentation session. You may ask them as you are researching for the profile of the audience you will be presenting to or while you are warming up to them prior to the program. If in case they agree to being your accomplice, request that they raise their hand when you open up the session on question and answer. This is the time that they will be asking you that pseudo-question.
The question you will ask them to ask serves two purposes: to break the ice through humor and encourage others to ask their own serious questions, or that they should be amused enough to stay still and listen until the end of your presentation.