Perfect Public Speaking

You've said yes to a speaking engagement. The challenge is how to adequately prepare to ensure your presentation is engaging and informative. John Scarrott, Trainer and Coach to Association Professionals, outlines how you can become a better speaker with some tried and tested techniques.

Speaking in public is hard. There are no shortcuts to becoming an engaging speaker who can have an audience hanging on their every word. Of course, some great orators have an innate skill to connect with their audience, but for the rest of us, practice makes perfect.

In November 2018 I worked with a fantastic group of people at my Public Speaking Masterclass for the Association of Association Executives. The group was made up of people due to speak at the UK and Ireland Congress in December 2018.

A topic of discussion during this session was how to find the time to develop your performance as a speaker. We all have demanding day jobs – none more so than the position of a busy association professional.

In this feature, I aim to answer that question and give you some practical advice you can put into practice right now. If you've just agreed to speak, read on to gain some insights into how to make your presentation world class.

The value of practice

To gain confidence and the skills to become an engaging speaker means practice. Ideally, you would speak as much as you can to hone your skills. Of course, if you are new to presenting, this can be a challenge, to say the least. Even if you have already completed some speaking engagements, you can still further develop your skills.

The key is to try and speak to an audience as often as you can. Look for opportunities where you can practice. Try not to just practice for your next big speaking presentation. Practising as much as you can between these events is vital to gain the experience you need to become a master of presentation.

I work with my clients on the four P’s of successful speaking. These are:

• Preparation
• Practise
• Performance
• Personal Confidence

I’ve found that paying particular attention to practise has positive knock-on effects on the other three. That said, it’s the area that has the least appeal for a speaker. However, practice gives you many insights:

• When you practise you get to know whether you have the right amount of material and if you can communicate this in the time allowed.
• You can get a feeling for your words. By saying them enough times, you begin to own the words, which are in your specific voice.
• Focusing on each sentence allows you to focus on its meaning, feeling and emphasis. This enables you to connect with your audience.
• Practise also enables you to make powerful choices of words and images you choose for your slides. This, in turn, connects with your audience as they can sense the emotion, meaning and passion you are conveying with your presentation.

Also, speakers and presenters often spend what time they do have on crafting their words and slides. If one thing does tend to get squeezed off the to-do list, it’s the out-loud practice. Sometimes this is just because of a lack of time. However, often, there’s another reason: you have to listen to yourself. The first time you do listen to yourself, this can be quite a painful experience.

Practise makes perfect

There are no shortcuts to becoming a great speaker. Delivering a presentation that is informative and engages with an audience is a skill you can learn, but you have to make an effort. Often, I hear new speakers complain that they don’t have the time to practice. Look at your entire working week.

You will be amazed at the time you waste when you begin to analyse where you could fit in more practise time. Social media can be a massive drain on your time. Everyone is guilty of spending too much time on LinkedIn or Facebook. Try and cut down the time you spend on these networks and use this resource more constructively.

Ultimately, making a great presentation that will be remembered and learned from takes time to master. As with all practical skills, the more you do it, the better you become. If you speak infrequently, use the in-between times to practise your craft. Don't wait until the week before you are due to talk to start practising. Think of your verbal skill, as something that needs nurturing over time.

Here are 8 Top Tips for developing an effective practise routine:

1. Plan your practise - 
   Decide when and where you’re going to practise. Make the time in your diary and stick to it.
2. Schedule your practise - 
   Start at least three weeks before the slides are due in. This enables you to make changes to the slides based on the tweaks you make to your words when rehearsing out-loud.
3. Accept your practise environment - 
   Wherever it is available. I've practised on planes, (quietly mind you) in empty bars. If you wait for perfection, you won't practise at all. So, work with what you have. 
4. Repeat your presentation - 
   How many times should you run through your presentation? At least three. Ideally somewhere between 5 and 10 run-throughs. Full run-throughs with slides. The first time, you'll hate it. By the third time, it will start to sound better to you. You'll find that you begin to polish up the text and get a feel for where your emphasis and pause sound good.
5. Make your practise sessions realistic - 
   Try to make your practice sessions as real as you can. If you've decided to speak at the lectern, create a lectern. If you're free-standing, move around. Make your practise environment match as closely to the circumstances of your speaking as you can.
6. Practise in front of an audience - 
   It would help if you aimed to practice with an audience at least once. Use your colleagues: present your session to them. Ask them to come up with questions, things they didn’t understand. Ask for feedback.
7. Time your presentation - 
   You want your talk to be crisp and powerful. Use your rehearsals to fine-tune your speech. Look to finish under your allotted time. Then you can allow for audience laughter, pauses around critical points and spontaneity. Make your finish line 90% of your actual time.
8. Practise in other contexts - 
   Many of the speakers I work with want to slow down their delivery. Here's a way one of the speakers* I worked with discovered to practise this. This works if you have young children. When you read them a bedtime story, try consciously thinking about the pace you read to them. You may find you can get comfortable with a slower delivery that you can then adapt when you speak.

*Thanks to Mike Hyde of the Gold Club Managers Association for sharing this great idea.

John Scarrott is a Trainer and an International Coach Federation, Associate Certified Coach. He is the Association of Association Executives Trainer and Coach in the areas of membership engagement, public speaking, presentations and personal impact. He is running two Masterclasses on Public Speaking for Leaders and Presentation Skills, More details >>