Most speeches have three main components: the introduction, the body and the closing.
The introduction is possibly the most important part of your speech, because you want to grab your audience's attention from the start. So come up with something clever, shocking or interesting right at the very beginning. Here are some possible techniques to use:
*Be dramatic. Say something like, "I'm about to reveal a plan that will drastically alter the face of humanity as we know it!" when your presentation is really about a new brand of facial soap.
*Tell a joke. Getting people to laugh will loosen them up and make them feel inclined to like you and hear what you have to say. Don't try this if your jokes are usually met by silence or groans. Test out your opening on your most brutally honest of friends.
*Tell a story. This will make the audience see you as a person instead of a boring public speaker, thus giving you an air of accessibility. just keep the story short (under 1 minute) and relevant to the rest of your presentation. The point of the story is to lead the audience into your speech, so if your anecdote ends with your dog saving the day, and your speech is about bank mergers, you might have a hard time segueing from your intro into the rest of the speech.
*Pose a question. Asking audience members for their input will make them feel involved, even if you're going to answer your own question.
The body is your speech. Everything you want to say should come out here, in an organized, un-trivialized fashion. Here are some possible techniques:
*Use a formal outline. You can prepare for writing the content of your speech by outlining your major points with Roman numerals. Most good speeches have two or three main points, each of which has a couple of sub-points or examples. Formally outlining your speech will ensure that your logical flow makes sense and that your audience doesn't get lost. It will also help you figure our where the holes in your speech are, in case you have to do some last-minute extra research.
*Mind-map. A technique developed by a British brain researcher in the 1970s, mind-mapping is a less stiff version of writing up an outline. Instead of making a list, you write the main topic of your speech in the center of a piece of paper, then draw branches extending from it that highlight your key points. Then draw more branches from the key points to elaborate on the sub-points. The good thing about mind maps is that they don't confine you to listing your ideas in any particular order; you can just use your creative juices and let the ideas flow. Then, once you've mind-mapped, you can create a more formal outline.
However you create your body, the key point is that you are organized. The audience must be able to follow your thoughts.
The closing--the way you end a speech--is almost as important as the way you begin it. The audience will be most restless at the end, and you have to find a way to tie everything together so they don't walk away remembering how badly they were fidgeting. So sum up everything for them in a few concise sentences and leave them with a witty line. If appropriate, also ask for questions. This doesn't mean saying, "Any- questions?-No?-I-didn't-think-so," then running away. Instead, after you ask for questions, give the audience at least 10 seconds to respond. If there are questions, keep each response short (under 1 minute), and never take a guess at an answer. If you don't know how to respond to something, take down the questioner's email or phone number and tell her you'll get back to her soon. Or you can just say, "Honestly, I don't know," and leave it at that.
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