Making a success of public speaking

You have to present a new strategy to your company’s international board. Not only must the strategy be approved, but you need to convince the board to give you the funding. In a few weeks you will present the new strategy to everyone involved, followed by a press conference where you will present your key product line to the wider public.

You must succeed at every stage of the game.

Too many presentations and speeches are vague and boring. Speakers want to say too much and the presentations are often too long. Multiple messages mean the audience’s attention levels drop off.

Those Powerpoint slides, intended to illuminate the message, are so crammed with information that the audience can barely focus on any of it, while the speaker focuses on the screen and not on the all-important audience. Why should they even bother to listen?

To win is to choose substance over form. A speech needs to be punctuated with key elements, delivered with confidence and clarity, that are relevant and integral to the message. This is where journalistic skills come in - reinforcing the message and making it more convincing.

The right preparation gives the speaker confidence that the speech is going to be a good one, and it is the best pre-event stress killer.

Each filmed session is led by two experienced journalists, one a specialist in the subject area (finance, marketing, high tech etc.). Firstly, they introduce the journalistic techniques, demonstrating how articles and reports are put together.

Real interview situations are then recreated to flesh out all the information and to define the central message, collating the evidence and crafting a message that is clear, straightforward and will be understood by the target audience. Participants are also taught how to manage their environment (space, respiration and eye contact) as well as other skills, such as posture and projecting the voice.