Want to make a nice speech?

The Art of Speaking is a skill. Few are born with it. Others work hard to acquire it over a period of time. It is essential that you be a good speaker if you want to become a good leader. You are asked to speak at various functions, be it family or at work or in a social gathering. Whatever the occasion, your main goal should be to get your point across, and you can only do that if you capture and keep your audience's attention. Though there is no one best way of speaking, some of the tips given below can be of help,

You have to be 'interesting' - To avoid boring your audience into unconsciousness, make a personal decision to only give talks you wouldn't mind sitting through yourself. When your topic is particularly dry, ask yourself: "If I were in the audience, how could a speaker keep me awake?"

Create positive anticipation- An eye-catching title can help draw a crowd of avid listeners. At a Sales seminar, you'll probably get more interest from a title such as "5 ways to improve your sales' than from "Theoretical aspects of Sales Management"

Be interesting right away- Never start your speech thanking everyone under the sun and how great the function is blah blah blah...... A dynamite introduction will help you win over your audience and boost your confidence from the start. You can establish instant rapport by asking a rhetorical question ("Has this ever happened to you ...") or by requesting a show of hands. Other simple but effective attention-getters include using a pertinent quotation, referring to a historical event, telling an intriguing story or stating an unusual fact. My staff once bet me that I will fall flat addressing a huge gathering of Doctors and Medical Students (nearly 500 of them) at Thanjavur Medical College as the topic was of no interest to them 'Computers in Medical Field' and I was relegated as the 9th speaker. Speaker after speaker came and gave dry lectures on various aspects of health care. The audience was getting restless and frankly bored. Watching all these, I tore up my prepared speech, walked upto the stage and started with "I am going to give you in the next 10 minutes something precious, something all your money cannot buy. Do you know what it is?". The audience settled down and you could hear a pin drop in the huge auditorium. I continued " I am going to give you time" and then went on to tell them how using computers can save them precious time in their profession that will ensure that they have more time to spend with their family. I spoke for 7 minutes and no one moved. I rate it as one of my best speeches.

Appeal to people's fascinations- People often perk up when they hear superlatives: the most, the best, the worst, the least, the tallest, the longest, etc. Here's an example: "Did you know that, according to The Book of Lists, people rank public speaking as their No. 1 fear? This fear even exceeds people's fear of death and snakes." Such statements, in addition to engaging people's interest in "what's No. 1," are doubly effective when audience members can personally identify with your remarks.

Use voice modulation- When giving a long speech on a dry topic, the surest way to torture your audience is by speaking in monotone. Varying your rate, pitch, volume and tone can help, but don't change your vocal quality for no reason; use your voice to reflect whatever mood you're trying to create. You need to take the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotion. Human being cannot hold on to one emotion for a long time. So be serious, crack a joke, be melancholic, tell a story , and so on. A good speaker also has to be a superb actor.

Offer some comic relief- The idea here is not to tell a string of jokes that you found in a speakers' joke book, but simply to add some elements of humor that are relevant to the topic. If you thread humor into the early portions of your talk, the audience will want to stay awake so they don't miss your next amusing point. If a humorous statement seems risqué or questionable, however, think twice before using it; if it backfires, you'll defeat your purpose and turn the audience against you. (Hint: If you feel a need to ask someone whether a certain statement is appropriate, it's probably not.). A warning note. Humour doesn't come to people naturally. If you do not have the skill, better do not attempt it. I was giving advice to a set of comperes for a program and told them, "for the next one week watch all the TV programs and carefully study the comperes". They nodded in agreement. I paused for a moment and then said "then, then you bloody ensure that you don't do one single thing that they do. If you can manage that you will be a superb compere". It took a while for it to sink on them, but then when they saw the humour in it, there were smiles all around.

Get to know your audience- Groups invariably pay more attention to speakers who know something about them and speak to their needs. For a simple audience profile, ask the meeting planner these questions in advance: What's the expected size and makeup of the audience? To what degree are they familiar with my topic? What are their concerns? What are the main things they'd like to know?

Use your body - If you want to be seen as interesting, be seen as interesting! Use a variety of hand gestures and body movements, not the same ones over and over. (A tip on using hand gestures: Consider your arm and hand as one unit. This way, your movements will be larger and more definite, and you won't come across as fidgety or lacking confidence.) Use your eyes to "work the room," and incorporate some fluid but non distracting pacing, as appropriate. In other words, be yourself (the one with a lot of personality), not a robot.

Read and respond to nonverbal cues- You'll learn a great deal about a group's interest level by reading facial expressions and body language. If your audience is sitting up and looking at you attentively, you've probably got them hooked. If you see people dozing off, scowling, looking at their watches or even leaving the room, consider some remedial measures by doing something differently -- and fast. Change the subject. Tell a captivating story. Insert a statement that usually gets a laugh. Increase, or vary, your volume. Walk closer toward your audience to make a key point. Broaden your gestures. Be more animated. Use a group exercise that enables people to stand up, move around or participate in small group discussions.

Lighten the room- It's especially challenging to keep people awake when you're speaking after lunch or at the end of a long day, when everyone is tired anyway. If you dim the lights so your slides will show up on the screen, you'll surely increase the snooze factor. Instead, use powerpoint presentations or videos so you can keep the lights as bright as possible -- and keep the group's focus on you.

Inject some real life- The use of anecdotes, examples and stories can make even the most technical or potentially boring topic come alive. Take examples from the world of cinema or personal life. Most people love it as they can associate with it.

Use colorful language - Since clichés ("cool as a cucumber"; "wise as an owl") won't give your speech much animation, try to think of original, vivid phrases. For example, actor-comedian Robin Williams once described his entry into a crowded room as "walking into a human car wash." It's creative and interesting, yet it gets the point across.

Share your enthusiasm. Remember that enthusiasm is infectious; if you're excited about a topic, the audience is more likely to get that feeling, too. So if you love your subject, let it show. Let the audience hear enthusiasm in your voice. Let them read it in your eyes and in your body language as you explain the reasons for your personal interest.

Do all of the above at regular intervals- Saying just one interesting thing in the introduction of your talk is simply not enough to sustain an audience's attention. Instead, lace your speech with a steady stream of examples, anecdotes, stories, quotes, rhetorical questions, humor, etc., to keep your audience alert and involved.

Finally, BE YOURSELF.