HOW TO STREAMLINE YOUR SPEECHES!

By Shirley M. Carolan

When you first join Toastmasters International it is very tempting to want to tell your audience everything you know about a specific topic. Take it from a 27 year veteran, that isn’t the best way to go!

One of the toughest lessons I had to learn is that “Less is More!” I didn’t conquer this lesson overnight. It took several years to appreciate and understand the benefits of this. First, I had to conquer the fear that others would think I didn’t know my subject if I didn’t include everything I knew about it. Then I ran l amuck trying to select only the salient points. Organizing them into a logical flow was another challenge. After all, everything in Toastmasters is timed and I needed to be sure the material I did select would hold up under scrutiny with an opening, body, and close!

It is far better to leave your audience clamoring for more than to overdo it with minutiae , especially with clichés, pet words, and jargon. The mind and the seat can only absorb so much. Better to save some material for a follow-up speech than to overdo it.

Boredom can also cause you audience to tune you out. While the topic may be of utmost interest to you, if you’ve not engaged your audience, or given them something to think about or take action on, then you run the risk of losing them!

Here are a few tips to help you streamline your talk:

• Start your presentation with a quote, statistic, or controversial idea is a good way to grab their attention.

• Use a handout to give more details or examples.

• Use slides, an overhead projector, flipchart, or music to create a mood.

• Ask your audience a question(s ) at the start or even conclusion..

• Tell your audience you’d be happy to send them more information if they’d like to leave their name and email address at the end of your presentation.

These are just a few tools to help you streamline your presentation so that it flows, is interesting and lets the audience know you are an expert on your subject. Hence, Less is More!

Stay tuned for more tips!

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Artist ● Speaker ● Writer
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2008 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you.