How to Give a GREAT Speech

Paint pictures and evoke emotions – Use strong language to empower your presentation, which paints a picture for your listeners and makes it easier for them to remember what you said.

 

Set a Scene – Setting a scene at the beginning of your presentation will evoke emotions in your audience, lowering their filters and helping them to connect more with you.

 

Appeal to mirror neurons – The emotions you are feeling will spread subconsciously to your audience.  Your presentation should strive for this “me too” effect. Take your audience somewhere emotionally by going there first.

 

Get comfortable with silence – When there’s silence during a presentation, the audience is digesting what you said, and you’re also setting up what you’re about to say.  The audience understands what you are saying and focuses their attention on you.

 

Identify and eliminate weak language – Any word that does not add value is weak language.  Weak language reduces the impact of what you are saying and impairs your ability to connect with the audience. Examples of weak language include “um”, “like” and “so”.