Help! I have to speak in public! What should I do? With public speaking as the world's number one fear, it is not surprising that you should feel this way. The thing is, though, that with a bit of information, you can overcome this. You, too, can deliver high quality speeches, while entertaining the crowd.
A good speech has a powerful introduction, three relevant points, and a solid conclusion.
The introduction can be broken into three parts: A capture, thesis, and motivation.
A capture is something that will grab your audience's attention. Something they can relate to. Sometimes it can be something absurd, or a joke; sometimes it can just be a simple statement that everyone can relate to and will make them think. Make sure, though, that it is somewhat relevant to the topic of your speaking engagement. It is your speech, so think about your audience, and what might relate to them.
Your thesis a one sentence summary of what you want to say, or the point you want to prove. Keep it short and punchy. Don not give away your whole speech in your thesis. Leave some room for suspense.
The motivation should be a call to action, or some sort of challenge for your audience. This keeps them involved in your speech. It can be a statement as simple as "If I can do it, you can do it!" or a question, such as "Shouldn't we do something about it?"
Now that you have finished your introduction, you can move on to the three main points. What the points are entirely depends on your topic. If you want to be really technical, each point can be broken down into three sub points. For some reason, breaking things down into threes seems to be the most effective way of delivering a speech. It makes sense, seeing that a triangle is the strongest geometric structure.
Finally, you can move on to your conclusion. The conclusion, like all the other parts of a speech, can be broken down into three points: A summary, tie in and conclusion.
A summary is just that: a summary of what you have said in the speech. Make it short and punchy. Do not try to cover everything from the speech in the summary.
Your tie in should be a one or two sentence statement that makes reference to your original capture. This is important to bring a sense of completion to the speech. It also gets your audience's attention once again before your final conclusion.
Your conclusion should bring home what you said in your thesis. It should be strong and conclusive, based on the evidence you have presented.
With a proper introduction, three points and a conclusion, your quality speech is complete. The next time you feel petrified about public speaking, take a breather, read this article, and follow the pattern. If you do, you can learn to entertain the crowd while you get the point across.
Happy speaking!