http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNq1uK24jN0
Last night we watched some our most favorite film artists accept awards at the Oscars. We know they can act but how did they do when it comes to public speaking? The above clip is from one of our favorite fierce woman actresses as she accepted her award for Best Actress last night. And here are some tips for your next acceptance speech so you can stay just as cool, calm and collective as Meryl!
Relax: Public speaking can be a hair-raising and frightening experience. If you have stage-fright or just hate speaking, this can almost be traumatizing. But, most jobs require you to speak publically, to speak well, at least. Carry a bottle of water with you, take a few sips, and prepare. The more prepared you are to speak, the better off you’ll be. Breathe, and act like a professional in your area. The more confident you are, the more respect you garner from your audience.
Eye Contact: Eye contact is key in giving presentations. If you’re looking into your hands, your script, or nowhere, you are not engaging with your audience. You need to connect with them, remind them that they are listening to a person, not a recording. To keep the interest of your audience, try to make eye contact with each section of the audience for 3 seconds. Do not do the sprinkler, where you let your head sweep back mechanically. Try and act as if you’re having a conversation with a large group like you’re telling a story at a large dinner event; you don’t focus on one person in particular, but you let everybody know that are involved.
Breathing/Pacing: Slow down. You might think you’re speaking slowly, but most speakers tend to rush through their most important topics leaving their audience baffled and confused. The slower you go, the more people will likely understand your concept. With each comma and period, take a pause and a breath. Nothing is worse than running out of breath at the end of a sentence. Your point drags, and your tone and decibel level get worse.
Tone: Varying intonation conveys emotion. Ending a sentence with an upwards intonation can make even the most confident and intelligent speaker sound like she knows nothing at all. Practice with tone, and try to convey your enthusiasm for your speech in those varying intonations. Monotony can put an audience to sleep, and crazy patterns of speech can put everybody on edge. Find a good balance in your speech, and emote.
Loudness: Speak loudly, and project your voice to the back of the room. Make sure everybody in the room can hear you. If you do have a script, don’t speak into it, and don’t turn your back to the audience. Speak out, and above your script. Don’t speak into the podium. If you are lucky enough to have a microphone, make sure the levels are checked before you start.
Technical Difficulties: Checking the levels of the PA system is a must, and so is checking all things technical. If you’re using a laptop for Powerpoint, or a projector, or a DVD player, or anything that uses cables, make sure it all works. Check each thing meticulously. Then, if after all that fails, you still encounter a technical difficulty, don’t let that throw you off. Apologize for the error, and move on. Take it in stride. Use your own personality to convey the idea. Make it work.
Posture: Stand strong and proud. It’s easy for even the most confident speaker to have frightened feet that keep you dancing. Nerves can go right through your legs and give you the jitters. Sometimes, dancing is a way of coping with your stage-fright. It is apparent to an audience, and it makes your speech that much jumpier and nervous. Relax! You’ve got it under control.
Structure: This is the most important part of any speech. Having a clear roadmap for your ideas can change a rambling rant into a concrete argument. If you have a thesis, supporting evidence, and a conclusion, then you are ten steps ahead of the game. If you can give each part of your speech a subheading, then you’re golden. Make sure it runs smoothly, and follow your guidelines like a map from point A to point B. That’s how you get a point across.
Know your subject: You don’t need a script. You don’t need to recite word for word a document because that’s reading. That’s not public speaking. The more you know your subject, the better off you are with just an outline. If you can stand there and speak about the topic at hand like it’s something you’ve been dealing with forever, the better your speech will be. Research your topic. Plan your goals, what you are trying to get across. Think about what you are arguing, and make sure you get it so others will get it, too.
Visuals: Use visual aids. Use powerpoint! It’s a magnificent tool. Here are a few quick tips to creating a good powerpoint. Use less than six words per bullet point unless it’s a quote. Use very contrasting colors for text and background. Do not go crazy with animation or distracting pictures. Provide a speech roadmap so people know how far along you are in your speech. Offer handouts of the slides so they can easily remember where you are if they get lost. Keep it simple, and you’ll avoid people reading instead of listening.
Introduction/Conclusion: First impressions are important; so is an introduction. Create a clever, fun introduction that grabs your audience’s attention. Make sure your audience is aware of what you will be discussing and what your primary objective is with your speech. When you conclude, make sure you wrap up with a summary of what you discussed and how your argument pertains to the world today, or what your audience should take away from your speech. Also, DO NOT end with, “Okay, and… uh… that’s it.” Say instead, “Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoyed my presentation,” or something along those lines in your own words.
Uhhhs and Likes: Avoid using these two virus words. They can sneak into your vocabulary like termites, and they can take down your entire argument. Or, if these aren’t the words that constantly appear in your speeches, find the words that you repeat often and unnecessarily. Count how many times they sprout up in your speech, and try to clean them from your vocabulary.