Preparing to give a speech does not mean you have to go into hiding. Being prepared for your speech means is a great way to overcome speech anxiety and to insulate you from the risk of embarrassment. The more you prepare the less stressed out you will be over the whole thing! Get ready for face the crowd with these small steps to the stage and learn how to capture your audience at the same time.

This chapter is designed to provide you with a quick look at several different elements of speech preparation. It is not meant to be a detailed or comprehensive examination of speech preparation. Instead, use the ideas mentioned here to help you get an idea of some things you will need to consider when preparing for a public speaking engagement. Later chapters will address some of these key components in detail.

The first thing you will need to determine the subject matter of your speech. Will it be about something to cause a debate? If it is, are you prepared for the questions or accusations that will be thrown your way? Research and prepare yourself. If you will be presenting at a seminar write about the subject at hand. Toward what is the seminar geared and why were you chosen? Use those questions to guide you. Now that you know what you want to talk about go write your speech.

Remember you want your speech to be about the occasion. For instance, the speech should not be about death or your taxes if it to be delivered at a wedding. If you are giving a seminar on how marketing has changed in the past 10 years, you would not want to talk about animals. Will you be doing the majority of speaking at the event or will it be a short announcement? You do not want eight pages of notes for a five-minute piece.

Make sure you have an opening attention-catcher; you do not want to start with a textbook page. Wake the audience up, get them excited about your topic and speech.

Every speech has three parts to it a beginning, middle and an end, make sure not to leave anything off. The ending should make them remember what you talked about, whether it was something helpful, serious or humorous.

Some people believe it will be a piece of cake to stand in front of a crowd, give a speech until they get to the podium, and go blank. You should make sure you are prepared for the speaking engagement you are attending ahead of time.

That way, if you need to fix something you can. Pull out those index cards and start jotting down any notes you might need, after all you really do not want to pull out a waded up piece of paper from which to read. Make sure to number your cards, too, in case you get up on stage and they fall to the floor. If you plan on using slides make sure to look at your audience when you are giving the speech. This will help you know if they understand or are confused, if they are bored or interested. Try memorizing key portions of your speech before hand but do not have this as your only resort. Practice your speech in front of the mirror and see what your body language is saying. Little steps like these can go a long way toward producing a successful presentation.

Do not forget: appearance is important when giving a speech in front of others. You do not want to show up to a business convention in raggedy jeans and a t-shirt with remnants of your lunch on it. It does not matter if you are talking about being hip or not, that is the worse way to appear. Try walking in with a crisp clean suit and see the responses.

Remember to put away your chewing gum when you are giving your speech, it distracts others and could get in the way of your words. Speak in a loud and clear voice, you do not want to mumble or whisper to your audience. Try to pretend you are talking to the person in the very back of the room. You may even want to practice talking in the room before hand to see how loud you can get without sounding funny.

If the audience walks away talking about your speech you might get a few extra clients or change a few opinions. This is a chance to really use your speech as a networking tool. Consider having a table in the back full of items for audience members to take home or purchase. Make sure you have plenty of business cards there, you never know when one may need a speaker or will like to contact you later!

Articles Source - Free Articles
About the Author

For more information Regarding Public Speaking Please Visit

Public Speaking