POSTED: July 11, 2020, by Towan Isom
Your strategy is your plan of action. For public speaking, it’s how you intend to create and deliver the best experience for your audience. A strategy is crucial to achieving your desired outcome. To be successful, one must intentionally focus on a few key areas. However, it is all too easy to jump the gun and just focus on content.
Without a strategy, you will likely lose your audience’s attention, fail to convey your main point, and miss an opportunity to build your personal brand. A good strategy includes understanding your audience, thorough knowledge of your idea and how you will support it, and using natural body language to accompany your content.
Start and end speech preparation by thinking of your audience. Use the ABC method: Audience before Content. Consider who they are, and their interests and background. What are their challenges or problems? What will they find helpful or valuable? What can they use, and why? The talk isn’t about you, it’s about and for them. The more you think about how to cater to them, the greater a connection you will make. Knowing them well makes your speech more a natural conversation, brings them comfort, and lowers your anxiety or stress.
Once you have your idea, based on what your audience values and needs, determine examples, illustrations, facts, and figures to support it. Facts and figures make your story 20x more likely to be remembered. Stories support ideas because the tension between what is, and what could be, captivates audiences.
Knowing the goal of your speech will help you keep focus throughout. No matter how you choose to support your idea, a good speech will remain on topic from beginning to end.
Did you know that over half of your presentation is non-verbal communication? Your natural body language greatly impacts listeners, and is arguably more important than your content. How you carry yourself will affect your credibility, and your display of confidence will garner audience attention. Eye contact, smiles, and hand gestures also help since they are far less dull than a stationary object. Use your confidence to comfort, intrigue, and engage your audience so they want to give you their full attention.
Your deep knowledge and interest in your field and topic can muddle your perspective on the quality of your ideas, the strength of your supporting arguments, and whether your tone sufficiently varies. Knowing your topic and event strategy and implementing it are two different things. In fact, 67% of strategies fail because of poor execution. Choose a peer with whom you feel comfortable to provide constructive feedback prior to presenting to a group, to ensure your strategy is solid and that you adhere to it.
Your event strategy is key to your success. Without a strategy you will fail. With a strategy you could do better. And, with a good strategy, your speaking engagement could be a huge success. A solid plan, crafted in advance, will lead to a speech that keeps your audience alert and engaged, and they will remember you. Create an event plan centered on your audience’s needs that argues a case supported by facts and is amplified by engaging body language.
