Weve all had it happen. Were in front of a crowd, giving a speech, and we see the eyes of the audience members glaze over. Theres a collective boredom hovering just above their heads as we watch their attention slip away. Realizing theyre tuning us out, we panic. Speak more quickly. Question whether we should skip parts of the presentation. Start to shift our weight from side to side, criticizing ourselves for skipping too many classes during speech and forensics in high school.
Giving presentations isnt easy. And the old suggestion about imagining your audience naked has, as far as I know, never helped anyone. The only way to making public speaking less of a torture, is to do everything in your power to keep your audience engaged. Otherwise, its torture not only for you, but for all of them as well.
So what can you do to give better presentations? Here are a few tips:
Prepare your material. Know it inside and out. Practice the speech over and over. Nothing is worse than watching a speaker stand on a stage and read or stutter over his own notes. The most engaging dialogue is conversational, not page after page of long-winded sentences. Keep in mind also...