The Basics
In addition to speaking the truth, there are five “basics” or fundamentals of public speaking:
Audience
Public speaking starts here—with the people you are going to be talking to. Who are they? What are they interested in? What do they know and care about the subject? Are there any particular characteristics of this group of people you’re talking to that you need to take into account? What do they know about you and your organization? What’s the best way to reach them in terms of language, types of appeal—e.g., to the head or to the heart, with numbers or with examples?
Before you begin to even prepare your speech or finalize a topic to speak about you’ve got to answer these questions about the audience. Everything should revolve around them—their interests, their needs, their benefits.
The best place to start finding out about the audience is by meeting them. If you can’t meet them personally, at least talk to the person who invited you to speak and ask him or her the questions you need answers to. Also, when you arrive to give the speech, get there early and introduce yourself to the people who will be listening to you. It will help you connect with them when you start to speak.
Purpose
What do you want to accomplish with your speech? Better yet, what do you want your listeners to do as a result of hearing your speech? Do you want them to simply be better informed or to take a position? Do you want them to feel riled up or lifted up? Looking at the purpose of your speech in terms of what your audience needs to hear to help you achieve it will help you shape your message.
Message
This is the content you’ve come to deliver. What’s the message you want them to walk away with? Too often speakers try to say too much and the result is a diffuse speech with different messages. Multiple messages are difficult for people to remember. Try to boil your message down to a single sentence and keep that single sentence handy.
“Try to boil your message down to a single sentence and keep that single sentence handy.”
Measure everything you say against it to determine whether or not it fits; that is, whether it helps communicate your message or distracts from it. You only want to include what helps you get your message across and leave out anything that doesn’t. As EB White said, quoting his mentor Will Strunk, “omit needless words.”
Structure
Like any good story, all good speeches have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning introduces the topic and sometimes even the speaker and affirms his or her credibility to speak about the subject. Even more important, it gets the audience interested in what you are going to say. What’s in it for them? Why should they pay attention?
The middle of the speech—or the body—is the bulk of the speech. It’s the message you are trying to get across and the stories and examples, the arguments, and the evidence that help you illustrate and support it. Since this is the longest part of the speech, it’s where the audience’s attention span waxes and wanes and it’s where you have to build in what humorist Mark Twain called “the gem in the middle”. By that he meant to help you maintain your momentum and regain the audience’s interest, tell a gripping story, ask a probing question, or make a startling statement—anything to get people to sit up and take notice. The importance of telling stories in speeches can’t be overemphasized. Stories not only engage people, they also help illustrate what you’re saying, and help people remember what it is you’re trying to get across. Use them.
The conclusion is where you wrap things up, repeat your main message, and leave the audience with some action to take or at least something to remember. The conclusion also thank the audience for listening and welcomes their questions.
Delivery
This is how you get your message across. As you know, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it that matters. Be true to yourself, but also be respectful of your audience. Adapt your style to suit the subject, the audience, and the occasion.
I try to get people to speak in a “conversational” style. By that I mean, not speaking at people but rather with them. Not lecturing to them, but making eye contact and using body language to converse with them. You don’t want to come across as too formal or stuffy, but rather as someone approachable and likable. And, with your eye contact, you want to be taking in information that the audience is sending back to you through their body language. Make adjustments, as necessary, in what you are saying in response to the messages you are receiving. To make a good speech, you have to be present in the moment, connecting with an audience of individuals and not looking down, reading a script, or regurgitating something you’ve memorized.
Buck Benedict 