Public Speaking: Conveying Your Message with Confidence

Course Overview

The ability to speak confidently and deliver a persuasive message is an essential skill for today's business professionals. This course provides the opportunity to significantly improve your public speaking skills by practising and delivering speeches and presentations in a safe environment with personalised feedback.

Audience

Anyone who would like to improve his or her ability to speak in front of small and large groups with or without visual aids. Some knowledge of PowerPoint and prior public speaking experience are helpful.

Skills Gained

You gain practical experience developing and delivering multiple speeches and presentations. You learn to improve your skills by integrating peer feedback and practicing a variety of speaking techniques. Activities include:

• Identifying key attributes of successful public speakers
• Creating a personal speaking profile
• Constructing an informative and persuasive talk
• Emphasising your points with effective body language, gestures and use of space
• Improving vocal emphasis, modulation and pacing
• Designing interaction into your speech
• Rehearsing and delivering your presentation
• Critiquing a video recording of yourself to improve your public speaking skills

Course Outline

Building Blocks of Effective Public Speaking

Recognising key public speaking skills

• Attributes of effective public speakers
• Identifying components of persuasive speeches
• Observing techniques used by accomplished speakers

Identifying your goal

• Informing
• Persuading
• Motivating
• Entertaining

The skill-building cycle: presenting, evaluating, improving

• Determining your baseline public speaking skills
• Taming fears and increasing confidence through practice and preparation
• Leveraging your own personality and style
• Increasing your awareness and abilities by evaluating other speakers
• Integrating audience feedback to fine tune your delivery
• Creating Compelling Speeches

Employing a proven 5-step method

• Hooking the audience
• Identifying the critical need
• Presenting the key ideas concisely
• Explaining the payoff
• Calling for action

Constructing the presentation

• Assessing and addressing the needs of your audience
• Brainstorming and mind mapping your ideas
• Researching and structuring your story
• Shaping your sentences with powerful words and phrases
• Matching the media to your message
• Making your message memorable with visual support

Preparing effectively when time is short

• Applying a simple structure for extemporaneous speeches
• Tips and techniques to increase confidence
• Engaging Your Audience

The speaker as a visual aid

• Directing the audience's natural eye movement
• Moving dynamically within the presentation space
• The impact of positive body language
• Engaging the entire audience with effective eye contact
• Synchronising gestures to the verbal message

Animating your speech with vocal variety

• Adding pitch modulation and dynamics
• Reinforcing points with pauses and silence
• Reducing verbal distractors

Delivering memorable openings and closings

• Five opening strategies to spark interest
• Motivating the audience with a call to action
• Interacting with Your Audience

Drawing in the audience

• Stimulating participation with pre-planned questions
• Conveying content through topical questions
• When to ask rhetorical, group or targeted questions
• Tailoring question types for your audience

Handling questions from the audience

• Reward, restate and respond
• Keeping your answers short and simple
• Getting back on track after an unplanned interruption

Managing the post-talk Q&A session

• Pre-empting "hot-button" questions
• Staying aware of the message you are conveying
• Priming the pump when there are no questions
• Rehearsing and Delivering Your Speech

Building confidence with practice

• Effective rehearsal techniques
• Incorporating audience feedback to improve your presentation
• Staying within your time limit

Delivering your presentation

• Setting the stage
• Opening dynamically and creating a winning first impression
• Applying your public speaking toolkit

Public Speaking: Conveying Your Message with Confidence / 903