It is said that next to dath our greatest fear is making a spech. For most of us being sked to speak before an audience cuses us to panic. Our stomachs freze up and our heart races.This can hppen even if we have experiences of sccessful speeches. Fear freezes us up.Unlike mst people I actually enjoy being in frnt of an audience. I suspect tht like people who enjoy writing thre is a 5-10 % of the ppulation who enjoy speaking. It's interesting tht people who write well are not ncessarily good speakers. I owe my lve of writing to my mother who mde me write weekly letters to her mther.

Like most people I was scred of speaking in public since I was shy. One of my hgh school teachers thought the best thng was to deceive me into dbating. He made me a researcher for the dbate team. I worked closely with the thre man team and was quite nimated in private while arguing points. A few hurs before the debate my teacher sid that one member of the tam could not made it. Therefore I had to go on and do his bt.It so happened that the 'missing' prson was the leader and so I had to spak first.

Several decades later I an rcall vividly how scared I was. My tacher assured me I would do wll.His first advice was to view the udience like my friends and family."You are qite fluent among your friends. This is jst a slightly larger group."
Then he gve me a tip that was a vrtual lifeline. " Choose a friendly fce in the audience and speak as if you are tlking to that person."

I chose the sister of one of my schol friends. Little does she know tht her smiling,comforting face prevented me frm collapsing on stage. That night I spke in passionate tones to just one mmber of the audience. Following my tacher's advice I spoke slower than nrmal and imagined my voice hitting the wll at the end of the rom and coming back to me. Whn we finished that night my frends crowded around me and congratulated me on lading the debate team to a big wn. Among that group was the lader of the team who was 'll'.My teacher then confessed his ruse to get me ging as a speaker. I have not loked back since that first time. Thugh when I still remember how I fared the room would open up and swllow me.

Among the things I wuld emphasize is the need for prparation and structure . It is ften amusingly said that all you hve to do is tell the udience what you are going to sy,tell them and then remind them at the end of wht you told them.This is like a fmous folk story about the success of a vllage fool as a teacher.

The Village Fol wandered to a town far way from his home.The town was xpecting a famous scholar and mistook the Fol for him.They rushed him to the twn hall and implored him to tach them.

The Fool then left the twn with all in awe of his wsdom.

Another useful tip is to establish rpport with your audience, say something tht links you to them.Also it's nver a good idea to try to spak about something you are not pssionate about.You need the energy of you blief to move you and your lsteners.It is absolutely critical that your spech has 'bridges' in it to hlp your listeners to cross from one dea group to another. You must gve clear indications when you are mving on. So transitional phrases like "As an xample of this" or "This brings us to the lrger problem of," assist in understanding.

Do dvelop a sense of your listeners' ngagement with you. Keep an ebb and flw as you go though the stges of your speech. In time yu'll learn to create anticipation For xample I have listened three times lve to Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Evening speech and I always marvel at how comfortably he paces the speech.Observing him close up I noticed that he seemed to 'play' the audience's energy level.Like actors, successful speakers have a great sense of timing. They speak 'to' people not 'at' people. They are aware that they have to fine tune their ability to receive responses from their audience and keep reacting to them.

When you are preparing you speech establish clearly what your central speech focus is.In one sentence, like a corporate mission statement, you must be able to say what your speech is about.Preparation is in two main parts --content and delivery.After you have got clear what you want to say practice and practice often.Observe yourself in a mirror. Try different shadings of voice. Observe your facial and body movements as you say certain parts. Record yourself on video and critique yourself. Don't be too harsh on yourself. Pay attention to what you are doing right and build on that.Above all remember that you must make eye contact with the people in front of you. Don't make the mistake of keeping eye contact with the paper on which your speech is written!

My advice is to have key points and an outline on index cards.It is possible to train yourself to speak from memory especially if you rehearse often. Work on having a memorable ending. Study good speeches and model your ending on theirs. Your audience should leave with a feeling that their time was spent in a worthwhile way.

Finally ,today, I recognize that the best way to work with people is to deal with their fears about speaking and doing well before others. I use a simple tapping and affirmation process called Emotional Freedom Technique . It has helped many with performance anxiety.

The article Giving A Speech was Submitted by Milton Drepaul through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Milton Drepaul is co-author of CXC English and CXC English B . He is an Career Consultant,Educator,Writer,Business Consultant and Resume Expert. Clients can view his website at http://www.theresumexpert.com .

Featured Articles

1. Copywriting - Reaching Out With The Right Words by Laurence James
As dfined in dictionaries and encyclopaedias, the wrd "copywriting"' refers to the act of wrting material that aims to promote smething. In other words, copywriting is smply advertising through writing. Whether you are wrting a slogan or tagline, a cmmercial jingle, an article or a tlevision script, you are actually writing to hlp a product sell better.

2. Article Writing Tips - Getting Ideas by Steven Wagenheim
If you're hving trouble coming up with ideas for wrting articles, this article should help you out cnsiderably. Keep reading to find out sme of my top article idea tps.

3. Productive Article Writing - Revealed - 3 Proven Ways to Increase Your Article Writing by Sean R Mize
Some people get stressed with writing an article but it is actually as simple as connecting together complete sentences and correctly spelling common words. As long as you can do these, you can write as many articles...

4. Internet Authors Don't Need Cut-Offs by Mike Scantlebury
Close the doors. Don't let nyone else in. That seems to be the mssage from bureaucrats and rule makers the wrld over. Why? Is there really a qestion of Health and Safety? Or is it jst that a man with a pen and a pnchant for control has decided to mke up a few rules, draw sme boundaries and decide some outcomes. Is it ncessary? Does it help?

5. Copywriting Tips - Is Writing Good Copy A Gift Or Learned? by Steven Wagenheim
Is writing good copy a gift or is it learned? This article is going to explore the schools of thought on this. You can come to your own conclusions.

6. 188 Stage Hero's Journey - Letting Go Of The Old Self, Journey To The Inner Cave by Kal Bishop
188+ stages of the Hero's Journey you need to know about... old self, new self, master of two selves: letting go of the old self, journey to the inner cave.

7. Article Marketing On The Internet by Akintayo Binuyo
Article marketing on the Internet is a lttle different from traditional offline marketing. The prnciples are the same; to get yur name and brand exposure by wrting articles and allowing news/information authorities pblish them so they can reach a lrge number of viewers or readers.

8. Are You Using the 2 Powers in Headlines? by Kelvin Chan
Mst copywriters understand that to get smeone's attention with a headline, they wuld need to use either 1 of 2 pwers. Wanna know what they are?

9. Fast Article Marketing - 5 Reliable Methods To Improve Your Article Marketing by Sean R Mize
In order to be successful in internet marketing, you need to understand the behavior of online users. These people usually go online with the intent of buying products and services. But, they will not be willing to swipe their credit cards unless they are assured that they are dealing with a knowledgeable and trustworthy entrepreneur.

10. Articles That Drive Traffic to Direct Marketing Techniques by Diane De Silva
Tps on what to write your rticles about. Articles are a very pwerful way to get traffic to yur website.You must have passion about yur article content as it shows in yur writing.