Even the most compelling presentation can crumble within the first few minutes if your delivery falls flat.
When that happens, everything you did, from perfecting the visuals on your slides, curating attention-grabbing statistics, organizing your key points, to crafting your message will all go to waste.
You see, a killer talk isn’t just about what you say, but also about how you say it.
Poor delivery can easily erode your credibility in the eyes of your listeners.
That’s why for today’s issue of “Speak on the Shoulder of Giants,” we’re going to reveal the secrets of great delivery!
What do we mean exactly when we say delivery?
In the context of public speaking, delivery refers to how a speaker physically and vocally presents a speech to his or her audience. This typically includes tone, pace, volume, diction, and gestures.
Delivery plays a key role in the success of a public speaking engagement because it helps speakers connect with and command the attention of listeners.
Think about it: Which type of speaker are you more likely to listen to?
Someone who talks monotonously and seems uninterested in the subject matter or a speaker who sounds natural and speaks with equal amounts of passion, gracefulness, and relatability?
You’d definitely pick the latter.
That said, here are a few pointers on great delivery:
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Emphasize important words and vary your pitch.
While there are no ironclad rules on what to emphasize when speaking, it’s often a great idea to select which words or ideas you want to highlight to your audience. This way, you can guide their attention towards details and facts that are crucial to your overall theme or topic.
This is where pitch comes in as well.
The easiest way to place emphasis is by modulating your pitch.
If an idea or a singular word holds great importance, you can simply indicate this to your readers by shifting your voice to a higher pitch, while lowering it for parts of your speech that are important, but not as crucial to your overall message.
An added benefit of altering your pitch is it prevents you from sounding monotonous throughout your talk.
If you maintain the same tone throughout your talk, it’ll be harder for your audience to pay attention and it’ll be more difficult for you to get your message across.
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Don’t speak too fast.
A varied rate of speaking sounds more natural because it’s what tends to happen during ordinary conversations.
If you speak too fast or too slow, you’ll sound unnatural, making it harder for you to keep your audience’s attention.
Adding variety to your rate of speaking allows you to place further emphasis and capture the attention of your listeners more effectively.
You can speak slowly when highlighting or emphasizing a key message or concept. Conversely, you can increase your tempo when you want to move quickly to the next part of your presentation.
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Take a pause when you need to.
It’s often assumed that silence in a public speaking engagement should be avoided. However, this isn’t, and doesn’t always, have to be the case.
Pauses, when strategically placed throughout your talk, allows you to rest your voice, gather your thoughts, and most importantly, enables your audience to digest what you’ve just said.
Moreover, taking strategic pauses allows you to command your listeners’ attention, as a short period of silence signals them to anticipate what will be said next.
While these pointers look simple on paper, they make a big difference in how you deliver your presentations, since these enable you to command the attention of your audience better and set you up for a more lively and pleasing presentation.
So, the next time you practice your talk, keep the principles we shared with you in mind, and integrate them into your presentation routine if you haven’t yet!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Thursdays: Speak on the Shoulders of Giants”
In a meeting with one person…
… a boardroom with five people…
… or a huge venue with hundreds of people…
—whatever the situation or setting, it’s very important to learn and eventually master the art of public speaking.
No matter what, you always need to effectively get your message across.
What good is a presentation with awesome content if you don’t deliver it properly?
Every Thursday, we publish different tips, insights, and secrets on how you can improve your presentation skills to captivate your audience and lead interesting discussions.
The need for great presentation skills applies EVERYWHERE.
(Small meetings with your team, big meetings with your boss, an important marketing pitch, speaking engagements for events with a big audience, etc.)
Learning these skills is not just for the corporate world. Being in other industries such as the Arts, Information Technology, Medicine, and Education while knowing how to communicate and present well will definitely give you an edge.
Have that advantage.
Hope you find this week’s public speaking tip interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Thursday’s “Speak on the Shoulders of Giants!”
Cheers,
Henry Desai
Managing Director
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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