Hampshire Presentation Skills & Public Speaking Trainer

Using movement within your speech or presentation

Using movement within your speech or presentation can really help to enhance the effectiveness of your delivery and keep your audience engaged. Eddie Izzard does this well in the clip above, during one of his standup comedy shows.

Eddie uses movement and the space around him to demonstrate two sides of a story as he tells his ‘Geoff Vader’ story. When he stands on one side, he is the canteen maid, when he stands to the other side of the stage he is Darth Vader, the dark lord.

This technique allows Eddie to help his audience picture the scene and to keep up with which character in his story is talking, without him having to indicate this verbally. (This is a great technique if you’re rubbish at voices and cannot give distinguishable, different voices to each of the characters in your story).

But how can I use this in my speech or presentation?

Ok, so you might not be a standup comedian like Eddie Izzard, but you may still need to demonstrate two sides to a story in your speech or presentation, or perhaps demonstrate the passing of time or the development of a key message.

Imagine you are presenting the case for and against a certain topic. Moving from side to side can be used to visually define to your audience which side of the argument you are currently presenting to them. For example, if you are speaking for and against Fox hunting, you may stand to the right of the stage when presenting an argument for Fox hunting. However, when you come to speak about the arguments against Fox hunting you may move to the left of the stage to clearly define to your audience that you are presenting the opposite side of the argument. This movement will help to enliven your speech and clearly demonstrate your speech structure to your audience.

Alternatively you may be telling a story that has a timeline within it, perhaps you are speaking on a story about where you have come from and where you are today in your life. For such a speech you may wish to begin your speech and start talking about the past on the left hand side of the stage. Then, as your speech develops, move from left to right as time passes within your story. this helps to illustrate the timeline that you are describing to your audience and makes them aware of what point they and you are at in that timeline. Your speech should then conclude as you reach the present day, or the goal within your story, with you on the right hand side of the stage.

These are just two ways in which you can use movement and the space on stage to help enhance your speech or presentation. There are many more depending on your goals and objectives when speaking and of course, the space available to you! I hope to cover some more and any new ones that I discover in future blog posts. Please feel free to leave your own tips and experiences in the comments section below.

Crafting and writing a well-rounded speech

If you can convey your message in a single line, then you shouldn’t be giving a speech.

A good speech should always be a build up of information and messages delivered in a very specific way that combine to convince your audience to take action, change their beliefs or walk away inspired.

Of course, many of history’s greatest speeches are remembered for a single powerful line. However, it is more often than not the speech in full that sets the scene for those lines to be remembered. It’s the use of tactics such as specific language, a certain tone and a well-structured argument that helped to make those speeches, and the messages they sought to pass on, so effective.

How can you ensure that all of your speech contributes to your one, overall message?

Here’s my recommended checklist that you should check all of your speeches against to ensure that everything gives the same message to your audience and that there is no unnecessary fluff!

Structure

Is every element of your speech relevant to the single objective that you are trying to achieve? Do you clearly define to your audience in your introduction what it is that you are going to speak to them about, and does every stage of your speech after this support your topic and add to your argument? Without structure, neither you or your audience know what you are speaking about or why it is important.

Language

If your objective is to paint something in a positive language, then use positive words. Likewise, if you are speaking about something negatively, use negative terms. It’s so simple, but relevant language will reinforce a certain mood or atmosphere to your audience.

Language can also go beyond positive or negative. Think about your audience – will technical or simplified language appeal to them? What sort of language will get your message across most simply? Once you’ve written your speech be sure to reread it and identify language that can be changed to support your objectives. Your natural writing style might not always immediately suit what you are trying to achieve – there is nothing wrong with this, just be open toe editing it!

Pace

Think about the pace at which you will deliver different parts of your speech. As with language, positive and negative messages can be amplified by increasing or decreasing the pace at which you deliver your speech. More meaningful points or items you want your audience to remember can be emphasized by slowing down, taking pauses and reflecting. Once you’ve written your speech, take a marker pen to your script and identify these areas that can be strengthened through a change in pace.

Conclusion

Ok, so it sort of comes under structure, but don’t forget that your conclusion is the final message that you leave your audience with – make sure you leave them with a clear, succinct and memorable message or call to action. If you’ve spent ages writing and rehearsing your speech, the last thing you want is for it to fizzle out and fade away – go out with a bang!

Glory lines

Ok, don’t try to be too much of a hero, but feel free to insert some ‘glory lines’ in there. The sort of lines that you hope will go down in history as greats The lines that will be remembered forever. The lines that will be used by generations to come. Even if it is just another office presentation – go for it!

Don’t overdo it, but glory lines are a great way to break up your speech, give your audience something to be inspired by, or remember and will aid your learning of the speech too, as you’ll have key lines to remember and hit at each stage!

Good luck and remember – if your public speaking message doesn’t need the support of all of the tactics above, it probably doesn’t need a whole speech to promote it!

Words per minute when speechwriting

I’ve been asked a few times recently about how many words one should write if they want to speak for 5, 10, 15 minutes.

There is no straight answer to this.

Head to tools like Wikipedia and it will tell you figures around the 150 words per minute mark. However, there are actually a lot of different factors that will influence how many words you need to write for each minute that you plan to speak. These include:

- Pauses – what is the structure of your speech and how many pauses will there be?
- Nerves – if you’re more nervous, you’ll speak more quickly (generally!)
- Tone – if the speech has a negative or positive vibe, your pace of speaking will change
- Personality – how do you speak naturally – faster or slower than the average person?
- Memory – will you remember everything you’ve written when actually delivering your speech – or will you even add bits in as you go?

The solution

The best solution I’ve found is to take your favourite work of fiction from your book case and read it aloud, with appropriate intonation and pauses.

After a minute, stop the clock and count how many words you’ve read. Voila.

It’s not a perfect science, but can give you a very good idea of your natural speaking pace, rhythm and how many words you require per minute.

NB. It’s not always about speaking for the allotted time – if you can convey your message perfectly in two minutes, why waste your audience’s time doing it in five minutes?