At complete communications, we understand that Public Speaking can go really well…or really, really wrong. Anticipating your audience’s needs is the first step to success in this area, and Dr. Jim Anderson over at the The Accidental Communicator has written a great article on one way to prepare for a business speech. It hinges on the all-important idea that we should give a speech that the audience wants to hear, not necessarily that we want to give. Anderson frames his article in terms of three questions to ask before you start:
- What specifically is the topic? You need to understand your subject well, otherwise you may stray off topic and talk about things that the audience already knows, or worse – isn’t interested in.
- Why is the topic is important to the audience? You can approach most topics from any number of angles. What angle is going to fire up your audience? What do they really want to know about the topic? What will capture and hold their interest?
- What questions will the audience ask? Many people prepare their speech without thinking about this. But if you anticipate the questions you are likely to get, you can do two things. First, you can incorporate some of the answers into your speech, effectively giving them the information before they have to ask. Second, you’ll be prepared to answer the questions if they do get asked. Both scenarios are huge advantages for any speaker.
Of course, there are more skills to master if you want to deliver Public Speaking with impact, but asking these three questions is a great way to start!
#the accidental communicator #business speech #complete communications