Tips on Delivering Memorable Speeches

Whether you are encouraging your staff to meet a deadline, addressing a room of potential investors or bringing in supporters out on the campaign trail, one trait that is essential to business and political leaders is the ability to communicate in speeches. You must present your idea and communicate your intentions or your requirements. However, to get through to your audience, you must first learn how to get their attention.

Make Your Comments Appropriate

You can hire an executive speech coach to help you on the finer details of speaking, but no one can teach you how to deliver comments that are appropriate. Many times, speakers will attempt to win over their audience with a funny or unforgettable story which ends up being inappropriate or awkward because it didn’t fit the context. It’s kind of like telling a joke at a funeral – it’s not likely to go over with your listeners.

Know Your Audience

Don’t inject a famous one-liner from a 1970s movie to an audience where everyone was born in the 1990s or later. If you do, it is likely that the vast majority won’t get it and you will have lost out on an opportunity to catch their interest.

Age is not the only factor you should consider with your audience. Make sure you don’t offend anyone because of gender, education or income level, or cultural background. This also pertains to regional phrasing. While an accent reduction coach can help you reduce your regional accent, you must also be aware of words that will be misunderstood outside of your native region.

Develop Passion

The most memorable speeches are those that have a dose of passion injected into them. If you are not passionate about your subject, your audience won’t get excited either. On the other hand, the most mundane topic can inspire someone if it is delivered with enthusiasm and passion.

Part of creating interest is in making your subject personal. Let others see why this topic matters to you. Let them see your heart, the reason behind your words. If you are giving a speech about increasing efficiency in your organization, help your listeners understand why this is important rather than just providing a list of rules to follow.

Practice

The best speakers aren’t giving their first, fifth or even tenth speech. They have been giving speeches for a long time, and they have perfected their approach. You can hire the best speech coach or speech writer, but it takes time to learn how to develop those skills where you can captivate an audience. Ask the most popular speaker and they will tell you a time when they gave a boring speech or stumbled through their words.

Don’t get frustrated or give up if your speech doesn’t end with people on their feet giving raving applause. Keep working at your speaking ability, and someday you will deliver one of those speeches that no one can forget. At the very least, you will get your message across to your audience.

Claudette Roche is a dialect coach who teaches accent coach area. She teaches foreign and American accents to actors and business persons/executives. In 2010 she was named as one of The Top 5 Voice Coaches by Hollywood Weekly Magazine.

Claudette Roche is a dialect coach who teaches accent coach.