A big epiphany that many of the students who take my “Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking” class have is that even though they are petrified, the audience can’t tell. When I have students give their first speech in class (a short introduction) I ask the speaker if they were nervous. If they say they were, I ask the rest of the class if they could tell and in most cases, they say they can’t. Sometimes, our inner emotions don’t show through in our talk and this can be either a good thing or a bad thing based on your situation.

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Have you ever wondered where your speaking style came from? Did you imitate another speaker or a combination of other speakers? Do you have a perception of the ideal speaker that you’re working your way towards? Speaking styles are not like fingerprints – they’re relatively easy to imitate, and more often than not, it’s done inadvertently. So how can you ensure that you speaking style is yours rather than of your mentor or a speaker that you admire? To find out, let’s take a closer look at some of the elements that make up your speaking style.

Content:

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I recently heard an ad on the radio that shocked me. It was for a divorce lawyer and it was actually encouraging people to get divorced. “Marriage not turning out the way the you like it? Call us!” was among the foolish statements the ad boomed. The ad boasted that over 50% percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce so why not see what all the buzz is about. To completely throw the ad into the gutter, it ended by asking the listener to visit a website – which had a cheesy domain name like 99divorcenow.com.

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How lucky are we to be here today at this great location? Is there anything better than getting a day off from work to come listen to a speech? Rhetorical questions (questions asked for effect rather than to get an actual answer) are great attention getting devices and can enhance a speech. But many speakers make the mistake of opening their speech with rhetorical questions as a means to grab attention right off the bad. This isn’t always the best idea, so here are some things to think about when considering opening up a speech with a rhetorical question.

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You may have heard the terms “being naked in front of your audience” or “exposing yourself” to your audience. I personally dislike these terms because they make it sound like you’re an exotic dancer, not a speaker or presenter. But looking at it figuratively, there are some benefits to giving your audience a glimpse of your inner self and letting your guard down, but it’s not necessarily appropriate for all occasions.

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A good delivery is the icing on the cake when you’ve got a well crafted speech. It helps hit your message home with your audience and leaves everyone in the room with a good feeling. So how does one improve speech delivery? Is practicing a speech several times enough to ensure a great delivery? Unfortunately, you never truly know how a speech will turn out until you deliver it.

Consider that when you give your speech in front of a live crowd, the following can happen:

• A technical glitch with the lighting, sound, projection or other equipment (wardrobe malfunctions would fall under this as well).

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