If you feel the need to rehearse a speech immediately before starting to speak, it is not a good sign: you probably do not know your topic well enough. You should spend your time focusing on the people in the audience rather than your own material. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, as the saying goes. Your audience will appreciate your being well-prepared.
Always keep your presentation up-to-date, so you will not have to skip anything. If using an old deck of slides, remove those that are no longer interesting or relevant. Below are some further tips on how to deliver a speech in a professional way, brought by the presentationmagazine.com website.
1. Beware of new shoes
If there is an important upcoming event, do not prepare for it by purchasing new shoes. Your toes will be in pain and you will be unable to focus on establishing a connection with your audience. Wear comfortable old shoes instead of brand new ones. Of course, give the old shoes a polish.
2. Cheesy improvisation
Do not rely on improvisation if it is not one of your strong points. Throwing in a last-minute idea can sometimes lead to disaster.
3. Be in the room
If you leave the room within the hour before your speech, you could miss some important alterations to the programme: you may, for example, be introduced earlier than originally planned … Simply changes do happen. So stay in the room to be sure that when you are called upon to speak, you will actually be there. If you are supposed to start presenting, the restroom is the last place you want to be.
4. Remember your aims
There are several goals connected to every presentation. First there are goals which must be achieved: this might be, for example, ensuring that sometime in the future you will have another presentation. Then there are goals you intend to achieve with your speech, such as obtaining some orders or selling something. The third set of goals are those that you would like to see in a perfect scenario. Always focus on achieving at least the most fundamental aims of your presentation.
-jk-