Informative or Persuasive? 

Firstly you need to decide whether you are making an informative speech or a persuasive speech. An informative speech is what you'd give if you were listing the benefits of buying a car which runs on eco-friendly fuels. A persuasive speech is what you’d give to convince them they should buy such a car. Obviously information - e.g. supporting facts and data - will be conveyed during a persuasive speech but the goal of a persuasive speech is to change someone's mind about something. Decide in advance what type of presentation you're giving and maintain that focus consistently throughout the speech.

Focus and Summarise

To help maintain that focus write a 2 or 3 sentence summary of your entire presentation - ie what you might tell someone in a couple of minutes if they asked you what your speech was about. Write down the main point of your speech then check that all the content in your finished presentation is consistent with that main point. Your presentation will be all the more effective if you constantly hammer home the key point(s). Make sure these are clearly and powerfully stated in both in your opening and closing sentences.

Practice Makes Perfect

When you’ve written your presentation, practice it in front of a mirror, video camera or group of friends. Record the presentation and play it back. Time yourself so you know you’re working within the allotted time. With sufficient practice you can stop fretting about the mechanics of delivery and concentrate purely on gauging how your message is coming across!

As ever, the power to positively influence your listeners’ attitudes increases in direct proportion to trust in the speaker. There are a number of components which are important in creating that all-important trust.

Know your Audience

First, and most important, know your audience! Who are they? Why are they there?  What are they hoping get out of your presentation? How will it benefit them to listen to you? What previous knowledge do they have of this topic?

Knowledge of your audience  not only helps you identify with them (and hopefully this should help with any performance anxiety!) but it can help you decide whether your speech needs to be tailored to cater for the characteristics of different audiences.

Present Appropriately

Once you understand who your audience are and what they’re likely to respond to, present yourself accordingly. Dress in such a way that you appear professional yet don't come across as so different from your audience that you risk alienation.

If you can, ensure your body language - gestures and mannerisms - reinforce and do not compete with your central message. Try not to impose such a level of control on your own personality, however, that you come across as artificial and insincere. It’s a question of balance! The better you know your audience the easier it'll be to establish a ‘comfort level’ with them. If you share a common background or past experience - share it with them!

Show off Your Knowledge

Trust in any speaker increases in proportion to how knowledgeable they appear. If you can present your audience with meaningful solutions to existing and potential problems they may have and come up with sensible suggestions for reaching common goals this can be powerfully persuasive.

Don’t be Defensive

A good presenter will show a positive attitude and support for his audience and value feedback. He will respond without being defensive to any reservations or questions they have while all the while reinforcing areas of mutual agreement. To this end the question and answer session should be seen as a crucial part of any presentation. Be alert for non-verbal signals from your audience - sometimes these signals can be far more revealing than that which is vocalised!
 

Value Feedback

At the end of your presentation (after the Q and A session) you might want to get some feedback from your audience on how they felt it went. Not only does this show you care about your audience’s opinion but it can be a useful pointer as to what you can do better next time. Reasonably detailed feedback can quite easily be obtained by giving out an anonymous questionnaire.

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