Using contrast to enhance your presentation impact
Quick notes – Opening your presentation
This article is a 2 minute read. Enjoy!
This is a quick recap of some of the key points that we discovered during your Rich Public Speaking presentation skills course. It's a short reminder of the top techniques and how you can incorporate them into your next presentation.
If you are here and haven't yet taken part in the course, then firstly, well done for finding this post! Secondly, what are you waiting for? Find out more about our foundation presentation skills course here.
The greatest speakers (that’s you!) always begin by considering their goals, audience and key message when speaking.
Finding your presentation goal
A clear goal gives you a good way to measure your success. Every speech has a goal, something it needs to achieve. If not, why are you speaking?
To set your goal, ask yourself:
What do you want you audience to think, feel and do after they hear you speak?
If I am successful when speaking, what will my audience do next?
Considering your audience
Every audience is unique. They have their own feelings, opinions and experiences. Your content should be adapted to engage your audience and to overcome any objections or preconceptions.
To consider your audience, ask yourself:
How does my audience feel about me or the topic?
What does the audience know about me or the topic?
What do they need to know to be think positively about me or the topic?
Confirming your key message
Sadly, our audience won’t remember everything we say. There will always be a single key message that, if heard, will ensure that our audience thinks, feels and does what we want them to (see ‘Your goal’, above!)
To confirm your key message, ask yourself:
What is the one sentence that my audience need to know and believe to convince them to think, feel and do as I wish?
Once you know your key message, check that all of your content promotes this key message. If it doesn’t support the key message, ditch it!
Want more great public speaking insight, tips and techniques?
This is just a small part of our treasure chest of public speaking tips and advice. You can find more resources and insight like this one on our downloadable public speaking resources page here.
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