When you begin a journey, you must know where you are going - if you don't know where you are going, how do you know when you get there? Is your purpose to raise funds for charity or to sell a product or to persuade people to vote? Be specific. If you haven't mapped out where your are going, the audience won't be able to figure it out either. I like to write my speeches beginning with the conclusion so that I and my audience know right away where I am going.
Check out your audience. Are they mainly older or younger? Try to talk to some of your audience and to figure out what they are expecting from you. Learn their needs and then give them information that will meet those needs.. Let your words answer the question members of the audience may be asking, "What's in this for me?" Keep this question in your mind all through your entire presentation
Grab the attention of your audience in your opening. I have heard excellent openings using a humorous one liner, a poem or a question. This is one place that you may want to practice until you plant it in your memory so it will come out smoothly. If you struggle with it, the introduction will not do its job no matter how well you wrote it.
Think of your speech as a sandwich - the opening and the closing are the bread slices and the body of your speech is the filling for the sandwich. Spice it up with anecdotes and stories that are better if they come from your own experience. Always be factual, keep your content in good taste, interesting and entertaining and don't go astray from your topic and your speech map.
I have seen speakers who try to use visuals. I personally think this is a way they can use visuals as a prompter rather than being something the audience can enjoy. There are exceptions to that, of course, but if you use visuals, make them large enough so all your audience can see them. If they are not large enough, don't use them at all. If your speech follows these guidelines that I'm giving you here, the audience will stay with you.
The person who will introduce you will appreciate your furnishing an introduction. Type it in large print. Mail it a week or two before the event to the master of ceremonies or the one who will be responsible for introducing you. Keep your introduction short - not longer than two minutes and it should announce your topic with a brief reason why it is important and how your audience should listen to learn how your speech can benefit them.
You can use 3x5 cards that give a keyword for every paragraph, especially when you use statistics to illustrate parts of your speech. The words on the cards nudge you to the next thought and keep you from reading your speech. Walk confidently to the podium or lectern, stop, briefly survey the audience and make eye contact with the people you met before the meeting began.
Avoid a monotonous voice pattern - instead, change your pace and the rhythm of your vocal variety to keep your presentation interesting. Every smooth speech comes from practice so rehearse, rehearse, rehearse before a full-length mirror. Record your speech and play it back so you can hear the timbre of your voice and the rhythm of your delivery,
