Speech and presentation resources

Giving a speech involves encouraging the audience to be active listeners and participants. This can be tricky, especially when you are nervous and just want to be done presenting. Below are a few tips and tricks to make this connection a little easier.

Connecting with your audience

There is a different dynamic to group presentations because different individuals bring with them different ideas.

Group presentations

When preparing or revising your PowerPoint presentation, it’s a good idea to check if you are presenting effectively. Are you offering your audience an informative and balanced presentation?  Following are a few tips.

PowerPoint presentation checklist

Being nervous and anxious are normal reactions when preparing and delivering a speech. There is no real way to completely remove these feelings, but there are some ways to lessen them or to even use them to enhance the speech.

Speech Anxiety

The introduction and conclusion are essential to a speech. The audience will remember the main ideas even If the middle of the speech is a mess or nerves overtake the speaker. So if nothing else, get these parts down!

Speech Conclusions

A speech is not an assignment that can be done the night before; practice is essential.  Practicing a speech will boost your confidence as a speaker and ease potential anxiety.

Speech delivery practice

A speech is about making a claim and providing evidence to support your claim. Evidence used should support your claim/thesis and be concise and clear. 

Speech evidence

As a speaker you are teaching or informing the audience about your topic. Being clear and concise allows the audience to follow along with the information you are presenting. If the topic is difficult or unfamiliar to the audience, you may need to repeat your purpose throughout your speech, ensuring they are keeping up with the evidence you are presenting.

Informative speeches: role of the speaker

The introduction and conclusion of a speech are essential. The audience will remember the main ideas even if the middle of the speech is a mess or nerves overtake the speaker.  So if nothing else, get these parts down!

Speech introductions

A speech is rarely written out in full paragraphs. An outline will allow for the speaker to remain on topic and organized while presenting the necessary information.

Speech Outlining