SAY WHAT?!Tips for Effective Public Speaking

Sam Veeder, Executive Director of Financial AidSyracuse UniversityOctober 27, 2015

“Most people would prefer to be lying in the casket rather than giving the eulogy”

Public Speaking Tips to go from:

Do your homework in advance• Know your stuff

• Preparation is the key to success!

• Don’t do your preparation on stage

Create a plan of attack

• Remember writing a term paper• Introduction

• Body

• Conclusion

• Tell a story….

Introduction

• Introduce yourself

• Share the agenda/outline for the presentation and the

deliverable

• Share a genuinely emotional story or a funny joke

• Focus on earning attention

Body• The meat of the presentation

• Data, facts, information sharing, training, etc.

• Benefit the audience – don’t sell

• Share one thing no one knows

• Analyze the audience for signs of engagement

(or not…)

Body

• Don’t overload your slides with too much text in small font that isn’t readable. Actually you should make the font size double the average age of the audience.

• Don’t ever read your slides. People are not interested in having someone read the slides! The audience should be able to instantly scan the slides and get the point without having to take time to read them. Slides should accentuate the point, not be the point!! Reading slides just wastes people’s precious time and makes them frustrated – which results in an unwanted evaluation of the presenter. One of the most common complaints regarding presentation (other than the room temperature) is that the presenter just read the screen. You have all experienced this – so don’t be the perpetrator!

• Don’t overload your slides with too much text in small font that isn’t readable. Actually you should make the font size double the average age of the audience.

• Don’t ever read your slides. People are not interested in having someone read the slides! The audience should be able to instantly scan the slides and get the point without having to take time to read them. Slides should accentuate the point, not be the point!! Reading slides just wastes people’s precious time and makes them frustrated – which results in an unwanted evaluation of the presenter. One of the most common complaints regarding presentation (other than the room temperature) is that the presenter just read the screen. You have all experienced this – so don’t be the perpetrator!

• Don’t overload your slides with too much text in small font that isn’t readable. Actually you should make the font size double the average age of the audience.

• Don’t ever read your slides. People are not interested in having someone read the slides! The audience should be able to instantly scan the slides and get the point without having to take time to read them. Slides should accentuate the point, not be the point!! Reading slides just wastes people’s precious time and makes them frustrated – which results in an unwanted evaluation of the presenter. One of the most common complaints regarding presentation (other than the room temperature) is that the presenter just read the screen. You have all experienced this – so don’t be the perpetrator!

Body• Always repeat yourself

• Always repeat audience questions

• Don’t defer answering questions• But make sure to keep the conversation on track

Conclusion• Reinforce the important points

• Always, always run short

• End with a

More Helpful Tips• Establish a pre-routine

• Fuel your mental engine

• “Power posing”

• Don’t make excuses, apologize, lie, complain, gossip or judge

Even More Helpful Tips

• Arrive early • Have a contingency plan• Anticipate some questions • Dress appropriately• Make eye contact• Stay focused and relax!• Watch the hands -

SAM VEEDERSJVEEDER@SYR.EDU315.443.1039