As the saying goes “Practice makes a man perfect”, this is most apt when you have to deliver a speech. Practice is beneficial not only to the amateurs but also the professional speakers. The best of the presentations do not turn out to be the best automatically; instead they are practiced and worked upon.

Practicing and rehearsing the speech is the key to a successful presentation. Even if you are a public speaking trainer, or even if you have been giving the same speech for years but still, do not go without practicing it. Every time you practice, you may find something new or may be you would just go well than your previous speech or presentation. Your speech may be the same, but the audience may be different each time. Prepare in a new way for the new audience.

Here are some steps on how to prepare your speech.

1. Select the topic

Selecting the topic may sound an easy job but this one is rather the tedious thing because of the availability of endless topics in public speaking. You must choose a topic keeping in mind your purpose of speech and the level of the audience.

Your topic leads to your message to the audience — the entire presentation aims to deliver this core message to your audience.

2. Create a speech outline

Just like any other thing your speech also needs an outline or a structure. Without structure, your audience will either wonder what message you want to convey or they will lose interest in your speech entirely. This step is often skipped to “save time.” But I would say that if you have an outline of your speech your time to write the speech would reduce and thus you would save time.

3. Draft the speech

Once you start thinking about the contents of your speech, you may not find appropriate words to express yourself. You may find yourself troubled after thinking a few lines because you might be confused what to say. Most people prefer writing their speech and then practice but you may also try it this way- keep speaking about your topic, whatever comes in your mind. Repeat it again and again. You would see that every time you start speaking your speech in order to make one, you explore a new point. Every time you speak, you would get something new added to your speech. When you have practices enough, at one stage you may not get any more points for the speech. Then you can write you speech if you wish to. Write it as you have been saying it while practicing. Or you can just jot down the key words so as to memorize the order of your speech.

4. Read out your speech aloud and record.

Read out your speech aloud as you would speak it in front of the audience.Record yourself to get some idea of what your presentation sounds. Note the length of your presentation and also if the points you want to emphasize are actually the ones being emphasized. Practice your speech by saying it with passion and enthusiasm.

5. Add more gestures and voice modulation (if required)

Since you have made your speech by speaking it again and again, some gestures and vacol varieties come up naturally. Still if you think there is something lacking then you should stand in front of the mirror, give your speech again and try to analyse where to add gestures and where to change the tone of your voice. Just remember not to overdo any of the two things as it may sound too dramatic then rather than looking natural.

6. Practice more and Take a feedback

Keep practicing your speech until it looks so natural as if you are saying it for the first time. Rehearsing your speech would give you immense confidence. Take a feedback on your speech from others and try to improvise on the suggestions given. You may want to know if you are too fast or too slow in your speech, if your message is clear to the audience etc. A feedback would help you in all these concerns.

All these key point would help you to prepare a good piece of speech. Try making a speech with these points right now. Also they will develop your public speaking skills.

For an amateur, joining a public speaking course will be helpful. Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking gives training to develop your public speaking skills, presentation skills  and personality.
For details, call Nupur Bansal at +91-9899801156 or  visit www.anuragaggarwal.com