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How to be successfulat the podium

Compiled by: Mitch MontagueCompiled for the Topeka West High SchoolModel U.N.April 26th of 2009 This guide will help you better understand howto be successful in giving speeches, especiallythose pertaining to Model U.N. This guide takes you though the steps to helpyou make your speech more interesting This guide brings you down to thepsychological level of how to entice people andpersuade them

If it

’

s at a podium, this guide will workAlso for: Hutter

Also viewable via Google Docs

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhhbxcvg_76cgjbkrgw>

Preparation

•

Ranch Dressing Please:

Dressing correctly is very important because it’s a non-verbal way to assert your status and show that you aren’t and idiot.

•

Penn and Teller’s Bull

@#%&:

Make sure you actually believe what you are tellingthese people. If you don’t agree with what you are saying you will subconsciouslyunintentionally screw yourself up because if you don’t believe it, neither willthey! Understand every aspect that you are talking about. Know the Ifs, Ands, andBUTs. As well as the Who, What, When, Where, and HOW. If it will work.Things it comes with or something that would be affected by it. “BUT” is alsoimportant. In your speech you need to know the BUTs like the back of your handand if you can, mention them in your speech and talk about how to counter them.Who made it, What is it made of etc. When was it made, Where… What countryhas rights? And HOW, Just important as BUT. The HOW is what you will doabout the BUTs

•

Your Mom… umm… Stats…:

Using statistics can be both helpful and harmful.Giving the audience a stack of numbers twenty cats high does nothing if you don’tslow down/pause and explain and emphasize exactly what it means. I can say…

of the 1.4 Million people affected by TBI Terminal brain injury 50,000 die, 235,000 are hospitalized, 1.1million are treated and released. Among children ages 0 to 14 years, TBI results in an estimated 2,685deaths, 37,000 hospitalizations, and 435,000 emergency department visits annually

< http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/TBI.htm>

You can be like WTF if I say it too fast. A way you could do it is to say “1.4 million people are affected by Terminal Brain Injury (pause) that is almost one and a half of all the people currently living in the state of Montana…Also be able to properly cite.

•

Lesson One:

Make sure to know how to pronounce EVERY WORD in your speech. Do not use words you don’t know the exact meaning of and know how to pronounce them perfectly. Pronunciation is IMPORTANT! “Its (eye-zer-bye-shaun) not (azz-ur-bi-gin) you IDIOT!!!”

•

And Now… On Three Class… One… Two…:

Make sure you understand thedifferences in how the country you represent and you feel. If your country believes women belong at home doing housework, so do you. This is even ineffect when you are the minority etc. your country is against such as race, gender,sexual orientation etc. If you are gay, and your country hates gays, you are stillgay but somehow, miraculously, you avoided the flying stones and into office. Butyou still hate gays -.-. Hypothetical I know. Go with it!

•

Schnack-Attack Clap On!:

Use adjectives and adverbs to make your speechSHINE!



use right there2

•

Four Score and Seven… Touchdowns… ago?:

If you can end on a quote fromsomeone memorable. If you do you MUST memorize is and look at EVERY EYEin the audience and NOT the paper to give the full effect.

Getting Comfortable at thePodium

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Breathe Easy:

You need to be comfortable because if you aren’t, it shows. So before you start, taking a pause is good anyway not just to assert yourself and geta view of the crowd, but to give you a second or two to compose yourself with aquick in and out of breath and a smile



•

Be Human:

To show you are not a soulless ice-prince/princess you should showyou have SOME humor in you but not enough for people to think you areincompetent and annoying. Some people start with “Fun Facts” based around their respective countries. Keep in mind that “Fun Facts” should be fun or interestingor… mind boggling. Also feel free to quickly say like “Good Morning, I hope youall slept well last night” etc. Do NOT waste time by spending eight years on“Good Morning” and seventy-seven Fun Facts and have no time for a decentspeech.

•

Posture:

Posture is something you might have to work at to be able to just have it.You must have at least decent posture so you don’t look like a gangly buffoon atthe podium with your eyes half-opened and mumbling something about povertyand then just walking off slouching….

Making the Speech

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Human Check:

Again with the human checking… People seem to like when the person they are watching and listening to adds humor and smiles a bit. Make surenot to blow the humor up so much that you turn Invisible Children into a Polly thePony commercial. If you are unsure how it will be taken, don’t use it.

•

No Monotone:

There is nothing … well scratch that; there aren’t many thingsmore horrible and annoying as a speaker being monotone. Make sure to addinflections in your voice and appropriate pauses in speech. “And to that

(lower tone)

my dear

(beat/pause)

I say Good Day.”

•

Look At Your Fans:

Make sure to try very hard to memorize your speech or atleast key parts of your speech so you don’t have to look down at it and read it3