Delivering An Engaging Presentation


Most of you probably ind this the most daunting part of the SAC—honestly, me too—
but this is the part with the most tried-and-tested tips for success.

With regard to body language, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and, more
importantly  don’t move your legs. Especially if you’re nervous, swaying or shu ling
will be noticeable and make you appear more nervous—when you practise, pay
attention to the lower half of your body and train it to stay still if possible. That being
said, do use your arms for gestures. Those are more natural and will help engage the
audience, though don’t overdo it either—usually, holding cue cards in one hand frees
up the other but also stops you from going overboard.

And cue cards bring us up to another important consideration—eye contact. Hold

cue cards in one hand as high as you can without it feeling uncomfortable. This
means you don’t have to take your eyes away from the audience for too long or too
noticeably to check your notes.
Eye contact increases your engagement with the audience. It also gives the
impression of con idence and that you’ve been practicing and know your speech
inside and out!

Of course, knowing your speech better means having to check your notes less
frequently. When I did my speech, I’d read it out aloud to myself 3-5 times a day for a
week or two in advance, which made me feel like I was going insane but also meant
that my speech was  basically memorised. The cue cards were there in case of
emergency, but I really didn’t need them at all. Absolutely make sure
to rehearse your speech.

Further, when you rehearse, try to pretend that you’re actually delivering the speech.
This means:



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 • looking up ahead

• holding the cue cards in the right spot; and

• not just reading the words but speaking as if to an audience.

This last point is really important—tone variation might come naturally to some but
not to others. I always found that building it into rehearsal helped with getting it
consistent and natural. Tone variation involves things like emphasising certain words,
using pauses or slowing down for e ect, or modifying volume. Incorporating some
of these elements—even writing them into your notes by bolding/italicising/
underlining—will help you break out of monotony and make the speech more
engaging as well. Be sure to emphasise things like emotive language and any
evidence you might use to illustrate your arguments.

And one last thing—don’t speak too quickly! Easier said than done, but often the
icing on the cake for a speech that is memorable for the right reasons.

A few tips on your performance:

Memorise your speech

As for cue cards, use dot points. Don’t just copy and paste whole sentences onto cue
cards or else you’ll rely on them too much. Not to mention that it’ll be hard inding
out where you are in the middle of your speech. Use “trigger words” so that if you
forget your next point, you have something there.

But most importantly, if you mess up,  keep going. Even if you screw up a word or
suddenly forget your next point, just take a breath, correct yourself, and keep
going. Do not giggle. If your friends make you laugh, don’t look at them.







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Control your voice

Do not be monotone. Give it some energy;  be pumped  but not “I-just-downed-5-

cans-of-V” pumped. Give it as much energy as it is appropriate for your speech. As
you transition through various intense emotions such as anger, happiness and shock,
your performance should re lect it. This is achieved in both your tone and your body
language (moving around).

Speak as if you believe in your contention – with passion. Even if it’s just full of crap, if
you sound con ident, then your audience think, ‘wow, they sure know what they’re
talking about’. Remember, con idence is key.

Don’t rush through your speech and speak at a million kilometres an hour – or even
worse; skipping half of your speech because you just want to get the hell out of there.
And also, speak so that the teacher can actually hear you. More likely than not, they’ll
be sitting somewhere near the back of the room. After countless “too quiet”
comments on my orals, I have inally mastered the art/power of projecting my voice.
And it actually does make a huge di erence.

Be aware of your actions

Don’t just stand like a statue in one spot. Think about real life – do you know anyone
that stands completely and utterly still when talking to you? Make sure you  look
around the room; you’re addressing everyone, not just one person. Don’t stare at your
teacher; it freaks them out. You don’t even have to look at a speci ic place. I usually
just start o looking at the back wall… then as I go through the speech, I naturally turn
from one back corner of the room to the other. Also, try not to look down. Don’t try to
look at your cue cards while they’re right up next to your body. Move it out when you
need to have a GLANCE at them then go back to the audience.
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 I’ve seen some people pace. This seems alright (though I’ve never done it myself); but
always make sure that you face the audience. If you’re doing a monologue (for text
response), you can sit down… just don’t sit for your entire piece.
And some natural hand gestures don’t hurt either!

I’ve also heard of some people running around or on the spot about 15mins before a
speech. This serves to help with your heart rate by using up all that ‘energy’.
Personally, I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing (so that my heart isn’t
jumping out of my chest). Take some long, deep breaths and tell yourself that you can
do it!

TED’s secret to great public speaking | Chris Anderson (4:55)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FOCpMAww28