Preparing Your Speech

Prior to presenting your speech, much preparation should take place. In this part of the lesson, our focus will be on the steps that you should undertake to prepare for your speech.

1) Choosing a Topic & Purpose

In academic situations, there is usually guidance about what to make a speech on. Topics will be either assigned or related to a given subject matter. In the professional context, the choice of the topic is connected to the need or the task. So, as a professional in the tech field, you may find yourself in a variety of situations where you need to present information to others.:

  1. Present a project you have been working on to your team or stakeholders.

  2. Requested to provide training sessions to new employees or colleagues on specific software, systems, or processes.

  3. Update your team during team meetings on ongoing projects or propose new ideas.

  4. Keynote speaker or participate in panel discussions when your organization holds conferences or events.

  5. Presenting the technical aspects of the solutions your organization offers when your company needs to win new clients or present proposals.

  6. Give a speech at industry conferences, seminars, or workshops.

In each of these situations, your ability to communicate clearly, convey complex information effectively, and engage your audience would be essential.

2) Analyzing your Audience

📺 Watch the video below to learn how you can analyze your audience for a public speaking event.

There are 10 questions that you can use to help you have a better understanding of your audience, hence tailor your speech to their specificities.

  1. Who comprises your audience? Knowing who my audience is involves understanding their demographic characteristics such as age, income, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, profession, political affiliation, professional experience, jobs, educational background, organizational memberships, and hobbies. This information can shape the way you present your topic as well as the content you include in your speech.

  2. How do they perceive you? Do the audience members already hold a particular opinion about you, your organization, or your profession? If there is a preconceived judgment of you or skepticism, it becomes important to establish common ground early on.

  3. What do they prioritize? Knowing the values that matter most to your audience allows you to align your speech topic with their core values. For example, if you are addressing a group of tech professionals that highly values the integration of tech in different fields, you might want to highlight how their interests and goals align with your organization’s goals.

  4. How relevant is your topic to them? If the audience is already invested in your topic and understands its relevance to their lives, there may be no need to extensively explain why they should care about it. However, if they are unlikely to see immediate relevance, it is crucial to quickly establish the connection between your topic and their interests.

  5. How familiar are they with your topic? Understanding the audience's existing knowledge about your topic helps determine whether you should provide basic information, delve into advanced concepts, or strike a balance in between.

  6. How much information do they need to achieve your goals? While some speakers may assume the audience requires minimal information, they often end up presenting excessive details. This question serves as a reminder to ensure that the level of detail shared aligns with the necessary amount required to accomplish your goals.

  7. Do they hold a positive, neutral, or negative view of your topic? Assessing the level of resistance you may encounter can influence your speech content and sequencing. When dealing with groups that have a negative perception of your topic, it is generally advisable to address their potential objections early on before they raise them.

  8. What knowledge gaps or misconceptions do they have about your topic? Addressing significant misconceptions or knowledge gaps is best done early in your speech. Since progress cannot be made until these misconceptions are adequately addressed, you may need to allocate a substantial amount of time to clarify those areas before moving forward.

  9. What challenges or issues do they face related to your topic? Understanding the specific challenges or problems your audience confronts provides valuable insights into how they can apply the information you share. This knowledge can shape or narrow the focus of your speech to address their concerns.

  10. Are you addressing a single constituency or multiple groups? Many audiences consist of various constituencies, some of which may have conflicting goals, such as senior managers and junior employees, supporters and opponents, or manufacturers and regulators. Andrew Dlugan, on his public speaking website Six Minutes, proposes three approaches for mixed audiences:

  • Focus solely on one sub-group and disregard the others, which is a risky approach that works when you only need the buy-in from one segment.
  • Tailor different parts of your presentation to address each sub-group individually.
  • Ignore the differences among audience members and instead concentrate on common appeals.

3) Researching Your Topic and Gathering Materials

To develop a worthwhile speech, it is important that you research your topic and engage in a systematic search for relevant and supporting information. Through research, you will gather examples. supporting illustrations and definitions that will help you inform your listeners and support your major ideas. Research also helps in establishing credibility, competence, and mastery of the material.

Tips for Improving Your Speech Research Habits

Andrew Dlugan, the founder of the SixMinutes platform, suggests 6 strategies for improving your speech research habits, and they are as follows:

  1. Focus on your topic before conducting research: Develop a clear speech outline and have a first draft of it. This should help you stay focused as you research the topic.
  2. Keep a detailed bibliography: Keep track of your resources by recording their author, resource, location, type as in a journal, magazine, website, and other details that will help you access it as you start putting content together.
  3. Check the bibliographies of your sources: An effective hack for finding accurate and better resources is basing your search on the bibliography of the previous sources you have used. There is a big tendency you will find valuable resources using this strategy.
  4. Pursue definitive resources: Always go to the definitive and main resource. This way you get access to pure, unchanged content as well as come off as credible.
  5. Seek a balanced set of evidence: Use a balanced set of evidence like statistics, illustrations, quotes, citations, and studies. ****
  6. Credit sources: Do not take credit for content you did not create, for ethical reasons, make sure you cite the resources you are using.

Finding Research

To reach balance in evidence gathering, you can use a variety of techniques to collect your data:

  1. Your personal library: This starts with browsing things you own. As an expert or learner in a given field, you should have some sort of resources about the topic, and that should be your starting point.
  2. Libraries and bookstores: A local, university, or online libraries are also good places to find valuable resources for your speech.
  3. Peer-reviewed academic journals: Peer-reviewed journals can be the most accurate resources for your research. They follow strict scholarly guidelines and are built on ethical and accurate findings.
  4. Google Scholar: Your first go-to platform for research is Google Scholar.  Google Scholar allows you to search a tremendous range of journals and other academic writing. Many articles will be of open access, but others will require a fee or contacting the main author for a free copy.
  5. Newspapers: Digital newspapers like the Google News search allow you to search newspaper archives, some of which trace back 200 years or more. This should give you access to historical events that happened early on to support your speech content.

4) Supporting Your Ideas with Materials

Supporting material is usually used to emphasize a concept or a principle through the use of examples, illustrations, narratives, testimony, definitions, statistics, realia, and visual aids.

📺 Watch the video below to see examples of supporting materials and how they were used to supplement different speeches.

Having a better understanding of how to pick a topic, analyze your audience, do your research, and pick appropriate supporting materials takes you one step closer to developing and presenting an effective speech. In the next part of the lesson, we will focus on how you can organize and present your speech.