How to polish your message when public speaking

by Jaimie Abbott

One key to delivering a successful message is polishing the message you already have. You will find that your audience can better understand what you have to say when you message targets specific key points rather than vague generalities. Since your audience is looking for information that will benefit them, they will need the specifics on how your topic can be used in their lives! Here are some ways to polish the great message you already have!

1. Make it interesting. As simple as this sounds many beginning professional speakers fail to engage their audiences simply because their message is not interesting. This doesn't mean that what they had to say had no value, but rather the message did not inspire anyone to take a sincere interest.

2. Stay on track. Even the best professional speakers can get off track in their delivery. This adds confusion to the basic message they were trying to communicate and could hinder anyone receiving the message at all.

3. Make your message clear and concise. You can overload your audience with detailed facts. While you do want to be precise and give accurate information, too much information will literally boggle their minds! If you have a lot of details that you want them to have, use a separate handout and refer to that. Doing so will make it easier on your audience to digest the wonderful news you have to share.

4. Make your message effective. Do you have a goal with your presentation? What actions do you want your audience members to take once they are done hearing you? Your presentation should lead your audience down a path to take action on the things you want them to do. Consider yourself to be a tour guide leading them to key highlights of information within your presentation. Your presentation should always conclude with an action step whether it means taking a test or buying reference products and materials.

5. Make your message personal. While you speak to a group of people, your message is tailored to each and every single person in your audience. You can connect with them individually by relaying personal situations they might find themselves in. You can connect with them by bringing in the emotional aspect (i.e. - fear, inspiration, dreams) into your presentation. The bottom line of your presentation is to connect with your audience one on one while addressing the entire group.

6. Check the "political correctness" of your message. You can lose or offend your audience if you don't pay attention to the political correctness of your message. Talking about sensitive subjects like money, culture, and even type of language used requires you to exert sensitivity concerning your audience.

Delivering the best message comes with the diligent attention and care to the details of your presentation. Take time to refine and hone your message so that you can have confidence that you've presented your information well and on target. Be specific about what you say and engage your audience to ensure that you are the answer to their problems! Professional speakers take the time to polish their message!