How to start speaking to an audience examples. Start of public speaking

The scariest thing is to start speaking in front of a lot of people. There are several tricks for an intriguing start.

Tell an interesting, compelling story. Typically, if a talk starts with this kind of storytelling and the audience is interested in the first 60 seconds, it will be easier to retain attention. Perhaps you need to tell about some interesting historical event or recall the old wisdom regarding the topic of your report. A short introduction in the form of a story should last no more than 90 seconds.

Ask a rhetorical question. He helps to convince the bulk of the public. For example, "To be or not to be, that is the question", "Russia, where are you rushing?" etc. However, the questions need to be thought out and presented in a form in which they will reflect the essence of the report.

Start your report with statistics. Typically, statistics are available to listeners.

Come up with a striking headline, thanks to which the audience will be interested in the topic from the first seconds.

Start your talk with a wise quote or statement from a famous person to add attractiveness and style to the presentation. However, all words of wisdom should relate exclusively to the topic of the report.

Show an illustration or short presentation. This approach will add understanding, and the audience will surely remember the report only from the positive side. When showing slides, you need to remember that there should be one thought for one illustration, packed into two, maximum three sentences. Large print looks better on slides, and animation effects should be in moderation.

Add a short video to your report that will elicit an emotional response. Plus, in this way, the essence of the topic is conveyed faster.

Don't spend too much time performing... It is best to try to keep within 20 minutes. During this time, the listeners will not get tired and will actively discuss this report.

Don't stretch your words or speak too fast.... Imagine that you are telling the audience an interesting story.

Answer questions quickly... Thus, you will emphasize your professionalism in this topic.

Do you want to be listened to and heard? Then you need to constantly be in sight, maintain visual contact with the audience and speak clearly, legibly. Also, watch your gestures, that is, do not wave your hands too much, but also do not hide them in your pockets.

Answer yourself to the questions: "Why am I speaking?", "Which target audience listens to me?" After answering, make a plan for yourself clearly and you will understand which style of presentation is more acceptable.

Not sure how to give a good presentation? This is easy to do, the main thing is not to be afraid to speak in front of an audience. Therefore, you must first overcome fear, and then perform. Minimize fear first:

Be the first to speak to the audience. As a rule, the longer you wait for your turn, the worse it gets. It may be worth performing in the forefront so that after 20 minutes you can breathe freely.

Imagine reading a report to your friends and family. This will make it easier for you to focus on your topic.

Tune in to the positive before speaking. Enter the hall with a smile and start with an interesting phrase that will hook your audience. You will see that the audience is not scary, but benevolent, and as soon as you say a few words (sentences), the fear will go away by itself.

Before speaking, read the report to colleagues or classmates. This way, overcome your fear faster and it will be easier to speak in front of an audience.

Be confident in yourself. Confidence is the key to success. If you know the topic well, understand it, then you should not be afraid. You can prepare yourself a cheat sheet where you will spy on what you have to follow along with the plan.

Think about the implications before speaking. After all, you need to earn a high mark.

Important! Listeners are ordinary people who understand your fear, and they try to cheer you up for their part. Think about it and everything will be fine.

What mistakes are made most often during a performance?

Now you know how to make a presentation correctly. However, it is worth considering that mistakes may occur during the presentation. To prevent this from happening, read How not to do it.

Error 1. Give a presentation without preparation. Many outgoing students believe that they can present a topic well without first reading the report. And this is one of the gross mistakes. After all, a person who speaks without preparation will begin to stutter, say a lot of empty and florid phrases.

Mistake 3. Answer questions while speaking. Of course, it is good when the audience is interested in the topic, but it is better to warn the audience in advance that questions should be asked after the report. Otherwise, there is a risk of getting confused, confused, which may affect the time and quality of the performance.

Error 4. Read quickly or slowly. Speed is not always good, and even more so at the time of the performance. If the audience does not understand the topic, then it is difficult for them to understand the train of thought of the speaker. Too slow a pace leads to monotony, which makes the report boring and uninteresting.

Error 5. Use sentences that are too long (more than 13 words). Such a presentation is difficult to perceive.

In this article, we figured out how to give a presentation in order to interest the audience, what techniques to use and what mistakes should not be made. These tips will help you perform well, fight fear, and become more confident.

How to Present Your Presentation Correctly - 10 Tips for Success updated: February 15, 2019 by the author: Scientific Articles.Ru

How to speak correctly and without hesitation Polito Reinaldo

Greetings from the audience

Once in front of an audience, the first words you say should be a greeting to the people who have come to listen to you. This is a respectful, polite way to reach out to those in attendance and grab their attention. This may sound obvious, but it is often overlooked.

Rarely does anyone begin to talk to a group without addressing its members personally, that is, without greeting them. But there are different kinds of greetings. Some people say welcome words for show, as a kind of tradition or ritual, while others put their soul into them, trying to be polite and friendly.

The greeting serves two purposes. The first is to really say hello: to wish everyone a good evening, for example. The second is to draw attention to the fact that you are standing in front of an audience. For example, when you say "Attention" at a party to make a toast, it is more than just a greeting; you draw the attention of each participant to the fact of your presence and announce that you are going to speak.

The greeting is part of the introduction, which, as you can see, focuses the audience's attention, makes people want your presentation to be successful, makes you feel friendly, wants to get interested and pay attention to your message. The introduction also removes the resistance that listeners may have towards you, the subject of the talk, or the environment due to her discomfort or thinking about things to do after the event. In short, the greeting informs the audience that you are ready to start.

As part of the introduction, the greeting also helps to attract listeners to your side.

Observe formalities and seniority

The form of the greeting should always match the degree of formality of the event, ranging from more formal situations when you address the audience with the words "ladies and gentlemen", to informal situations when it is enough to say "hello!" By the way, the address "ladies and gentlemen" is suitable for almost all situations.

Women have the right to be the first, that is, they should be welcomed first, if they do not sit on the board of directors and do not sit at the honorary table, when seniority is determined by hierarchy, not gender. For example, the president of the country and a woman minister are sitting at the honorary table during the ceremony, then the president should be greeted first as the most important person among those present, and not the minister.

Start by greeting the VIPs. Pay attention to this detail because I know of cases where political conflicts and hostility have arisen because a speaker did not greet guests of honor or did not greet them in the correct sequence.

Be careful: the audience may lose interest in you as you greet a large number of guests of honor one by one. If the protocol does not require each guest to be greeted separately, then you can find a great way out of this situation by turning to the "invited guests of honor." However, if there are government officials or celebrities who cannot be ignored, then the decision might look like this: "I would like to welcome Mr. President Barack Obama and extend this greeting to all distinguished guests of honor, ladies and gentlemen." This way, you show your respect for the domineering figure and do not waste time on endless greetings to the rest of the honored guests.

Show political sensitivity

Some meetings are held solely for political purposes in order to promote some figure. People do not go to such events for the sake of the topic of the lecture, but simply to be in sight and to hear how the audience pronounce their name. In such a situation, there is no need to worry too much about the message itself, but it is necessary to mention everyone sitting at the table for the guests of honor, and in some cases in the hall. You may not say anything meaningful, but everyone will be happy with the performance you put on.

Does it border on hypocrisy? I think so too, but that's life. If you know that the meeting pursues purely political goals, either do not come to it and remain faithful to your principles, or play by the stated rules. The desire to convey a message with deep meaning to the audience in such a situation is akin to the desire to preach sermons in the wilderness, where you will not find any listeners except camels.

From the book How to Learn to Say Compliments author Tamberg Yuri

Compliments from the audience Even if the lecturer is confident in the social value of his lecture or lecture course, friendship and good contact with the audience is of paramount importance.

From the book Diary of a rope dancer the author Kurpatov Andrey Vladimirovich

Greetings I woke up late in the evening. The room is completely dark. Zarathustra stands by the window, her face pressed against the slender window frame, looking into the night sky. The window is huge, it is surrounded by stars. Quiet. The Milky Way is visible to us on a plane and only because of this it seems dear to us.

From the book Therapeutic Counseling. Conversation aimed at a solution author Ahola T

Audience Participation Collaborative discussions allow everyone in the audience to become a Participant in the ongoing conversation. We encourage everyone to ask questions and share their thoughts. At the end of the session, we create several small groups, and each of them represents

From the book Like a huge motionless stone the author Balsekar Ramesh Sadashiva

Greetings from the editor Advaita Vedanta is known as the “direct approach” as opposed to the “gradual approach”. A gradual approach involves attaining various levels of enlightenment, a kind of spiritual ladder that the seeker must climb. Advaita

From the book The Art of Presentation in 30 Minutes the author Azarova Olga Nikolaevna

3.2. Audience analysis

From the book Psychology of Communication and Interpersonal Relations the author Ilyin Evgeny Pavlovich

3.1. Acquaintance, greeting, first impressions. agreeing on the order of the negotiations. Beginning of negotiations, defining the agenda, goals of the meeting. Usually, the head of the host country addresses the audience with a short welcoming speech. He communicates the goal

From the book How to Overcome Shyness the author Zimbardo Philip George

15.3. Assessing the Audience Public speaking is communicating with the audience. Therefore, before the performance, you need to collect information about those to whom you will speak. It is one thing to deliver a scientific report to colleagues, that is, to a prepared audience, and another thing to

From the book Authority. How to Become Confident, Weighty, and Influential the author Goyder Carolina

Greetings In the coming week, try to greet anyone you meet in class, in the office, just outside. Smile and say, "Nice day, isn't it?" Or "Have you ever seen so much snow?" etc. Most of us are not used to this, and,

From the book I know how to educate me. And I will honestly tell you about it author Laditan Banmi

Greetings: A Strong Handshake A handshake is key to authority because it shows how calm and confident you are. Here are some tips. Before applying them in demanding work situations,

From the book Brilliant Performance. How to Become a Successful Public Speaker author Sednev Andrey

15. Lingering greeting First-hand secrets of birth Labor pains, pitocin - yes, we all know that the birth process gave you a couple of unpleasant minutes. But have you ever thought about how the longest swim in his short life affected the baby? Perhaps,

From the book NLP: Effective Presentation Skills author Dilts Robert

Audience thoughts Read the audience's thoughts Listeners think throughout your speech, even if you don't hear a word from them. If you want your speech to have an effect, then you must control not only what the audience sees and hears, but also what

From the book Persuasion [Performing Confidently in Any Situation] by Tracy Brian

Read the thoughts of the audience Listeners think throughout your speech, even if you don't hear a word from them. If you want your speech to have an effect, then you must control not only what the audience sees and hears, but also what they think about.

From the author's book

Audience Thoughts Tell the audience what they are thinking using the phrases: “You probably asked yourself now,” “You probably thought,” or “If you asked me ...” Convey the thoughts of the audience in the form of dialogue. It strengthens the bond and adds humor. If you tell

From the author's book

Audience Assessment In order to deliver an effective presentation, you need to be able to assess the audience. The two most important factors related to communication and relationship issues are the attitude of the listeners and their inner state. They determine how

To bookmarks

Speaking is one of the most important skills for almost any entrepreneur. It doesn't matter if you consider constant public speaking to be a necessary link in the process of achieving success, or if you prefer to work in a quiet office on a product, you will have to speak one way or another.

Unfortunately, not everyone is given this: someone is ashamed of the stage, someone cooks lurid slides, someone does not know how to work with the audience. As a result, instead of the enthusiastic roar of the crowd, you get cold sweat and a feeling of devastation. Sound familiar?

It's okay - we'll teach you how to perform. With the help of the organizers of the SNCE conference, which will take place in Moscow on March 27-28, we have prepared 15 simple tips to help you have the best performance of your life and tear up the hall the way Steve Jobs did.

Overcome fear

The fear of performing is the most common after the fear of death. However, a 15-minute report is unlikely to kill you, there is nothing to be afraid of. It is important to remember that people like you are sitting in the hall, and they would also feel uncomfortable in your place.

Before a speech, it is important to catch a minute and go on stage while the hall is still empty - then the situation during the speech will not take you by surprise, you will know what awaits you.

And try to turn your excitement into an advantage - let adrenaline help you to be more cheerful, and not hinder your movements. After all, performing is fun.

Preparation is the mother of success

You always need to prepare for performances, especially if this is new to you. Think over the main theses, the structure of the report, highlight the accents; prepare jokes in advance, answers to possible questions, dress appropriately - in general, do everything to be fully armed. This will not only make your presentation more cohesive, but it will also prevent you from getting nervous again - you know that everything has been foreseen.

As for the text of the speech, sometimes it can be written in advance, but it is better not to read it from the sheet (this infuriates everyone), but to memorize or at least put the main points on small cards. Alternatively, you can lean on slides.

Correct visualization

In general, a presentation on the screen must be handled very carefully - it cannot be informative enough, otherwise it will not be able to help you collect your thoughts, and it should not be overloaded - otherwise the audience will simply score on you and start reading the text on the screen. Take the example of Steve Jobs: "one slide, one thought." You don't need to throw out the entire outline of your speech on the slides - just one thesis or a funny picture illustrating your idea is enough.

And you don't need to be zealous with fonts, colors and animations - people should be looking at you, not flickering behind your back.

Wrong infographics

Work with your audience

A speech is a conversation, just with a certain number of people (and it doesn't really matter whether there are three of them or a thousand). In the same way as an individual interviewee, a large audience will feel your attitude towards them. Do not forget that you are trying to convey the idea precisely to the people in the audience, and not to your chin - that is why it is worth watching how you speak, how you move, where you look.

Remember to look people in the eye - they love it. To stir up the audience, it is enough to joke several times (especially at the very beginning), ask questions, make them move (at least just by raising their hands).

Watch your body - no need to stand in the center of the stage with your hands in your pockets - move slowly (not fast, otherwise people will have neck pain), gesticulate. In order to move your arms correctly, it is important to remember that the movements should not be sharp or wide. Sometimes you can just put your hands, palms together and stand, the main thing is not to cross your arms, this is a bad gesture.

Tell a story

The important point is that people love stories. It is even better if this is something personal, a story from life, your own experience (even if sad). You can't give people advice (no one can give people advice), but you can show how it worked in your particular case. The audience will feel deeply, understand that you are your boyfriend, and will listen to you from now on. Well, this is a good reason to defuse the atmosphere.

Joke

And the atmosphere is perfectly discharged with humor. If you're a natural born comedian, great, you can improvise a little on the go, but it's always best to have some kind of joke prepared in advance. And you can't overdo it - yes, it will melt the hall, but at the same time it can turn your serious, in general, performance into a booth.

Get to know your audience

It is important, even at the stage of preparation, to understand who these people are in front of you, what they want to know and why. How you present information depends on this - it is obvious that people of different ages, fields of activity and social status listen in different ways. Teenagers need something livelier and with pictures, the board of directors needs sales schedules, people at the personal growth training want to see successful examples. In all cases, you not only convey different information, but also pack it in different ways.

Relax

Many people, before and at the beginning of the show, are tense to the limit - but of course, there are 50 people here and everyone is looking at you, you can't let them down. But this is perishable - if you have a ready-made material, then your business is just to present it. No need to worry about what they think of you and how, just relax and do your thing. In addition, you will notice that as soon as your speech begins, you feel more confident every minute - the psychosomatic system understands that they are not going to kill anyone here, and, in general, they are throwing tomatoes too. So why worry?

Duck rule

The Duck Rule is a technique mentioned in one of our recent texts. A duck under water constantly touches its paws, does a large amount of work, but we do not see this from above - its muzzle is always serene. The same should happen to you on stage - smile in any situation (by the way, you always need to smile) and look great.

If you are mistaken, if the projector burned out, if during the speech you received an SMS from a girl that she was leaving you, it doesn’t matter, you must continue. A mistake can always be reduced to a joke, instead of slides, take a flipchart, there are pretty girls in the hall. Remember, you are a duck. As long as you're on stage, you're doing well.

Mitya Voskresensky speaks

Dress up with a needle

Appearance is very important - people first judge you by your appearance, and only then by what you say. Therefore, try to put on clean and ironed clothes, comb your hair, wash, clean your shoes and not slouch.

Learn from the best

Regularly review the tapes of the masters of this craft - the same Jobs or guests of the TED conference. Keep track of their manner of speaking, gestures, working with listeners, building phrases - all these tricks can be useful to you. If you want to practice facial expressions, look at famous comedians (better than American ones) - they know that their antics enhance the effect of a joke a thousand times, why don't you borrow this method? See how other people hold up on stage and copy.

For example, Sir Ken Robinson's lecture, which garnered over 25 million views and became the most watched video on TED:

Practice

It's simple - the more you perform, the faster you learn to do it. Experience helps in everything.

Learn from your mistakes

Moreover, with practice, you will get bruises - and next time you will not make the same mistake. You will know in advance that it is better to have a spare battery for the remote control with you, prepare answers to unpleasant questions, not argue with an unpleasant spectator or not drag out the performance time.

By the way, about the questions - you, of course, have to think over a number of typical answers, but at the same time remember that it is impossible to know everything. It is much better to honestly admit that you do not know the answer than to invent something on the go or lie. If a particular listener has a lot of questions, then you should invite him to discuss it all after the speech - otherwise you will waste your time.

Pauses

Pauses are a powerful tool, use them. Sometimes pauses are more expressive than words, it's worth learning how to play them. In any case, you don't need to chatter wildly - people should keep up with your thoughts. And if you hesitate for a second, you can turn it into a plus - take a sip of water, walk a little, collect your thoughts - no one will blame you for this (unless you rush frantically to dig into your notes).

Be able to finish right

Jokes about Stirlitz teach us that the final point is the most important, it is what people remember best. Therefore, at the end, you need to summarize your speech, take stock, and once again voice the most important statements. Here, there is usually a time for questions - if you were smart enough not to answer questions right during the speech (this greatly confuses the structure of the story, so it is better to agree in advance with the audience that you will answer all questions afterwards).

And remember - if you are on stage, then this is your finest hour. Use it to the fullest. And smile!

Among the speakers:

Alexander Pyatigorsky - VimpelCom
Andrey Talalaev - Momondo Group
Igor Denisov - Actis Wunderman and others

Posted On 06.03.2018

10 Dale Carnegie public speaking tips that are relevant today

Speaking in front of a small group can feel fearful for most people. The following 10 tips from Dale Carnegie in The Art of Public Speaking will help you overcome this feeling and make your presentation a good practice for both you and your audience.

1. Be confident in front of your audience

Speaking in front of people can scare you. And some people may also argue that speaking in front of a small audience is even more scary. To overcome fear of public speaking, Carnegie recommends:

Rehearse a few times
Dive into your theme
You have something special to say
Count on Success
Take control of your audience

2. Topic and Preparation for public speaking

Understand what you are saying and keep your thoughts organized. If there is research and facts, then add them to your speech. Create a public speaking plan, and after you've prepared your presentation, don't be afraid to revisit it.

3. Efficiency due to the change in the pitch of the voice

Carnegie advises that for every change in your reasoning, your voice must change the pitch. While speaking, be aware of how your voice changes as you speak. And remember that with more intonation, your voice will sound more pleasing to your audience.

4. Pause and its Power

Knowing how to use pauses can greatly help your public speaking skills. Pauses can be used for a number of different reasons. For example, letting your audience mentally prepare for the next thought, or create intrigue, or let your message be absorbed by the audience.

5. Feelings and Delight

Embed feelings in your speech and express them. Don't be scared at first, even if you feel like you've overdone it. Get excited about your topic, it will help your audience get excited about it too. A lot of excitement and engagement from your audience in your presentation, and chances are your message will resonate with it.

6. Voice

Spoken voice is essential for public speaking, but how do you teach yourself to use it? First, you need to relax. Don't let yourself be nervous because there is no reason to be nervous. Monitor your breathing and try vowel sounds to relax and prepare for your speech.

7. Matching the gestures of your Speech

Gestures should be a reflection of how you are feeling, helping you convey what you want to convey to your audience. They should be natural and should be one single unplanned part of speech. Make sure that your movements are constantly changing and coincide with what you are saying at this very moment.

Impact on the crowd

Every crowd needs a leader. Be a leader for your audience! Lead your audience through your thoughts and keep them busy. Establish yourself as a leader and gain the respect of your audience. This will help you guide them and get them to do the things you want them to do.

9. Build Your Vocabulary

Each word in your vocabulary means three things: you know its meaning; you know how it combines with other words; and you know how to use it correctly. When you hear a new word, do whatever is necessary to learn these three things about it. If you hear a word that you already know, but it is used in a different way, then this is also a great way to increase your vocabulary. If you do not understand the meaning of its use, then look in the dictionary and remember its meaning.

10. Training memory

You may not want or be able to memorize all of your speech word for word, but the main ideas that go a long way in making your presentation run smoothly are worth paying attention to. It's as easy as memorizing your plan. Memorize the key points of your speech and some of the words associated with them, and work in this direction.

Dale Carnegie may have offered these tips years ago, but they are timeless. Using just a few of them will help you overcome your fear of public speaking, greatly increase your self-confidence, and make you a better public speaker.

It's no secret that most people are afraid of public speaking. But if you are a businessman or a team leader, sooner or later you will have to go on stage and give a speech. And so that your exit doesn't disappoint you or your audience, follow the eight tips below to help you perform well in front of an audience.

1.
How to start a talk: 10 ideas. What listeners like

Observe experienced speakers

Watch professional speakers, such as presenters in public speaking courses. Pay attention to speakers from within and outside your industry. See how they deliver their speeches, what thoughts they want to convey to the audience, how often they pause, how quickly they speak, how often they make eye contact with the audience.

2. The tenth performance is better than the first

No matter how many times you have performed in front of an audience, there is always room for improvement. It is great if you have experience in public speaking, but you should not flatter yourself too much and think that now you can speak without prior preparation. It might work a couple of times, but sooner or later you will misfire.

3. Start Powerfully

To perform well in front of an audience, try to engage your audience from the very beginning of your speech. For example, you can make a witty joke if you have a great sense of humor. Other options are to provide shocking statistics, ask the audience a provocative question, or show a funny video.

4.
Clear segments of the speech

Divide your presentation material into separate parts to better convey your thoughts and ideas to the audience. Remember, as you leave the audience, the Rule of Three Points must remember at least three key points from your talk.

5. Practice your speech

The day before speaking, meet with a close friend and ask him to listen to your speech, which you are going to give to the audience. It will be helpful to learn how masters of public speaking prepare for their performances. So, on the eve, you should sleep well and avoid drinking alcohol, so as not to suffer from a hangover in the morning. During the performance, make sure there is a glass of water near at room temperature, as cold water constricts the throat.

6. Don't be late

On the day of your speech, do not be too lazy to arrive in advance, with a certain amount of time. At least an hour before your public speaking, look into the hall in which you will be speaking and see its setting. Check if the audio and video equipment and microphone are working properly.

7. Don't speak quickly

One of the most common mistakes newcomers to public speaking make is speaking too quickly. In this case, the listeners do not have time to comprehend the words of the speaker. To determine the speed of your speech, record it on your computer and listen to it. If you speak faster than the news anchor, then you are speaking too fast.

8. Lean on the outline of the speech

Even experienced speakers prepare a short summary of the speech before speaking to the public. It may contain the main issues that the speaker wishes to raise in the speech, expressed in three to four words. Writing something like this will help you a lot, but remember, you shouldn't write the entire text of your speech. Outline the main parts, determine how, for example, 8 elements of the rate of speech will be presented.

Finally, be sincere - people will feel it in your voice and will listen to you more attentively. Public speaking requires a lot of courage and, like everything in life, experience and practice. So what are you waiting for?

Experts have found that 80% of quick career advancement depends on the ability to express your thoughts correctly and beautifully. Most successful people are fluent in public speaking and speak in front of an audience. There are special trainings and seminars on public speaking. Here are some tips to help you learn how to speak properly in front of an audience.

1. Try to deal with anxiety. If you are worried, then a beautiful speech will not work. Experience will help to cope with anxiety, and at the initial stage breathing exercises and self-hypnosis will help.

2. It is important to know well what you are going to say. You must prepare for the presentation and know the topic well. You must also be prepared to answer questions.

3. Try to comply with the time frame.

February 18, 2015 at 04:48 PM

Speaking at the conference: what is important to know

Testing Laboratory company blog

Every year we receive many questions from companies regarding various aspects of participation in conferences. How to choose the right speaker, what are the most important stages of preparation for participation in the conference and how to read your report so that it will be remembered and achieved its goal? We decided to write a post that will be a kind of FAQ for those who want to take part in SMP Conf, SQA Days, Analyst Days and our other conferences.

No matter how trite it is, first you need to decide what you want to tell. And at what conference, which is also important. Because despite the fact that all activities in the field of software engineering overlap, testers may not be very interested in certain aspects of project management, and project managers will not always be interested in the difficulties of an interface designer's life. Although, of course, there can and should be exceptions - thanks to such speeches, the specialists working on the project will be able to better understand each other, but the choice of a topic from related areas imposes an additional responsibility on the speaker.

After determining the topic of the report, you must choose a speaker. At first glance, everything here is as simple as possible: you need to send the one who is best versed in the stated topic. But this raises a very serious problem: not always a good tester, developer, or business analyst is an equally brilliant speaker. Project managers are a little more fortunate in this regard, but they also do not always cope with performances "excellently".

There can be several ways out of this situation. Obviously, the two simplest ones are "pulling up" the skills of a competitor in speeches to an acceptable level, or a similar process for someone who knows how to perform well, but already in technical matters. There are also non-trivial versions of the "Solomon's solution" to the problem, such as "send someone who does not understand the problem and cannot speak", or "we will speak next year." But these decisions will not lead to anything good - either the topic will become outdated, or the speech will turn out to be so indistinct that everyone, including the speaker, will prefer to forget about it as soon as possible.

For a number of reasons, IT companies usually choose to send the one who is deepest in the problem. This is partly due to the fact that everyone knows how to perform in them in about the same way, but it is easier to answer the audience's questions for someone who has "been ill" with a problem and found a solution himself. In part, companies try to encourage their enterprising employees by going to conferences, and speaking is not only a good way to tell everyone about the company, but also an opportunity to save money on an admission ticket (note to the manager).

Be that as it may, more often than not, it is the techies who have to carefully polish their speaking skills in front of the audience in order to look as convincing as possible at the conference. Where to start the "victim" chosen by the authorities?

"Whatever you call a yacht, so it will float"

After you have decided on the problem area of your speech, you need to sketch out the outline of the report and decide on the title. The easiest way to come up with a title is after the outline of the talk is ready. The title should be simple and concise, reflect the essence of the material presented. In simple terms, the title should make it very clear what you are going to talk about now. If you don't come up with anything right away, write on a piece of paper several options that come to mind, cross out the worst one, write another one instead, and repeat until you get what you are looking for or until the paper runs out.

To better understand: "Searching for the truth in negotiations with an uploader" is a good title of the report. “Some aspects of negotiating with the customer when discussing deadlines and requirements” is much worse, it is longer and does not contain any intrigue. “Negotiations with the customer” is absolutely bad, because it is not clear what exactly will be discussed and who should listen to this report.

How to write a plan?

When composing a report, highlight the main theses, feel free to throw out details and reasoning about the eternal - after all, any conference has clear rules, and in a short time (usually 20-40 minutes) you need to get to know the audience, interest it, clearly state all the material and answer the questions that have arisen. Therefore, you need to choose the most important thing, and leave the secondary for conversations at coffee breaks and after parties.

When the plan is ready, go to the mirror or webcam and tell them your presentation in front of them to be sure that you fit into the schedule. If instead of 20 minutes it turned out to be 60, everything is in order - the draft report requires one more iteration. Reread the previous paragraph carefully and repeat your presentation.

It is best to record your own performance - you can even trivially use your smartphone. Having looked at yourself once in the recording, you do not need to be horrified and throw your phone on the floor, or, even more so, shout in the presence of your boss that you will not go to any conference. Remember, this is an alpha version of the report; in just a few hours of its active "debugging", you will receive a report that is completely different from what you saw from the very beginning.

By the way, it is better to tell later without a piece of paper and without trying to memorize the text. You will already have a cheat sheet - your slides in the presentation. By the way, let's talk about them too.

Visual imagery

Maybe you've heard that over 70% of humanity is visual? It is not for nothing that all presentations in conference rooms are always accompanied by various exercises with PowerPoint or something else in the same spirit. The visual sequence during the presentation is also very, very important.

Typically, the design of the visual series is made in the form of a presentation, consisting of visual pictures, graphs, codes and other slides. The text on the slides should be short, in large type, clearly visible from the audience. Remember - text slides are not created for the presenter, but to make it easier for the audience to understand the presentation. You don't have to squeeze the entire report into slides.

When designing your slides, place your company logo on the first and last pages. In the end, you were able to solve the problem only because your company had it.
If you need screenshots, diagrams, graphs somewhere, be sure to insert them, and enlarge them as much as necessary. The image should be first of all informative, and then beautiful. Although today the means of creating presentations allow you not to search for a compromise between these things.

If you want to stand out, try Prezi instead of PowerPoint. This presentation system, among other things, automatically adds them to the cloud, so you won't forget to upload your presentation to SlideShare.

How to get attention to yourself

Still, even the best presentation is not always able to give you what any speaker needs so much at any conference: feedback. How to make the audience react to themselves, ask questions, express an opinion? It's very simple: you need to ask questions yourself.

The questions can be serious, or they can be fun. Don't be afraid to look stupid - it's actually quite difficult to achieve. On the contrary, the more serious the topic, the more necessary questions become that allow you to take your mind off it for two minutes. For example, ask what Steve Wozniak sold to found Apple (Wikipedia says it was a calculator), and you’ll have a reaction from the audience.

Be sure to give examples from life, you can tell interesting short stories - all this will diversify your performance and attract the attention of the audience. The cases do not have to be from your own experience: a good case from Habr, Quora or any other site will also improve your presentation, just do not forget to mention its author.
An important tip for someone who does not speak in public very often: do not try to speak at the same pace and intonation all the time, like an announcer on a news release. Use the possibilities of your voice: lower it in the most important places, if you decide to joke, raise it. If there is a rumble of conversations in the hall, do not try to shout down it, a confident and interesting presentation of the material will make you listen to the speaker, and the conversations will stop. Working with the microphone is also important - you cannot hold it close to your lips or too far from your mouth.

I would like to speak separately about the prizes for questions from the audience. If you are going to give them, then try to pick a really good question, and stock up on a really good prize, otherwise you will look a little ambiguous. T-shirts with your company logo may not fit the size of the person who asked the question, and not everyone likes whiskey and coffee either. So play something that everyone will like - for example, iPad :)

The most important

Oddly enough, just come early. 95% of all overlays can be resolved within five minutes, but five minutes before the conference starts and five minutes during your presentation is like five minutes at the ATM and in line. Therefore, do not be lazy to check once again how your presentation works - the organizers, of course, will do it too, but you know your creation better and you will be able to notice more "jambs".

By the way, the day before it is better to go to bed early - our conferences usually begin early in the morning, it is always easier and more pleasant to speak with a fresh mind. As well as listening to the speeches.

Well, we hope these tips were not too boring and useful to someone. We are waiting for you at our conferences with new reports fully armed!