Public Speaking Tips - Are You Delivering the Right Type of Speech?

"No matter how good our policies may be, if the public does not appreciate or accept them, we lose their support and understanding."

- Lim Siong Guan, former Civil Service Chief Singapore.

A good speech is focused and purposeful, and it has an appeal to the audience. The speech must be easily understood and the audience can relate the speech to them.

The best guideline is to ask yourself: what is your purpose in giving the speech.

The general purpose of a speech has to be one of the following:

• To Inform
• To Persuade
• To Motivate
• To Inspire
• To Entertain

Do You Want to Inform Your Audience?

We are in the midst of an information explosion. It has been said that the average person receives more than 20,000 words of information every day. Speaking to inform is the most common form of communication. These speeches can take the form of reports in business meetings, teacher-parents meetings, a marketing talk, or a talk on time management. The ultimate goal of these speeches is to inform.

Do You Want to Persuade Your Audience?

The purpose of this speech is to persuade and to influence the listener to believe and to act. The ability to persuade and to get other people to understand, accept and act upon your ideas, is an essential quality of leadership. The speaker uses goals, reasoning and evidence to identify with the audience and engage them with emotional appeals.

Do You Want to Motivate Your Audience?

The purpose of a motivational speech is to encourage the audience to set realistic goals and take responsibility for their lives, careers, personal and professional growth. The focus is on positive thinking and using tools like personal stories and examples illustrating how others have achieved success.

Do You Want to Inspire Your Audience?

This is a speech of the highest quality, and only an effective speaker can achieve the desired purpose. The desired purpose is to uplift the audience and inspire them to take action. It is a speech that challenges listeners to embrace noble motives or encourage them to achieve specific objectives, sometimes with personal sacrifice.

Do You Want to Entertain Your Audience?

Entertainment is a universal human need, more in demand now than ever before. As a speaker, you will often be asked to help fulfill the needs of the audience. The purpose to entertain is not an easy task because you have to entertain everyone and not everyone will appreciate your light hearted humour and some are often very serious in their outlook.

The intent of this speech is to get the audience to enjoy the talk rather than changing their belief or giving them tough information to digest.

Do You Motivate or Inspire?

There is a marked distinction between motivational and inspirational speeches. Many speakers do not see the difference between the two of them. A motivational speech can include some of the aspects of inspirational techniques. However, an inspirational speech has to stand alone. Inspirational speech has to be focused.

Here are the ingredients that makes up a motivational speech:

• Share personal strategies of success
• Relate to familiar situations the audience may face.
• Issue an immediate challenge to the audience Inculcate faith in the action
• Use vocal variety and apply Conversational tone
• Share your recipe of success
• Make the audience believe in your purpose
• Make the audience understand the concept
• Discuss the immediate benefits to the audience

And here's what a public speaker will want to do if he or she is interested in delivering a truly inspiring speech:

• Share personal success stories
• Make the stories real
• Inculcate faith in the action
• Use a loud tone and pitch it at their hearts
• Speak with enthusiasm and vigour
• Explain that success is universal and repeatable
• Overcome the adversity to achieve a personal goal
• Touch the nerve of the audience and send an emotional signal to them