Catch the audience’s interest and
make it impactful.
Elevate
Your
Voice
Delivering a speech.
It’s not all about you. Provide a short bio. Make the speech about the audience.
Avoid jokes. Let humor come naturally from your subject matter and stories.
Let go of your grip. Get away from the podium/lectern and use the stage.
Don’t butcher names. Good speakers take the time to verify and learn how to pronounce names before they get to the stage.
Avoid using connectors, such as “like,” “as,” “and” and “so”. Pause for a minute.
Make the audience love you by closely paying attention to time limits for your talk and even shorten your speech. It will make you very popular.
Organizing a panel.
Do your research. Who will be in the audience? How does this panel fit into the broader objective of the meeting and how does it complement or vary from other panels?
Define objectives, what does the audience want? What do you want them to walk away with?
Give strategic thought to who will be on the panel. Shoot for diversity in all areas – gender, subject matter expertise, issue perspective, age, etc.
Get a brief bio from each panelist. Focus on making sure you can pronounce their name correctly and that you get their title correct.
Facilitating a panel.
Practice your intro. When you deliver it, don’t start with a monotone script that you read from. Catch the audience’s interest and make it impactful.
Skip long bios of panelists and get to the point.
Take your role as the facilitator seriously. Keep things moving and on time. Allow for questions. Then make a closing statement after the question and answer part of the session.
Interviewing on television.
Look at the reporter, not the camera.
Wear dark colors.
Use your listening face.
Slow down your speech.
Keep answers short – 10 to 20 seconds.
Preparing for a media interview.
Always call back (even if you answer the phone.)
Ask about the story – the target audience, subject, how long the story will be, when it will be aired/published, what their deadline is.
Do quick homework – past articles, social media.
Take time to develop your three key messages before you call back.
Think of 5 tough questions that you could be asked.
Interviewing on a radio show.
Keep answers short, 30 seconds or less
Put energy and vocal variety into your answers
Be polite to all callers, acknowledge their comment
Remember the names of the host and callers and use them in your interview
If you are in your office, consider standing up