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1. Research your speech.
Be a keen observer of the trends your audience is likely to be interested in and keep a file of interesting articles and information. There is nothing as disastrous as going to an engagement unprepared.

2. Have a plan.
There is nothing worse than not knowing what you want to achieve. Do you want to educate the audience, inform, inspire, motivate or touch their emotions. Before anything else, work out what you want to achieve.

3. Avoid having too much content.
Thousands of speakers are guilty of this particular issue as they try to impress their audience with as much illustrations as possible. They end up giving far too much for an audience to absorb. Remember even the best audiences face information overload after 20 minutes.

4. Define who your audience is and use the most appropriate communication channels to reach them.

Analyze how your audience likes to take in information – do they like to be visually stimulated or do they enjoy just sitting back and listening. Or do they like to get involved to touch and feel in a kinaesthetic way. Work out the best mix of visual, audio and kinaesthetic and use this in your speech writing.

5. Use personal stories to drive home your point.
In many cases you are trying to sell ideas and concepts in a speech. These are intangible and often difficult for the audience to grasp. Personal stories and examples and make the invisible visible.

6. Have a strong opening and closing.
People remember the opening – first impressions count! The closing is important as it should reinforce the key message you want the audience to go home with in their head after they have heard the presentation. Ending with a ‘call to action’ can be a powerful way to get your audience to act on your message.

8. Add value and extra detail through a handout.
Here’s a tip: if you want to provide detail – put it in a handout! You can get far more content across in the written form than in a speech. Always refer to this in your presentation but hand it out after your speech so the audience is not distracted reading through it while you talk. There is nothing more soul destroying for a presenter to see the audience leafing through written notes rather than looking at you!