Did you know that after the fear of death, public speaking is the most common fear for people to have? People fear talking in front of a group more than they fear ghosts, natural disasters, or snakes. Why is this the case? For one thing, public speaking means that everyone’s attention is on you. Sometimes attention is a good thing, but in the case of making a speech, you feel that their attention is often criticism or judgment. You know that not everyone will agree with you; not everyone is a friend or family member that won’t laugh at you. In a speech, you are putting your thoughts and opinions out there for everyone to hear, and that is a daunting notion.

That being said, there are many tactics that help people deliver effective speeches without having a nervous breakdown. 1) Believe in your message. If you truly understand and believe in what you are talking about, it is much easier to give your speech with confidence. 2) Prepare your points ahead of time. The days of simply reading off notecards in front of the class and passing that off as a speech are over. Now, we must not only write a speech, but know the information and the order in which we want to present the information off the top of our heads so that we do not stumble over our points. 3) Look the part; act the part. We have all sat through speeches where the speaker acts as if he/she could care less about the information he or she is presenting. He or she could actually be interested in the topic and genuinely trying to tell the audience about it, but something about his or her tone, dress, or delivery messes it up. To avoid this, I think it is important to remember the essential etiquette to delivering a speech: maintain eye contact, avoid the use of “umm” or “err,” and pace yourself.

Speeches are a decent way to express information because they are directed towards a target audience and not the entire world (like an article on a website would be, for example). Also, since a speech is given in person, audience members can ask their questions to the (usually) knowledgeable speaker afterwards. A disadvantage to a speech is that since it is in person, it cannot be stopped and reread like an article or online video could. (Granted, nowadays we often tape speeches so we can review them later, but this is still an initial disadvantage.) Another disadvantage to speeches is the quality of the speaker can vary. Sometimes, we hear from dynamic speakers who are easy to understand. But sometimes, the speaker is too soft-spoken, mumbles, etc.