Five often overlooked Aspects of Excellent Speeches

Here are five timely tips that are often overlooked. Yet these can make all the difference between a just average speech and a top-notch presentation.

Know both your Personal Goals and your Audience in Advance

Some people are not clear about their presentation aims and get lost in the middle of nowhere. Be clear about what you want to achieve by delivering your presentation: Closer collaboration within your team? A new perspective for your project? If you know your audience, you will be able to highlight particularly interesting facets of your topic and leave others out.

Less is more

Do not start with Adam and Eve. Instead, focus on the content that adds tangible value to your audience. You can always bring anything else later once you are asked about it.

Be flexible regarding the Duration of your Talk

My presentation at an international congress was once scheduled for fifteen minutes. While the prominent pre-speaker mercilessly overran, the moderator compensated by not allowing for discussion after my talk. Had I prepared for an alternative option of only five minutes, the discussion I so desired would have taken place. Always have a “Plan B” in mind!

Present with Personality and Passion!

Facts and figures alone are just data without a soul. Yes, they are of course important, especially in business and science presentations. But all too often the experts hide behind their numbers. Make a difference by sharing your passion, enthusiasm, and special moments of the project. Without personality, you may soon be replaced by a robot or artificial intelligence. More about this in my short video.

Your Presentation can be imperfect

Do you know Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim? She “only” took third place at the Falling Walls Conference in Berlin in 2012: Her introduction to the talk was nice, but a bit long-winded, and timewise, she was just over the top. Nevertheless, she was invited by an employee of the West German Broadcasting Cologne (WDR) to a backstage day at “Quarks”. This paved her way to television and science journalism. Today, Nguyen-Kim is prominently featured on YouTube with her channel “MaiLab”; she is also a successful book author and since 2018, she has hosted “Quarks” herself.

Further tips about high-class presentations are available here.

This post is also available in: German