Some tips on breaking the ice

The “Ice Breaker” speech is your first Competent Communicator(CC) speaking project in Toastmasters. As one of the newest members of HTM, I completed my ice breaker speech two days ago. Suffice it to say, my debut speech went off pretty well. Thanks, Pavan for a lot of inspiration.

Based on my experience, I’d like to share the following tips with others:

1. The most important factors that contribute to a good speech are oodles of confidence, the substance of the talk and the style of delivery. You need to work on all of these aspects.

2. Confidence can stem from your character and your past experiences or can also be generated out of practice. Some folks are naturally gifted speakers with remarkable maturity and intellect. They can deliver an awesome speech under any circumstance and these tips are not meant for them. But if you are like the vast majority who get a few jitters when speaking before an audience, read on.

3. You can easily become a confident speaker by knowing your speech inside out. To get to that stage, you can start by picking a subject that you like or are passionate about. Preferably, a topic that can inform, inspire or entertain the audience.

4. If you have the talent to write well, then you are already half way there. One technique for delivering a good speech is to write down your speech like you would write a good blog post. It is easy to be fluent and show conviction when the words are your own.

5. Once you have the draft of your speech, fine tune it. This is one aspect of style. Work on the opening so that it is unique and memorable. If you are speaking to an audience comprising of strangers, you should strive to earn their attention in the first few sentences of your talk. Try to similarly work on the ending so that it is either inspiring or worth remembering. Easy ways to do so include using some funny or motivational quotes and stories. I still remember a speaker who began his talk with a humorous quote as follows: “There is an old Bulgarian proverb that goes ‘Seize opportunity by the beard for it is bald behind’”. Other ways of engaging the audience include asking an interesting question, asking for a show of hands and so on.

6. Rehearse your speech a couple of times. Then rehearse again along with vocal intonation, hand gestures and other appropriate body language. This is the second aspect of style.

7. The final tip is to stay relaxed before your speech. If you have completed the above six steps and if you know your speech inside out, you should be ready to go even in your sleep. If not, go back to step 6 and practice.

On a separate note, all the above tips apply when you are addressing a sensible audience. Talking before a screaming mob is an entirely different experience and requires some extra tips. Will blog about it another day.