Ever witnessed people yawning and checking their wristwatches while you deliver an informative speech?
Well, it’s because you have not incorporated facts the right way.
Acing this art of including the right facts in the right way at the right time demands you to:
- Decide on the quantity and quality of the facts
- Upgrade your presentation techniques
BOREDOM FACTORS IN YOUR PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES
An informative speech delivered with the use of poor presentation techniques can bore your audience to sleep.
But, hold on…
So, hold on till the very end of this blog as we pay equal attention to both facts as well as the presentation techniques.
SO, WHY DOES IT MATTER SO MUCH?
Just like Sheldon Cooper, you might be thinking that it’s the responsibility of the audience to improve their listening skills, right? Afterall, you are the one who has something interesting to say.
Well, you aren’t the only one.
But, in the performance paradigm, a good orator has the responsibility to inform the audience as well as entertain and engage.
The moment you learn to focus upon all these three aspects, bingo! You have mastered the art of delivering a speech. Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is.
But, ‘How exactly do you go about incorporating facts the right way?’
Well, we have come up with 11 Exceptional Techniques for you to master this art. So, let’s jump right into it.
1. Minimalism is the key
Adding facts in just the right amount is an art in itself. You do not wish to bombard your listeners with too many facts as it may disinterest them.
While deciding on which facts you should include, ask yourself,
‘If I were the listener would I care and does it add to the idea I wish to convey? And, you have got your answer.
Follow a simplistic and precise approach while including facts.
2. Add Breathers
Once you have the list of facts ready with you, it’s important to add breathers in your speech to provide the audience with just enough time to process the information.
- Let your speech breathe, do not incorporate all the facts at once
- Evenly distribute the facts throughout the course of your presentation
- Add the most relevant facts first and then go on adding the comparatively less relevant facts
Please keep in mind that you can start your speech with a fact. But remember to present the fact in an interesting way.
At the beginning of your speech, the audience does not have a prior context. So, breaking down the fact into a situation that audience relates to will fetch you brownie points.
3. Illusion of a conversation
Creating an illusion of a conversation makes the audience pay more attention and makes them relate better with the context.
Here, ‘Rhetoric’ is your best friend!
Ask the audience a rhetorical question by following these three simple steps:
- Present A Fact
- Ask A Question Regarding That Fact
- Answer the Question by Yourself (Here, keep in mind that you have to answer the audience as to why should they care about this fact)
For example,
- ‘There’s nearly 85% rise in brain drain from India to US in the past decade’ as stated in a news report published by Hindustan Times
- So, what do you think are the push factors here? And, are you too looking for job opportunities abroad?
- Well, the limited and low-quality job opportunities in a developing country like India is one of the major factors responsible for such a huge brain drain
This way, you have presented your fact as well as engaged and entertained your audience.
One of the major perks of asking a question lies in the psychic impact it carries. Even if the attention of the audience is diverted for a blink of an eye, you might be able to win back that lost attention by shooting a question.
But, remember not to overuse this technique as it won’t be that effective then. Employ this technique twice in your speech, at the most.
4. Essential Creativity
Out-of-box thinking can help you come up with exceptional ways to present your facts.
Some complex facts demand you to break them down to the audience. You can do so with the use of certain props and placards.
Visual memory is much stronger than auditory memory. We tend to remember the visuals for a longer time. With the certain use of visual elements, you can add value to the audiences’ experiences.
So, be as creative as you can to present facts in a unique way.
For instance, while stating facts about the national dress of Bhutan in a small segment, this speaker chose to wear the very same dress.
This technique made the audience remember most of the facts stated by him about Bhutan.
5. Audience Poll Lifeline
Use this lifeline to arouse the curiosity in the minds of the listeners regarding that fact.
- Shoot a question and give the audience a moment to ponder over it (But, don’t wait for TOO long)
- Whether you receive an answer or not, you can cite your fact in the follow-up statement
This will make the audience respect and agree with your fact, all the way more.
As a matter of fact, we all know how brilliant Dr. Shashi Tharoor is, at public speaking!
So, let’s look at one of his videos to understand this step better.
Here, while stating facts about India’s demographic dividend and its large youth population, Dr. Tharoor used the technique of audience poll to establish the credibility of the fact.
By shooting questions like ‘How many of you are under the age of 25?’, Dr. Tharoor made the audience ponder over their position in terms of Indian Demography.
This technique made the audience relate more with Dr. Tharoor and respect his opinions on the given topic.
6. Considering facts as a character
Your responsibility goes beyond just stating the facts!
While developing a character for the story, one needs to establish a relatability context.
Likewise, one needs to decode the relevance of the fact in the follow-up statement by including real life instances so that the audience gets an idea about:
- the intensity of the situation,
- the impact it has upon the people and,
- why should the people be concerned about it?
For example, while stating the unfortunate increase in the number of rape cases, take into consideration the impact it has on the minds of all the women out there and how they live under this ever-present threat of violence against them.
The constant fear of ‘this could be me’ aptly describes the grave intensity of the situation.
So, you need to step into the thought processes of your audience if you wish to make an impact.
As stated in the above example, you can use this technique to support facts with relatable real-life instances.
7. Voice Modulation – The art of connecting with human emotions
The tone and pitch of your voice can influence the emotions of the audience and guide them to perceive the facts with a certain emotion attached to it.
- Give proper emphasis on the right fact at the right time
- Employ effective pauses to increase the impact of your speech
Voice modulation can help you govern the mood. While stating a positive fact, sounding enthusiastic and confident will result in a happy emotion. Similarly, while stating a negative and sad fact, sounding empathetic will result in a sad emotion.
Related Article: All about voice modulation and tonality
8. Make your speech memorable – Write a screenplay out of it
At times, it gets really difficult for the audience to remember so much information.
So, what do we tend to remember better? Yes, you have guessed it right, a story!
Structure your facts in a chronological order, add relatable personal experiences and mold your facts into a story.
This way, the facts stay alive in the minds of the audience in the form of a story.
Remember the Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’! It is information heavy but they have perfectly molded the facts into a story that you still remember.
Refer to this video to grasp this technique:
9. Use humour to make your speech funny and interesting
Let’s start with breaking a common myth – ‘they say that you are not supposed to add humour in a serious speech’. Well, that’s just ridiculous and absolutely incorrect.
A little humour makes your speech worth listening to and as an add-on, the audience enjoys learning from your speech.
Here are a few hacks for you to incorporate humour in your speech
ANECDOTES TO YOUR RESCUE
The best place to find good humour is ‘relatable personal experiences’ because what is the point of humour if the audience doesn’t relate to it?
Once you have the list of facts ready with you, start observing each and every fact and look for anecdotes from your personal life, something that everybody will relate to.
While observing ask yourself, ‘If I were the audience, what would have been my immediate thought after listening to this fact?’ Keep in mind the age group of your target audience, it will help you to structure the humour accordingly.
The moment you find one, incorporate it. Show your audience that you get them by stepping into their thought processes. For instance, consider the fact: ‘The average person uses 13 different methods to control and manage their time.’
Now, you can respond with ‘13 different methods? And yet, here I am, wasting good 2 hours a day just to decide what should I binge on Netflix, with absolutely no method in my mind.’
This statement will make the audience relate with you and may fetch you a good laugh.
BREAKING THE MONOTONY
As an audience, we attempt to make predictions. Even while you are delivering a speech, your audience will constantly attempt to predict your speech, knowingly or unknowingly.
Observe the facts and ask yourself the very same question, like we did in the above-mentioned point but, this time, with a twist.
Instead of incorporating the thought your audience might have, attempt to break their expectations! Say something unexpected and surprise them.
This will get you a laugh.
Referring to the example stated in the previous point, instead of establishing a relatability quotient, try researching about one or two of those 13 different methods and see if there is something that will shock your audience. You might find out a method that most of us use but are unaware of. Stating a strange discovery in a funny way will definitely make your audience laugh.
USE OF PUNS
The easiest way to include humour in your speech is by using puns. Observe the fact and try to come up with a different meaning of the keyword in the fact.
Attempt to create a laugh line out of that pun. This will take quite some time but stay focused and calm.
Write down all the possible laugh lines on a piece of paper and see what works the best for your personality and target audience.
Refer to this: A History of the World in funny puns
Here, some brilliant minds have created great puns out of historical facts, something you can take your inspiration from.
WELCOME A “HOT TOPIC”
‘What’s trending these days?’
Humour can be injected in your speech by simply relating a trending topic with your speech.
For instance, while stating facts about the upcoming elections, support your facts with trending yet interesting election stories.
DELIVERY AND TIMING
Most important of all, smile and look confident.
Timing matters. Structure your humour well with the right body language, effective pauses and right voice modulation.
Refer to the sections of body language and voice modulation in this blog to get a better idea.
10. Right Body Language aids in establishing credibility as a speaker
In order to establish credibility and trust, non-verbal communication is just as significant.
Don’t stress out, you don’t have to read an entirely different blog on body language as we are summing up the hacks right here, just for you:
Straight posture with appropriate leaning towards the audience.
Keeping arms on sides demonstrates that you care about your audience and believe in constructive feedback
Use hand gestures to connect more with the audience.
Right facial expressions (smile while presenting positive facts and portray a sad emotion while presenting negative facts), eye contact and appropriate greetings and closes are just as relevant.
Related Article: Body Language Guide
11. PRACTICE, PRACTICE AND PRACTICE
Once you have focused on the above-mentioned techniques, practice in front of the mirror until you are confident.
No matter how repetitive the phrase ‘Practice makes a man perfect’ sounds, it sums up the reality aptly.
The success of the rest of the nine techniques mentioned in this blog depends entirely on how well you ace the art of practicing for your performance.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Mastering this art is an essential pre-requisite in establishing yourself as a good public speaker.
So, feel free to check this one box as you have successfully learnt this lesson of adding facts in your speech in an interesting way.
We hope that you find these techniques helpful.
For your next speech, try adding the facts by using the above-mentioned techniques and we assure you that things will turn in your favor!
