Public Speaking: Glossary P - T

PA: Abbreviation for public address system. Panel: A group of presenters, normally seated, that hold a discussion on a particular subject. Audience members are invited to pose questions to individual presenters or to the group as a whole. Parody: A humorous imitation of a serious piece of literature or ...

Public Speaking: Glossary K - O

Keynote: The main speech at a meeting delivered to all attendees in a general session. Originally the main point of a speech. Lavaliere: A corded or cordless microphone worn around the neck or attached to a piece of clothing. See Hands free microphone. Lectern: A stand with a sloping top from which a speaker delivers his or her program. Sometimes incorrectly called a ...

Public Speaking: Room Setup Checklist

Personalize this checklist for your presentations....

Public Speaking: Line of Sight

When you speak alot you run into some crazy room setups. It's your job to be there early to make sure all the little preparation details taken care of. One of these details is the visibility of you and your visuals from each chair in the audience.

Public Speaking: Room Setup Makes a Big Difference

The arrangement of chairs, the sound system, the lighting and the overall climate of the room can make a big difference in the way a public speaking engagement is received. You may not think you have much control over these items, but think again, because you do.

Give 'em What They Want

As a professional public speaker you don't mope around crying because your product sales would suffer or because your ego is suffering. You give it your all whether there are 3 or 3000 in the audience.

Public Speaking: The WOW! Factor

If you want to push your name up the memorability chart, put something unique in your speaking engagements that causes the audience members to go WOW!

Public Speaking: Stand Still

One of the most common problems I see, even with experienced public speakers, is that they do not seem to be capable of standing still when they should. It is very distracting to try to listen to a public speaking presentation when someone is wandering and swaying around on stage.

Public Speaking: Equipment Photographs

I've talked about this tip before, but ran into the same situation again this month while doing a public speaking engagement in Morocco. The primary languages there are Arabic and French. Just arranging for an overhead projector was very difficult.

Public Speaking: Bilingual Help

One good idea is to take pictures of the various items you may need (overhead projector, white board, etc.) and carry them with you to the event.

Public Speaking: Roast Humor and Insults

Being roasted is an honor, but you must be careful to honor people while you are roasting them during a public speaking engagement. Joke about things that are obviously untrue, then exaggerate them to make them more obvious. Or, you can outrageously exaggerate things that are true.

Public Speaking: Places are Funny

Some places are simply funnier than others. Cleveland is funny. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is funny. I live just off Goodluck Road. That's funny. My computer consultant used to live on Easy Street in Temple Hills, Maryland. That's funny. It was hard to find him because people were always stealing the sign, and it's not easy to steal an Easy Street sign.

Public Speaking: Parody

Parody is a humorous imitation of a person, event, song or serious piece of writing. I have a great time when I use this technique in a presentation and so do the audience members.

Public Speaking: Exaggeration

Expanding or diminishing proportions can be a fun way to create humor in a public speaking engagement. It's similar to a caricature artist that outrageously exaggerates the features of an individual, while still keeping the person recognizable.

Public Speaking: Definitions

You can use a quick comical definition to liven up a public speaking engagement. As always, make sure the word defined is relevant to the point you are trying to make. Here are some definitions I like: