You are about to walk into a room full of business people and you need to convince them your idea is the best. Your presentation should sell it, but are you worried about keeping your audience’s attention as you speak? Here are a few tips…
For one, RELAX. You have got to learn to breathe steadily and naturally to help you focus; and deliver a convincing, entertaining, and interesting speech.
In preparing your speech, provide order and structure to make it easy for people to follow what you are saying. Create an easy-to-understand structure that will carry your audience from one point to another.
Keep it simple and brief. Now your audience is going to come away with one or two of you main ideas. If you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to say, there is no way your audience will understand the key points.
As far as the content goes, give them some information they can use. Even the most charitable among your audience is likely to ask, “What’s in this for me?” Give them something they can take to the bank, some ideas or information they can put to work as soon as they leave the room.
And of course, use words they understand. Plain English or Amharic goes a long way towards winning friends and influencing people. Unless you are speaking with the hope that no one will understand you, plain English or Amharic is the only sensible approach.