The A-Ha! Method

Preparation is half the work of public speaking.

Whether you want to become an executive leader and reach the C-suite, or you want to pitch a great idea at your next meeting, you must develop your public speaking skills. Many people wait until the last minute to scrape a speech or pitch together, and hope they can get their message across to the audience. This approach simply doesn’t work. Even the most effortless-seeming presentation is founded on countless hours of preparation. In the business world, your ability to captivate and convince others directly correlates with your success. As social media shortens people’s attention spans, you must understand what will hold your audience’s focus and put those techniques to work.

Prepare for your talk using the following four steps:

1. Identify your talk type – Create a list that describes the form your presentation will take – such as a keynote speech or a pitch – noting its duration, the topics you will cover, whether you will present in person or online, and when it will take place.
2. Develop your content – Understand the content of your speech...