Returning to work in the fall after summer holidays is a good time to take stock and make resolutions for the rest of the year.  If you give regular presentations, you’ve probably had some time off and are looking at a fall calendar with some dates marked in red.  Here are a few steps you can take today to ensure that those speaking occasions will be successful.  Make these steps regular practice and you’ll find yourself in demand as a great speaker. 

I. Research the audience and find out what you have in common

If you know what’s on the minds of your listeners, you can focus the speech on their needs rather than on a data dump of the information you already have.  If you know what you have in common with them, you can connect with them better.  And if it’s appropriate, mention those common links early in your speech. 

II. Prepare the speech 3 weeks before you give it, then learn it thoroughly

As good as you think you are at winging it, your body will betray you unconsciously if you’re doing something for the first time.  The audience will pick up – unconsciously – on those little betrayals and will read them as nervousness.  That will make the audience nervous.  The result is a doom loop you don’t want to start.  Instead, prepare and learn the speech 3 weeks out – you need that much time to get it in your bones. 

III. Rehearse the emotions of the speech

What makes a speech memorable is emotion – it’s the glue that makes memories stick in our minds.  So make sure you know what your emotional attitude is toward the material in the speech, and then practice feeling that when you deliver it.  If you’re excited, show it!

IV. Check out the venue beforehand

Many speakers are flummoxed by something unexpected at the venue.  Even the great ones are – Seth Godin once told me that the reason he displayed some awkward body language at a TED speech was that he was thrown off by the unexpected presence of a piano on stage that restricted his room to move. (He recovered and still did a great job!)  So check out the space beforehand – ideally well beforehand – and visualize yourself moving confidently and successfully through the speech in the space.

V. Walk the room before the speech

Just before the speech, perhaps at a rehearsal, or perhaps the night or morning before, walk the entire room.  Get a sense of how big it is, and how the stage looks from every seat.  That way, you’ll be able to project to the entire audience, not just the front row – a classic mistake many speakers make.

Take on these 5 to-dos and watch your public speaking improve rapidly.