Getting Your Message Across

2007-04-06T08:36:20-04:00

As ASCE president, I am often asked to give talks to a variety of audiences, from students to seasoned professionals. I recently participated in some training on how to be a more effective public speaker and ensure I am delivering the right message. I think a lot of civil engineers would like to become better public speakers. So I've assembled some tips that I've learned over the years and I hope you might find value in some of them.

Some of the cardinal rules I use when giving a presentation are:

1) When presenting, keep in mind that you are having a conversation with your audience, not merely just speaking at them. Be sure your delivery is natural and not too stiff.

2) To have an effective conversation, you need to get your audience's attention and hold on to it! To do this, you'll need to think about who your audience is and the vocabulary you use should be familiar to your audience. This is particularly important when you want to talk about technical subjects with a non-technical audience. When doing that, it's more important to be clear and understood, than to be technically precise.

3) You should always have two talks prepared. The first one fills the allotted time period for your speech and the second one is half that length. Sometimes other presenters will go over on their time, so you may be expected to make up for it in your presentation. Also you should always be prepared to stop and immediately jump to a summary, if time is running out.

4) Never ever just read your PowerPoint slides verbatim.

What are some of your cardinal rules for public speaking?

President's Blog

Getting Your Message Across