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However, how many speakers really hold an audience’s attention?
What is the secret for those who do? First, find out about the audience
and what they need to know. Plan what you are going to say and say it
clearly and concisely.

A good speaker uses various signals to help hold the audience’s
attention and make the information clear. One type of signal is to
introduce with a phrase like There are three things we have to
consider. The speaker then says what three things are and talks about
each one at the required level of detail. For example: There are three
types of price that we have to think about: economic price, market
price and psychological price. Let’s look at each of these in more
detail. First, economic price. This is based on production costs and the
need to make a profit ….. and the speaker goes on to describe this
type of price. After that, he goes on to talk about the market price and
so on.

Another signalling technique is to give a link between parts of the
presentation. Say where one part of the talk ends and another starts.
For example, a well-organized presentation usually contains different
parts and progression from one part to the next must be clear, with
phrases like “That’s all I want to say about the development of the
product. Now let’s turn to the actual marketing plan.” This technique
is very helpful to the audience, including those who are mainly
interested in one part only.

Another type of signalling is sequencing of information. This usually
follows a logical order, perhaps based on time. So a project may be
described in terms of the background, the present situation and the
future. Key words in sequencing information are first, then, next, after
that, later, at the end, finally, etc.

Still another technique which helps to emphasize key points is careful
repetition. Examples are: ”As I ‘ve already said, there’s no alternative
but to increase production by 100 per cent or I’d like to emphasize the
main benefit of the new design – it achieves twice as much power
with half as much fuel.”
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