1. Don’t try to memorize every line of your speech – it is hopeless. It will be better if you have small notes in your hand or use PowerPoint to highlight the key points that you want to deliver to the audiences.
2. Master your material and rehearse it several times long beforehand. Record yourself when rehearsals and note what you did right and wrong. Have your friends critique you.
3. Make it personal. Talk about yourself, what you think about the things you are speaking about, and most importantly—what this means for the audience. It means that you have to know your audience: who they are and what they are interested in. Remember, your talk is for them, not for you. Don’t do what most academics do: impersonalize the material and repeatedly give the same dry, dull, and boring lecture.
4. Tell a story. Put your material into a perspective that connects the pieces together. Make a coherent story. Facts and figures are boring. Explain what they mean in an interesting way. Use examples and anecdotes.
5. If you use a PowerPoint, just put the main points on it and don’t read from the slides. Putting a whole paragraph on your slide is a sure way to put asleep your audiences. Have the PowerPoint as a supplement for what you are saying and give the audience. It just a roadmap of what your talk is about. One more thing: graphics and images are better than words.
6. Be yourself. Relax. Speak to the audience as if you are speaking to a friend. Make eye contact and pause every now and then. It is fine to catch your breath and think. Take a sip of water when you need to. If you feel nervous, tell the audience that. They will only like you more and do all they can to help you through.
7. Add some humor. No, it is not the corny, canned one-liners that professional speakers use to open their talks, but funny anecdotes and light hearted comments through your talk. This relaxes and engages the audience and helps you connect.
8. Don’t hide behind the podium. Be casual, comfortable, and move around a bit. You are there to connect with the audience and engage them—not to recite some facts and figures that they can read in an academic paper or book.