1. Focus your topic. Resist the temptation to throw in everything you know. Mark my word: If you try to say everything, the audience will probably remember nothing.

2. Analyze your audience. What do they need? What do they want?

3. Target your research. Use variety: interesting statistics, personal anecdotes, powerful examples, lively quotations, clever definitions, real-life comparisons, etcetera.

4. Organize your material. Make it easy to follow.

5. Simplify your language. Make it easy to understand. (Don't say "at this particular point in time." Say "now.")

6. Give it some style. Try: triads, rhetorical questions, parallel structure, repetition, word play.

7. Use humor; don't abuse humor. Remember: You never get the chance to "un-do" a tasteless joke.

8. Avoid relying on slides as a crutch. The plain truth? Slides usually do more harm than good.

9. Allow enough rehearsal time to IMPROVE your delivery. It isn't what you say ... it's how you say it.

10. Get media coverage. A good speech gets quoted in the press and produces valuable publicity. Get the attention your speech deserves.

Copyright 2011, Joan Detz. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute this work in any manner or medium without written permission of the author.