Public Speaking Course: 

Bounce Around 

Another key point I teach in my public speaking course is to bounce around during a presentation.

I recently had one of the toughest speaking engagements of my career. It was a three hour afternoon session on Reverend Martin Luther King's federal holiday in Baltimore, Maryland. 

It wasn't hard because I had my presentation on Reverend King's special day, but for many other reasons. One of those reasons was that the audience consisted of the entire employees of one company. They ranged from the lowest level to the highest level in the company. 

This may not sound like a difficult situation at first but it can be. When you have all managers or all executives, it is relatively easy to focus in on their interests and concerns.  But when you have such a diverse group, you have to 'bounce around' and not spend too much time on the interests and concerns of any one type of audience member. If you do, you will lose the interest of all the other groups. 

In the poem "IF" by Rudyard Kipling, it says: 
"If you can think, and not make thoughts your master, If you can speak and not make words your aim..."

Or if you can grow to speak as a master, you can aim high and have all the world think the same dream, like Reverend King did over four decades ago when he said in his memorable speech, "I have a dream...".

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