What are your tips for delivering a smooth and confident conference speech?

These are great things to look at to deliver a great speech: Know your audience, Plan your speech, Practice your speech, Use visual aids, Engage your audience, Review and evaluate. Here’s something we often forget: What is the conference organizer looking for as an outcome? In other words, what do the stakeholders want? Secondly, ensure you connect with the people behind the scenes who will run the conference, such as those in charge of sound and lighting, thank them for the work they are doing. Finally, be prepared to deliver when technology fails, such as when your PowerPoint or clicker stops working, or there is no timer display.

When I trained at the TED Institute as a part of their Spotlight Presentation Academy, my key takeaway was that my talk/speech was a gift to the audience. Understanding this helps me to channel my nervous energy positively. Instead of focusing on myself and my nerves, I focus on the audience and the gift I'm giving. As speakers, the gift we provide is to ensure the audience walks away feeling inspired with newfound knowledge and excited about the future steps they can take to continue their learning after our talk is over. And knowing your audience allows you to tailor the gift perfectly to them.

One item I have found besides knowing one's audience - is tone of voice. Can you use voice inflections to drive your points home positively? Monotone speakers will cause the audience to tune out - the same with yellers. I believe this helps keep the speaker on target with their talking points of no more than three.

Speech is for the audience. Hence it is important to know the audience. Best technique is to interact with audience prior to the speech so that it will give insight into persona of the audience. Message is required to be tweaked to align with the audience. Simple the language easier you will be able to connect with the audience. Two very important points to be noted are what is the message to be delivered and what is your intention. If you intention is to inspire the audience, it needs to be i focused story with you focused message. Your transformational story will inspire the audience. Simple acronym is AIM. A is for audience, I is for intention and M is for material supporting your message

Well, I haven't given a smooth and confident speech yet ?? but I'd recommend asking questions about the audience before accepting to share at a conference or any type of engagement. Speaking from past mistakes, going forward without a full understanding of who you're talking to can be hazardous. It might look like being too technical or skipping context assuming the audience is aware.

Often many people make the mistake of saying a lot of things and not saying anything. Good technique will be to have a message and stories to support that message. When u open the speech it should start with a conflict or problem that you faced. How you have overcome that problem with help of situation or protagonist and lesson learnt. it should flow smoothly like a movie with transitions and remain connected with audience all the time. One way to make story memorable is to have tag line, memorable story if they remember the story they will remember your message. you may use the technique of mind mapping where message is in center and all ideas that come to your mind needs to plotted all around.

I use a simple formula suggested my Stanford lecturer @mattabrahams. In his podcast Think fast Talk Smart he has suggested, go with the AIM while planning your talk. Audience - Who your audience are? Intent - What do you want your audience to do when you have delivered the talk? Get Informed, Entertained, Inspired or Persuaded. Message - What is the message or take away of your talk? After you have figured that out, find out examples and personal stories or anecdotes which can support your message. Structure your opening, body and conclusion. Once you do the above your planning stage will be complete.

To deliver a smooth and confident speech, I focus on clear planning. First, I outline my main points, ensuring there's a logical flow from one idea to the next. I tailor the content to fit the audience’s interests and level of knowledge, so it resonates with them. Then, I rehearse several times, focusing on both timing and transitions to ensure everything runs smoothly. I also visualize potential questions and prepare answers to stay composed during Q&A sessions. Lastly, I practice my delivery style—pausing where needed and keeping a natural pace. This preparation helps me stay confident on stage

Of course, practicing your speech helps with delivery and reduces your nervous energy! But how you practice is even more important! What really works for me is practicing my talk out loud, not just in my head. Something about saying it out loud and practicing the flow out loud makes delivery that much easier! I find that practicing out loud also builds my confidence. Try it the next time you prepare to give a talk!

Practice, practice, practice! You might feel silly speaking out loud pretending there's an audience, but I'd rather feel silly in my prep than during the event itself because I'm tripping over my words. You can't control tech issues and unplanned speedbumps. You can control how ready you are to bring your content.

Practice makes perfect. I have delivered both kinds of talks or speeches. Rehearsed and Impromptu. I feel the rehearsed ones have a bigger impact and more retension. As the American President Woodrow Wilson said - If I Am To Speak Ten Minutes, I Need a Week for Preparation; If an Hour, I Am Ready Now. The precise the content, the more practice we need. My way is to first nail the content. When satisfied I read it out as if I am delivering it. Then I have to make certain changes to the wordings as my written and spoken ways are a bit different. Then I attach the non-verbals to the verbal content and keep practicing, till it feels natural. Then I deliver, seek feedback and keep improving.

There is no short cut to practicing till the speech become a part of you. Once the draft is prepared, practice in a way which you are comfortable with. Some people do it in front of mirror, others with audience, friends..... For me i keep typing on computer till i am comfortable with the script. Once done than i practice delivery paragraph by paragraph to ensure that i get the speech in my own delivery style. Secret is to be yourself and speak in conversational style to connect with audience

If you practice you gain confidence and with confidence even the worst case will not distract you. You cannot prep for everything, but each run helps you to know the message and the flow and the words and this will be your guiding light in case of trouble.

Adult Swim bumps are a masterclass in presentation design for public speaking. Simple. Direct. Good writing—and not much of it.

When I use visual aids during any event, my goal is to enhance my message, not overshadow it. I keep my slides simple and clean—just a few key points, images, or graphs that directly support what I’m saying. I avoid cluttering slides with too much text, as it can distract the audience. Instead, I use visuals as prompts to guide my speech, helping me stay on track without reading off the screen. I also practice syncing my talking points with the slides, so transitions feel natural and smooth. This approach helps me deliver confidently, keeping the audience engaged without confusion.

Visual aids create visual impact to your speech and should not be distraction for the speech. Audience should not feel that visual aid is shown in the speech. Follow the rule of 5x5 when presenting ppt. Not more than 5 words in each sentence and not more than 5 sentences in each slide. Ensure that you have back plan any technical issues. Dont apologize or say sorry just go ahead as though nothing happened.

Be yourself, be authentic, and don’t just treat it as a gig. Get to know the conference organize and be curious as to what will make the audience tick, or what trigger points are relevant at the moment. This will make for a more authentic, personal delivery.

Engaging the audience is something I value a lot. Try to break the ice with something that builds your confidence with the crowd and also eases them to listen because you are interesting. I try to find a few familiar faces spread around the room and glance all over. It reduces anxiety and allows you feel like you are speaking to familiar friends. This will allow you imprint on the team and you will become a lasting memory.

Engagement is about conversing with your audience. When only we are talking the audience will disconnect, get bored and feel lost. I have found that when I ask questions especially close ended ones; use a lot of personal stories and anecdotes, add a pinch of humor and maintain eye contact consistently throughout, I am able to engage any audience. Go ahead, talk to the audience, show don't tell and you will see people actually listening, understanding, nodding and overall involved in your talks.

One way to make speech engaging is to make it interactive rather than class room style of one way communication. You need to make the audience think, laugh, feel, smell for which you need to emote your speech with various experiences. What you inform the audience will be forgotten but if you make them experience a feeling it will last for a very long time. Another advantage of engaging with audience is to adopt your presentation to their needs and making value addition after all speech is for the audience. Every speech is required to have an action plan because you have advised audience to change and the speech will not be complete without action plan.

After delivering my speech, I always take time to review and evaluate my performance. I do this because it helps me understand what went well and what could be improved. I look at audience feedback, my own feelings during the speech, and any unexpected moments that occurred. Watching a recording, if available, also helps me spot areas I might have missed. This evaluation isn’t about being critical—it’s about learning and growing as a speaker. By identifying strengths and areas for improvement, I can refine my approach, making each future presentation even better.

Be emotional. Humans are emotional beings.Information is not enough. We are bombarded by tons of information constantly. Little remains in our memory. But emotions really last. If a speech evokes emotions, these will last in the audience and will let them remember you as speaker.