When delivering it, make sure that you slow your own voice down. What seems like a manageable speed in your own head, will most likely be very fast to those listening. The adrenaline kicks in and your mouth starts spewing words and 100 mph.

If you can get it so that it sounds overly slow in your own head, you can garantee that it will sound perfectly normal to the audience.

What is the event Damo, how many will be there, are you representing the organisation and is it a serious event - would the organisation be at risk of losing funding if you made an a[irs[/ie of yourself ?

I'm guessing that they want you to speak of your own experience within the organisation and how its helped you get to where you are, in which case thats your speech written, stick to the brief, be brief but concise, give them your personal experience and not the company mission statement, the tip above about consciously slowing down is a good one, when you stand up to speak, pause, take a breath, smile at your audience, look confident and they will be put at ease, then start slowly...

Above all, write down what you are going to say, word for word not bullet points, write it all down, edit it, practice it, time it, edit in some pauses, be confident in the pauses, look around the room and speak to several random faces one-to-one, and remember, they don't hate you, they actually want to listen to your experiences and the council leader has probably just bored them to death so you could be the most interesting speaker they've heard all night.

And don't be afraid to just read straight from a sheet of paper, thats ok, you don't have to learn it off by heart, if you aren't that confident then just write it all down and read from the paper.

Don't try and be funny, it rarely works.

Unless you overdo it, then you'll sound like a 45 being played at 33.

Are you sure your aspirations aren't too low?

Any serious reply based on the scant information in the OP is misplaced.
Seriously.
The guy has not even tried to clarify anything.

I hope Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and AVB at Chelsea read this and think all is not lost yet

No, but some of us know a little about the project he is involved with.

I'll be speaking at this event -
Advice has been good from most people so far

Isn't the old chestnut, just imagine the audience in the nude or underwear, then go from there???...

Seriously, the best advice is to just be yourself.....If you have been asked to do it, then somebody at least believes you can do it....I doubt you would have been asked if they thought you would make a cock of yourself.

Indeed.

Another thing to watch is not to let the ends of sentences drop in volume – many people let this happen in ordinary speech without realising it.

So the key thing, as mentioned, is practice and practice and practice.

Rehe. Don't try to memorise the whole thing, you're not a trained actor, but work on the important parts so that they'll come to mind when needed, and you can fill around them.
Speak slowly.
Speak clearly.
I always start by staring at a point on the far wall just above the highest head and then slowly bring my gaze down. If you're making a speech asking for funding or similar, make sure that at least once in the speech that you look at the dignaties, and look them in the eye.

Believe in what you're saying...


Good luck, public speaking isn't difficult, it just needs a little confidence.

Prepare some good soundbites, say young people want a hand up, not a hand out, along with rights come responsibilities, bridge the gap between government and the governed, today the hand of history is on our shoulders, this is the time not to falter but to lead.

..but paraphrase them, otherwise it'll sound like management bollux

Totally agree with the deliberate/slowed down advice, if you can think of the people there as your friends without being overly friendly in what you say that will help to relax you a little.
So don't think too much about who they are, just that they are ordinary folk same as you and I, two arms, two legs etc.

Think about your syntax, don't make yourself look silly by making grammatical errors or make a simple sentence over complex and/or ambiguous or repetitive. Concise and to the point can sometimes be the best way rather than over elaborating, however too concise and it sounds like a mandate, it can be hard to strike the balance and it often comes with practise but some people can just do it easily.
Write/type your speech in big bold letters with wide paragraphs (this is what politicians and heads of state do), underline a sub heading if you like, so if you do forget where you are it should be easy for you to find where you're up to. If you have 5+ sheets of A4, it doesn't matter.

You could practise in front of people you know, then if you want maybe even down your local.
No-one is expecting you to be the next great orator or Martin Luther King, however your belief in what you say if said with passion & empathy for the cause will have an emotive effect on the people regarding the message you are giving or at least make them think much more as opposed to just delivering a monotone speech.

I've always been a natural chatterbox, I loved debating at school and in my career doing staff training, presenting contracts and other guff to all & sundry but there's always an element of nerves so don't worry if you get the jitters a little.

Suck on a throat lozenge and if poss maybe even have a glass of water to hand (It's surprising how dry your throat can get at the wrong time when you're a little nervous.
Lastly, smile and try to look around at the people when you speak, it has just that little bit more personal meaning if you look into people's eyes when you say stuff but don't hold their gaze too long.
Sorry that's a shed load to take in.
Hope it goes well