25th February 2012 - Being able to interact confidently with a large gathering is the most important factor that influences the effectiveness of a Keynote Speaker.
It takes a lot of character to maintain calm before a group of people. These speakers would find it most difficult to interact with a group, which knows a lot about a subject. The use of these speakers is that they introduce a topic and what the main speaker is going to talk about, to the gathering. It is not to fool the audience that these people are available; it is for the audience to gain a clear understanding about a topic.
Before speaking about a topic, one has to do the necessary research on the same. Generally, one can speak only ten percent of what one knows. It is best to note down the name of the main speaker and send a mail to them to clarify specific details about them. It is better to do this, as it would not be very good if you were to introduce the wrong person.
The audience will take notice of the speaker only if he has something to say. The job of the speaker is to gain attention of all the members of the audience to listen to the main speaker and understand and comprehend what he has said. One has to be sure that the speech continues without any gaps, as the presence of a gap in the speech can instill fear in one’s heart. Easier way is to speak continuously while making sure that you keep an unfading eye contact with the audience.
Being witty is an intelligent way to keep the audience attention with you. Telling a story or an anecdote relevant to the topic or the main speaker can be extremely helpful to increase the attention span. Words spoken by the speaker will be noted well by the main speaker. One has to be clear and concise on what one is trying to say, otherwise one could be misunderstood.
Training to be a speaker is easier than training to be a keynote speaker. The topic is all yours if you are the speaker but being a keynote means you will have to discuss only what has to be discussed with the public at that point.