Whether or not you have chosen to be a performer by profession, there will most likely come a time in your life where you will be called upon to address a large group of people for one reason or another. This can be a daunting and intimidating task for the uninitiated. If you keep a couple of things in mind, however, it may be something that you not only get through, but also enjoy.
Instructions
1. Have your thoughts organized. Whether you are eulogizing, or presenting a sales pitch to a group of work colleagues, your best course of action is preparation. As soon as you find out that you will be addressing the group that you have been designated to address, begin organizing your thoughts. The best way to do this is to make an outline. Don't constrict yourself to a script that you must follow verbatim. Instead use index cards to chart out the points that you feel must be addressed in the speech, and string them together from there.
2. Improvise around your main points. Once you have the "tent poles" of your speech in place, feel free to play around a little with how you get from point to point. Make it loose and keep it personal. Something that sounds like you came up with it off the top of your head will strike a deeper chord than something that sounds like it was written and recited.
3. Practice by yourself. You needn’t practice in front of a mirror, but if you take the time to go over your speech in your living room, once or twice, and let yourself flounder and fail, you'll know what works and what doesn't.
4. Relate to the large group as though it were one or two friends. Remember, just because it's a large group of people, doesn't mean that they aren't still people. The point will get across better if you address them as though they are all close acquaintances.
5. When in doubt, picture them in their underwear. This really does work! As soon as you start feeling a little unsure of yourself, just paint that mental picture for yourself, and you'll automatically feel much less embarrassed.
