To be an effective public speaker takes practice and persistence along these lines:
- Knowing your interests and developing your knowledge such that you can commit to a speech topic.
- Understanding how public speaking has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and what you can do to be the most effective public speaker through video calls.
- Relying not only on personal experience or opinion, but also on information from authoritative sources.
- Organizing and crafting your expressions in a way that makes your message clear and interesting to your audience.
- Delivering your speech in a confident, conversational fashion.
- Using effective visual aids.
- Effectively creating and presenting a research poster.
- Constructively responding to audience feedback.
- Dressing appropriately for every occasion.
In addition to the above, TOPS features the following resources for those moving into or out of college life: