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COMPETENCIES
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PUBLIC SPEAKING resources for you
Public Speaking:
Banquet/Luncheon Tips
I have done many
public speaking engagements in settings where meals were part of the program.
You may want to politely remind the program coordinator to consider some of
the following points:
ROOM SET-UP
(Many of these tips work whether food is being served or not)
- Avoid spacing
round tables widely apart in an attempt to fill the available space. Distance
makes audience involvement and participation in the public speaking much more
difficult. A better idea would be to space the tables as close together as
practicable (allowing enough room for comfortable waiter and waitress movement).
Empty room space could be filled with a decorative divider of some sort. Interaction
enhances the effectiveness of the public speaking engagement.
- Avoid a great
distance between the head table /dais / speaker area and the first row of
tables. Again, distance is a great barrier to public speaking and interaction.
- Try to set
the head table / speaker area on the long side of the room. This means that
the back row participants will be closer to the public speaker than if you
set the head table / speaker area on the short side of the room (participants
will feel they are really far from the action).
- Consider allowing
the public speaker an option of public speaking areas. Many of the top people
in public speaking can do a better job if they are not confined behind a head
table and/or lectern. Most public audiences like being closer to the speaker
too. To accomplish this, place extra chairs near the front of the room to
be used by the head table participants after dinner (of course, this would
depend on your overall program). You would not want them seated behind the
speaker during the program. Set head table back from the front of the podium.
Speaker can perform in front of the head table.
- Set buffet
tables far to the side or on the opposite end from the speaker area. If someone
goes back for late seconds or arrives late, he or she will not be disruptive
to the public speaking.
- Discourage
use of doors anywhere near the head table/speaker area.
TIMING
- When on a tight
time schedule in your public speaking engagement, have desserts placed on
the table midway through the meal.
- Arrange with
banquet staff to cease all bussing of tables on a pre-arranged signal. Many
functions have less than interesting openings because service personnel are
running around for the first 10 minutes of a talk. This gets everything off
to a bad start.
- Ten minutes
before the public speaking program is to start, it is very helpful to announce
something like the following: "The program will start in ten minutes. Please
get your drink refills, go to the restroom, get some
more dessert, and then take your seats and get ready for a great
program!"
- When planning lighthearted / humorous public speaking programs, avoid heavy subjects before the speaker, i.e., don't show tearjerker slides of starving children (actually happened to a speaker friend of mine), in an effort to raise funds. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for raising funds for good causes, but if you do this just before a humorous public speaking event or comedy show, you may have wasted your money on the talent and actually made it inappropriate for them to do the job for which they were hired.
When the public speaking engagement is at settings where food is involved you must make a special effort to take care of logistical details so your speech will be well received.
