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When listening to a person deliver a speech, most adults, like children, have a very short attention span.

As a speaker, you would want to make sure that the audience does not notice the time passing by while you are talking.

It will give you a great feeling when, after your speech, somebody 

approaches you and tells you what a great time they had.

There are several factors that you can use to your advantage to command the audience’s attention while speaking in public:

>Your speech.

Once you already mastered your topic, you can review your speech and make sure that your audience will not fall asleep while listening.

You may not read a written script word-for-word, but you can ensure that your sentences are in an active voice and they are always in a positive mode.

While gathering material, you may insert human interest facts and unusual trivia about your topic to keep the speech from getting boring.

Also, think of stories which you can relate to the topic at hand, as 

everyone loves to hear them.

Another thing that you can insert in your speech is unusual facts and 

figures. Although this may sound boring to others, there are still people who prefer to hear numbers, percentages and statistics. Just make sure that they are kept to a minimum, but it does not hurt to state them.

>Your voice.

Now that you have a rough draft of the actual speech, you can think of ways to use your voice to grab the audience’s attention.

Through the course of your talk, you may vary the tone of your voice. Do not be monotonous when you speak, as this would make you sound dull and uninteresting.

Speak loud enough for your voice to reach the farthest part of the room.

Also, you may increase the inflection of your voice or be a little 

“animated” when discussing the focal parts of your topic.

You can further increase the volume of your voice when you think that the listeners are losing interest.

>Your visuals.

Your audience would want to look at something else while you are there on stage discussing a certain topic.

Prepare photos, charts, and other pleasing-to-the-eye visuals to help you with your presentation.

Since it is better not to rely on written notes while delivering your 

speech, you may also use your visuals as “cheat sheets” to guide you on the next topic that you need to discuss.

>Your humor.

Nothing grabs someone’s attention better than humor. Always inject something funny while delivering an otherwise boring speech to keep your audience lively and interested.