So why do we give speeches? I mean, talk about an effort! When you agree to give a speech all of a sudden you realize that you've signed yourself up to pick what you want to talk about, do whatever research is required, actually write the speech, and then spend a great deal of time practicing how you are going to say it. What's the purpose of all of this?

What you'll find inside:

• How to successfully talk to teens - and survive!
• What to do when you say the wrong thing during a presentation
• Why presenters hate bad introductions
• Handling hecklers: Five ways that presenters can restore order

It turns out that the purpose is actually quite simple - we want our next presentation to make a difference. No matter if we've agreed to talk with teens, if we've screwed up and said the wrong thing, or if we're not sure that our voice is up to giving a speech, we always want to make sure that our efforts are going to count for something.

Speeches are not easy to give. We have to struggle with getting bad introductions, make sure that we offend as few people as possible if we are giving toasts, and be aware of all of the nonverbal signals that we are sending to our audience.

Because speaking can be so hard to so, when we get a chance to watch a famous person speak, we need to seize the opportunity - it's like going to speech giving school. They'll teach us critical skills like how to handle hecklers and how to give an effective keynote speech.

It may not always seem this way, but as speakers we do have power. We need to learn how to tap into the power that we have and use it to deliver the best speech that we possibly can.