You may be invited to give talks locally to other organisations or businesses. This is a fantastic opportunity to promote guiding in your area.
Think about what you most want to achieve with your talk or presentation. For example, is this a recruitment opportunity for volunteers?
If you are invited to speak at an engagement, respond promptly to ensure that the opportunity is not lost and confirm the following details:
- times
- where you are in the programme
- the length of talk required
- who the audience will be and the number of people attending
- parking facilities/local transport options
- technical facilities, such as overhead projectors
- emergency phone numbers
- likely expenses, and who will be paying them.
In order to prepare your talk, consider how formal the event will be and what the organisation’s expectations are. Is this an event with a theme, for example ‘Supporting youth in the community’?
Also consider your audience:
- their level of knowledge about guiding
- their main interests
- whether previous speakers have covered similar topics.
When planning your speech:
- thank the organiser and audience for inviting you
- give a little background about yourself – your role in guiding and how you came to be involved
- let the audience know when there will be an opportunity for questions
- order the speech in three parts – what you are going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you’ve told them
- follow a logical order
- avoid using ‘jargon’ or terms exclusive to guiding. Depending on the event, the audience will have little or no involvement in guiding and you do not want to risk alienating them.
Rehearse your speech in advance. Remember to speak clearly and not to rush.
Wear what is comfortable and best represents Girlguiding to your audience.
If using PowerPoint remember these main points.
- Do not include all the information from your talk on the slides – these should emphasise key points. Including too much text will replace the need for your being there.
- Consider how the presentation will look when projected. Is everything arranged clearly and is the text readable?
- Your presentation should be in line with Girlguiding’s brand guidance. To help you with this a a template presentation is available to download.
- Do not include too many slides – this can be distracting to an audience. Try to have no more than one slide per minute.
- Carefully consider the use of animation within a slideshow. Overuse can be distracting and disrupt your flow of speech.
- If you choose to automate slide transitions then make sure you rehearse your speech with the slides to ensure that they are synchronised.