Get your audience on the same page.

The best way to get your audience on the same page is to give a definition. Your goal is to talk the same language. Definitions minimise confusion and misunderstandings. You can quote the dictionary. If you are going to talk about vision, which is a word that has different meanings for different people, then you can say: “According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, vision is defined as the ability to think about or plan the future with great imagination.”

You can also give your own definition or philosophy. You can say something like: “I define vision as the skill to envision the future, and my philosophy about vision is that the best way to predict the future is to create it.” When you define a word or a phrase, you remove any uncertainty. It is also a good technique to open a speech by clearly defining the topic.

One way to help get your audience on the same page is to paint a picture.

Our minds see things in pictures. The audience can- not see what you see unless you paint the picture for them with descriptive words. I listen to many speeches and the ones that are dull and tedious are the ones that lack descriptive words. Descriptive words colour the “picture” and give meaning to a speech. Look at the next example to see how descriptive words give colour to this mental picture.

Get the picture? Paint the picture of your speech clearly enough so people can understand what you are saying. Remember: the best way to get your audience on the same page is to give a definition. You will surely add value to your speech.