Even if you’ve done it before a hundred times you’re likely to feel nervous if you have agreed to be an after dinner speaker at an event whether corporate, educational or charitable.
Being an after dinner speaker needn’t be that hard. You are almost certainly already familiar with the organisation that has asked you to speak.Perhaps you hold a position of authority within the organisation.

However you came to be associated with the organisation you will be speaking to, you are at an advantage over professional after dinner speakers who are drafted in from speakers’ agencies.The advantage is that you already know the type of people you’ll be addressing, their interests, hobbies and any taboo subjects that just shouldn’t be mentioned. Put another way, you have already done the research part. That sort of information is the subject of much research by after dinner speakers.

So, with the hard part done all you have to concentrate on is the other hard part: making the speech interesting.A good after dinner speaker knows how to combine the perfect amounts of humour, anecdotes, examples and factual information to make their speech informative yet still captivating.

Another vital thing is to practise the presentation.There is no use in having a fantastic and interesting speech if you are going to read it in long droning tones and sound bored as you do. Presentation is as important as content, so think about your voice, sound excited when appropriate and never read from a sheet.If you really can’t remember the whole speech, use a list of bullet points to remind you of the most important parts of the speech. The amount you can remember from a few bullet points will pleasantly surprise you and you’ll achieve a more natural and conversational tone.

Body language is important too. Looking as though you’re having fun will make the audience more inclined to have fun. So even if you don’t feel it, keep calm and confident. Use eye contact and natural hand gestures to look confident and calm.

Even if you’ve done it before a hundred times you’re likely to feel nervous if you have agreed to be an after dinner speaker at an event whether corporate, educational or charitable.
Being an after dinner speaker needn’t be that hard. It’s quite likely that if you don’t work as an after dinner speaker but have been asked to perform as one then you are relatively familiar with the organisation that has asked you to speak. Perhaps you hold a senior position within the organisation.

Whatever the reason for your association with the organistion for whom you will be speaking, you will find yourself at an advantage over speakers from agencies. This is because you already know the group’s interests, hobbies, ethos and potential taboo subjects. Put another way, you have already done the research part. Speakers from professional agencies have to research that sort of thing.

So, with the hard part done all you have to concentrate on is the other hard part: making the speech interesting. It takes a good after dinner speaker to combine the right amount of factual information, humour and anecdotes to produce an informative but engaging speech.

The presentation is also worth practising. it is absolutely no good having a captivating speech if it is read in a monotonous voice by a bored-sounding person.Presentation is as important as content, so think about your voice, sound excited when appropriate and never read from a sheet.If you really can’t remember the whole speech, use a list of bullet points to remind you of the most important parts of the speech. You’ll be surprised how much you can remember using this method and it has the added advantage of making speech sound more natural and friendly.

Body language matters too. the audience will have more fun if you look as though you’re enjoying yourself.So try not to look nervous even if you feel terrified. Use eye contact and natural hand gestures to look confident and calm.