Holocaust presentations

I spent much of today (as part of our 13% community and charity giving back promise) working with speakers who are presenting at this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day. It didn’t go entirely according to plan, but it was very definitely work the hassle of working on a Sunday! :)

With no pretense that this is anything like a comprehensive list, here are some of the things that we discovered between us, for when it comes to events like this…

Practise. Well yes, obviously.  You should practise any public speaking event of course, but in particular we found it was particularly important do so for this kind of event where, to be honest, we thought that audiences would be potentially offended, or even upset, by mistakes. While you might not intend to be at all disrespectful, if you accidently find you skip someone’s name from a list then you’re naturally risking their ire.

Check your pronunciation. Generally you can simply pronounce things as you pronounce things – regional snobbery about accents is (almost) extinct (in the UK).  For place names and (in particular) names of people making sure you pronounce them as they would pronounce them is simply a mark of respect.

As before, if you get it wrong, someone can easily be upset of offended.

Allow extra time and speak more slowly. For events like this, there’s a reasonable chance that some of your audience won’t have English as a first language, or may have some difficulty hearing, either because of the age or because of the venue. Speaking a little more slowly than you normally do will help.

Be absolutely clear in your diction. Again, this is to help people who may need just that little bit of extra help but will also be useful in terms of making any microphone-to-speaker system more useful. Generally (though not always) PA systems make your voice less clear:you can at least do your best to start with clear diction! :)

Take great care with your nerves – not just your nerves, do be honest, but the same tools work very well in terms of making sure you don’t get caught up in the emotion of the event. Being passionate is one thing, letting it show too much is another. Remember always that the audience (or congregation, call them what you will) are more important than you – your job is to facilitate their experience, not have one of your own.

Whatever similar event you may be speaking at, good luck. And if you’re speaking at on Holocaust Day, may I wish you, sincerely, all the very best.