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Advance preparation is key to ensuring that your audience will truly listen to your message. Be sure to consider your audience’s needs as well as outside factors, and plan your speech accordingly.

Consider Your Listeners’ Attention and Energy Levels. People listening to a speech at 8:30 on a Monday morning will likely have a limited attention span. Many may be tired from the weekend and may not have adjusted to the new week. Therefore, avoid delivering a long speech with no audience interaction during times like this. Instead, give a concise presentation and allot time for active listener participation.

Assess Your Audience’s Knowledge and Abilities. If your audience members know little about the subject of your speech, they may become confused when faced with unknown jargon or many technical details. To avoid that, explain concepts and define key terms. Also, consider any barriers to understanding, such as whether everyone in your audience has a similar capacity with the English language or whether anyone has problems with hearing. Then adjust your word choice or volume level as needed.

Front- and Back-Load Your Main Message. Listeners tend to pay the most attention just after the beginning of a speech and just before the end. For this reason, plan your speech ahead of time in the following way: front-load your main message (that is, present it early in your speech), and then use your conclusion to give listeners another opportunity to process and retain your message.

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Use Presentation Aids Strategically. Presentation aids can help you capture audience attention and thereby encourage listening. Therefore, plan to space these aids throughout your speech to maintain interest. Also, don’t incorporate a given presentation aid until you want your audience to see or hear it. When you are finished with it, put it away outside your listeners’ view or hearing range.