Want to Give a Great Speech? Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes Before an important speech, we must always ask ourselves what success looks like at the end of our talk. Is it simply presenting facts and not forgetting anything we planned to say or leaving people transformed forever by our words?

Maya Angelou once said, "At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did, but they will remember how you made them feel."

The natural response to her words of wisdom is to think about how they relate to our personal relationships or leadership skills, but the benefit of leaving an emotional impression on someone extends beyond private interactions. The same advantage can be seen when trying to influence larger groups in a public setting, such as when giving a speech or a big presentation.

If you are anything like me, when preparing for an important speech, your instinct is to focus on delivering as much content as possible. You might assume that the more information you present, the better job you will do. However, when you spend too much time teaching the material and not enough time connecting with your audience, you miss an opportunity to reach them on a deeper level. You must create space for people to take in what you have shared and think about how it relates to them if you want to spark real change within their lives.