As a small business owner and consultant in international trade and communication, I get asked occasionally to give speeches to different groups about trends that I see shaping the global economy. Frequently, I get asked to speak in front of European and Asian audiences who are not native speakers of the English language. Even when I am speaking in front of American audiences, there are many times when large portions of the audience don’t understand English. Two weeks ago, a leader of a large German company asked if I could prepare a set of notes for him on the various things that I have learned to make my speeches more effective. While a large portion of what I tell you will all ready be known to you, there could be some novel ideas too.

One of the keys to success is having the audience think of you as clever, gifted, and intelligent. If you have these traits then you already have an advantage over many speakers. As an example, supposed that you get asked to give a presentation in front of a team of Japanese Translation workers. Keep in mind, these people came to hear an accomplished speaker who is knowledgeable in their field. But for most business leaders, speaking before an audience is not easy. A talented public speaker will receive wide acclaim by the audience and become well known among his peers in the industry. He or she will also be a better motivator and manager of people, whatever the career assignment, simply because so much of good management today requires good communication skills.

Because we just introduced the ground work for an effective speech, the next step is to introduce more advanced ideas and suggestions to allow you to improve communication with family, work and friends. When in front of some audiences, you must really be conscious about how you use humor. Commody can help you to connect with and reach the audience and it can be done effectively through the use of cartoons and comic strips. But before jumping into the use of humor, we advise that it be used cautiously in order to avoid ineffective and unintended delivery results. For example, we might think that it is acceptable to use a funny skit from a Saudi Arabian television show to use in a presentation that is being given to a group of international Arabic Document Translation workers. Before you know it, a holy jihad breaks out in the meeting room and one side is throwing chairs at the other side. In the end, you are either one who is blamed and told to never return. But you would have really had to have done something bad to make the audience dislike you that much. But always give the audience some additional time to digest and interpret the meaning. Sometimes, it takes a few extra moments. Another important point to make is that while an audience composed of Russian Document Translation workers may have studied English, they may not have studied American English. If they did graduate from the British school of English then make sure you proof your speech several times. Often words and meanings in British English mean something entirely different in American English.