(Electronic Help)
If there's a microphone on hand, then use it-or at least appear to use it. People think they can hear better if they see a speaker standing in front of a microphone.
Wherever you are going to speak, enquire beforehand if a microphone is to be provided and if it is then test it in advance. It won't enhance the start of your speech if you have to open with the words ' Testing... Testing... One, two, three, four...
In my experience, every microphone is a law unto itself. Some you need to stand close to. Some you need to have at chest height. Some are multi-directional and allow you a little freedom of movement. Others need to be constantly three inches from your mouth if you are to be heard at all. If possible, get to know the microphone you will be using well before you have to use it. Unless you are a would-be night-club comic, don't hold it. Make sure it has a stand and one that is both adjusted to your height and doesn't wobble. If you are provided with a neck microphone-one that is either clipped to your clothes or hangs around your neck-do your best to avoid banging it as you speak.
Some microphones have on/off switches. Make sure yours is on before you launch into your speech, but don't have it on too soon. I was about to speak at a dinner in the North of England once when my host told me confidentially that, in his opinion, most of the audience were bores and all of them were fools. Unfortunately they heard every damning word he to say about them: the microphone had been switched on as the coffee was served and the hapless host hadn't realized.
If your microphone squeaks, squeals and screams at you, make one joke about it and carry on. If the electronic noise persists switch off the microphone and make do without. Recently I spoke to the Southend Law Society and hardly had begun my address when the amplifiers began broadcasting not only my speech, but also messages being transmitted by the local police. The first time this happened, the audience roared its enthusiastic approval, but after a short while the interference became an irritating distraction. Temperamental microphones and talkative public address systems are good for one long laugh, but the novelty rapidly wears off.