I feel like you can tell if a public speaker is a hit or miss within the first minute of their presentation. Their eye contact, speaking voice, and appearance are all being immediately judged by the audience.
A recent public speaker that I saw was at the freshman convocation for Baruch. He was a public speaker about sex and sexual abuse on campus. However, all it said on my orientation sheet was “Sex: Making Peace with Passion” so obviously we were all laughing about it cause no one knew why we were even having this as part of our long day.
The speaker was actually really entertaining. Within the first couple of minutes, he captured most of the audience’s attention. He gave visual examples of situations that college age students might be experiencing when confronted with sex. He also did a bunch of other things that I don’t really remember but at the time, I was listening to him talk. He used his hands to engage the audience and is definitely a good example of a public speaker.