Prepare notes before the lecture. To ensure that they are easy to read avoid using full sentences. Instead, arrange them using phrases or "bullet points." While doing so, imagine yourself looking up and down from your notes throughout the lecture; the shorter the phrase, the easier it will be to find your place. For this reason, it is advisable to print your notes in a large, easy-to-read font.
Prepare a handout for your students, if appropriate, that highlights the main points you plan to cover. Begin by specifying the objective: "After today's lecture, you will be able to..." Ideally, your lecture should prepare them to address a problem, answer a question or equip them to handle a new situation. The more "real value" you can assign your lecture, the more vested your students are likely to be in what you have to say.
Urge your students take notes and/or write questions on the worksheet as you lecture. Just as they are (hopefully) reactive readers, they will be reactive listeners who are predisposed to challenge the ideas they hear.
Stress to your students that lectures need not be a form of one-way communication. Encourage them to ask questions during the lecture to round out their understanding of the material covered. Ask them to raise their hand before speaking to maintain decorum in the lecture hall.
Move around the room during the lecture and be sure to make eye contact with your students. Vary your tone and inflections, remembering that the attention span of the average adult is only about 15 minutes. If a student looks puzzled or confused, prompt a gentle question without making the student feel embarrassed in front of her peers.
Emphasize key points by writing them on a chalkboard or dry erase board, but do so judiciously. Sharp students take the cue and usually write down these notes. They often assume that these highlights will be on a test at some later date.
Invite participation in your lecture in the form of role-playing, if appropriate. This could be an effective way to make a point if there are no right or wrong answers to the questions posed. During a lecture on physician/patient relations, for example, have students role-play a scenario in which a patient believes he has been treated unfairly. Such activities can enhance the learning experience -- while allowing students to enjoy seeing the "spotlight" shifted to their peers.
Close the lecture by recalling a technique used in freshman composition courses: Tell them where you are going, go there and then tell them where you have been. In other words, even though it seems repetitious, conclude by summarizing the main points of your lecture. Unlike written communication, verbal communication is often aided by redundancy. In fact, this tactic may cement the information in the minds of students.
Ask students if they have any questions about the material covered in the lecture.