(FORTUNE Small Business) – As experienced as you may be in giving speeches, as important as your message may be, there's one thing you keep forgetting: You're not General George S. Patton spurring on the troops before the invasion of Normandy. You're in the business of flogging software (or underwear), and most of your audience of employees would prefer to be somewhere--anywhere!--else, rather than stuck listening to you blather on.

I know all this because your employees appointed me to lead them out of audience captivity. I'm up for the job, since I've spent hours trapped in auditoriums, studying the backs of the heads of similarly bored fellow workers. Here's my list of Top Five Speaking Violations. Read it and reform.

SERIAL TOASTMASTER. Some CEOs itch to stand behind the podium. Need to buck up the team? Got a vision of the company's future? Wowed by your own deep thinking in the shower this morning? By golly, give another speech!

Take it from me, restraint is a thing of beauty. Communication is important, but trotting out a new speech every week devalues the occasion. And then there's that shower thing. The No. 1 speaking mistake that bosses make is thinking "my station in life is such that any dull thing I say, they will hang on," says Fraser Seitel, a managing partner of Emerald Partners, a public relations consulting firm in Fort Lee, N.J.

AND YOUR POINT? You love stream-of-consciousness speechmaking, the way you start talking about inventory and end up reminiscing about your bike trip in Banff, the way one thought collides into another, as they do in this sentence.

Hel-lo! This is audience abuse. Hone an objective before you open your big mouth. Do you want employees to invent a new product, or get ready for a downturn? State your purpose clearly at the outset. Points off for using corporate babble like "empower" or "feedback."

BECAUSE I SAID SO. You're the boss. It goes without saying that you've made the right strategic decisions. Now it's just a matter of telling the employees where to march, right?

You're fooling yourself. Every speech, particularly those to employees, should contain anecdotes, statistics, and examples to support your case. Even cynics will have a hard time dismissing your message if it's backed by hard facts.

THE IN-CROWD. "...Hey, that reminds me. One time Joe and Sandra and I got caught in the most embarrassing situation with Mr. Big Client. (Grins at Joe and Sandra.) Remember how fast he hoofed it to the car? (Shakes head, silently chuckling.) As I was saying..."

Good job! Now you've successfully estranged everyone in your audience except Joe and Sandra. And better yet, your listeners understand that becoming a member of the Insiders Club requires chummy experiences with you, not all that hard work they've been doing.

IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE GREENSBORO. Sure, there are times when you get a little tired of delivering the same message to eight different departments in six different cities. But spare me your put-upon attitude and your perfunctory tone. There's no louder way to say, "You aren't worth much effort."

Do your homework on what makes each audience different. Speak up about their unique concerns and characteristics. Adapting your speech to your audience will make your message more genuine. "The best speeches are really heartfelt," says Seitel.

That doesn't mean you have to infuse a third-quarter review with the kind of I-feel-your-pain emoting we used to see from President Clinton. But you do have to reveal genuine concerns, hopes, and thoughts to win your employees' regard. Trust me, that moment can't come too soon.