5 Tips For Successful Public Speaking
If you search for “public speaking tips” with Google, you’ll find more than two and a half million results. It seems that there is a nearly unlimited number of resources online which offer to help you overcome your fear of public speaking; but if you need to give a speech soon, the last thing you need is to spend all of your time looking for tips to successfully make it through your own upcoming speech.
The fears that many have in connection with speaking in front of a group largely come from yourself. The audience generally cares far more about what you have to say rather than how you say it; the anxiety is all your own. The following tips can help to put you at ease with the idea of addressing a group.
Public Speaking Tip #1
You need to know your topic backwards and forwards. Not only do you have to know your speech by heart, but you should be very well versed in the subject matter so you’re prepared to answer any questions which audience members may have. Make sure to research your topic very thoroughly while writing your speech.
Public Speaking Tip #2
Instead of pacing back and forth, worrying about your speech going disastrously, talk with as many of the people who will be listening to your speech as you can. Being familiar with the audience will make you more confident in yourself.
This also distracts you from worry as you wait for your cue to step up and give your speech, so you will be far more composed and calm and give a better speech.
Public Speaking Tip #3
You may have heard the old saw about picturing your audience naked – don’t do this. Instead of putting you at ease, you’ll find it distracting and will actually hurt your efforts at public speaking.
Public Speaking Tip # 4
When you catch yourself saying um and ah, stop and repeat the sentence instead, just as if you were trying to emphasize the point. Continue on with your speech from here, letting yourself pause instead of filling the spaces with ums and ahs. This sounds far more professional – it makes your speech sound well rehearsed, in fact.
Public Speaking Tip # 5
Don’t forget to use body language to get your point across. A good speaker uses more than his or her mouth. Gestures and other movements can express energy and place much-needed emphasis on important points; it’s something that the best speakers do as a matter of course.
These tips can help you to become comfortable with public speaking. It’s an important skill to master and one which can take you far in life; there are many who even pass up promotions at work because they fear the obligations to speak publicly that these better positions entail.
Do you realize people fear speaking in public more than they fear dying? Maybe because dying is abstract and appears far away while the podium is right in front of them. Either way, you really can come to grips with your fear and maybe you won’t enjoy it, but you’ll be able to get through it easier. I can’t emphasize enough that half of your battle will be just knowing what you are going to say, and anticipating what others are going to ask. It can be easy!
