How to speak with public
About 75% of adults experience a fear of public speaking. When we are exposed to stress hormones we may respond in ways quite different from our normal behavior – often, our minds freeze, our voices become uncooperative, we may shake visibly, etc.
Even the most professional public speakers have to deal with the nerves but they have ways to manage the same. In this article, we share ways to gain confidence in speaking in public.
# Preparation and Preparation
-Plan and prepare your speech as much as possible because that gives you a sense of being in control and less things going wrong. Consider the following:
-Visit the venue and room you will be using before the day
Print off and arrange any handouts you might need at least the day before
-Create flash cards to use as cues
-Prepare for technical failures-for example, prepare to have a backup if a video does not play
-Plan to arrive early for your speech
-Practice-repeatedly
-Read our Checklist for Before and After a Presentation
#Positive mental imagery
Visualise successfully presenting your presentation with confidence and ease. This will only build your confidence in your ability to do so. Imagine yourself there vividly, using all the senses to build a picture. If you are getting negative visualize then counter them by thinking of times when you have communicated successfully. Replace the negativity with more realistic images.
#Managing nerves
Keep in mind that you are being invited to speak and not as a prank-the audience wants to hear you speak. In preparation for speaking in advance, to control your nerves, include:
-Not drinking too much caffeine in advance, as it will stimulate you and keep you feeling more nervous and trembly.
-Having some music or podcast prepared for you to listen to on your way to the presentation.
-Find a mindfulness exercise you’re comfortable with as you head to the venue.
-Pre-exercise controlled breathing so you could do it right before going on stage.
-In case you have time, do some form of exercise beforehand. Exercise will eventually release endorphins which will help reduce your stress level and make you feel much better.
-Know that it is very unlikely that your audience knows that you feel nervous-you do not look as nervous as you feel.
Pace yourself during the presentation. If you find that you are speaking too quickly, pause and take a breath. This will not look odd-it will just be like you are thinking about what you are saying.
Strategically you can time a few of your pauses for after questions, and perhaps at the end of sections because this will enable you to come down to a more calm state of mind, but also give the audience a chance to think and reflect.
Pauses will help you avoid filler words like “um,” which also would make you sound uncertain.
Practice
If you are very conversant with what you are going to present, the audience is going to consider you confident. Practice tips:
Do not just read through your presentation but practice everything including transitions and using your visual aids.
Stand up and say it out loud as if you were in front of an audience.
Ensure you are practicing the body language and gesturing.
Practice in the presence of others and request their feedback.
Filmyourself delivering and watch it back
Freely improvise so you’ll sound more natural on the day. Don’t learn your presentation verbatim because you will sound uninterested and if you lose focus then you may forget everything.
#Confident body language
You’ll notice that professional public speakers look relaxed and confident, they talk slowly and make positive body movements. To appear confident:
#Maintain eye contact with the audience
-Use gestures to emphasise points
-Move around the stage
-Match your facial expression with what you are saying
-Reduce nervous habits
-Slowly and steadily breathe
-Use your voice aptly
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#Use your nervous energy
It can be difficult to conceal your nerves so another way of dealing with this is to create an emphasis on your feelings. This means expressing the feelings you are describing/you felt at the time, for example, the disappointment you felt at a failure or the excitement you felt at a finding. The feeling you show up will hide your nerves.
#Speak slowly
When you’re nervous you tend to rush through your presentation and finish way too quickly, which, of course, makes it obvious to the audience, which must be frustrating to hear and watch, and you’re not spending enough time really connecting with them, and I’m pretty sure you’re making some errors as well.
-Try speaking at a speed that feels uncomfortably slow because it’s likely to be the correct speed.
-Average Speaking Rate and Words per Minute
-Engage the audience at the start of
-Within the initial five minutes, it is possible to capture an audience’s attention and get them to listen to you. To facilitate this, you might want to start your talk with a personal anecdote of a worst moment that you may have experienced, or perhaps had a rather lousy time in life – if appropriate to the topic you are addressing.
-People will relate to this because everyone has erred and failed sometimes. The more the audience can relate to you, the more likely they will continue listening which will increase your confidence.
#How to make a good opening of a presentation
-Welcoming faces
Find an engaged member in the audience in every section of the room who is nodding or smiling, and when you feel uncomfortable, move your eyes to this friendly face in that section.
-Identify and challenge your excuses
Write the thoughts you have when you avoid speaking at a meeting or when you decline giving a presentation. These thoughts identify what you are specifically afraid of. Often, one is the thought that the audience will deem you incompetent.
This negative self-talk erodes what little confidence you may have and leads to your assuming you cannot speak in public. Dispute these thoughts by locating some evidence of effective communication and appreciate how irrational the thoughts can be.
#Focus on your message
When you speak, keep in mind what you are saying and why this message needs to be shared with the audience. Then you will be more in touch with your speech and not distracted by a person falling asleep in the audience or your personal evaluation of how the presentation goes. Instead, you will connect with the listeners, who, discovering your presentation valuable, would take it to heart.
#Create a stage person
It’s a temptation to try to be like the successful public speakers, but it is much more useful to identify what you’re strong at as a speaker and then build on that. To develop a confident stage personality ask yourself:
-What are my strengths as a speaker?
E.g. Am I empathetic? Am I funny? And so on.
More experienced and confident public speakers have it as part of their use of communications. They make audiences very lively and responsive if they make them laugh at any point and lighten the mood so that the public speaker is also comfortable. The main issue, however, when making use of humor is being careful since a joke may be misinterpreted and even offend the audience.
Use jokes only if you’re comfortable using that device and if it fits in well with the context. Self-deprecation is often a safe way to use humor and it builds trust as it relates to people more easily.
#Udemy course on becoming Funnier at Public Speaking
Be prepared for mistakes
Mistakes happen every day. But reacting awkwardly can be embarrassing. It’s better to laugh with you. So, consider preparing one-liners to fall back on if you do make a mistake. Having that backup in your pocket can make you feel more secure.
#Recognise the positives afterwards
At the end of a presentation some find themselves only able to comment on the negative aspects of the given presentation. By doing so, you are essentially overlooking the positives with the likely number of these positives far outweighing the negatives.
ACKNOWLEDGE THE POSITIVES and write them down so you can remind yourself in the future and challenge your negative predictions.
That is to say that you probably will be nervous when you present but most people feel this and it does not ruin a presentation. Trust what you are saying and turn your nerves into something positive.
You are not going to build confidence if you do not step out of your comfort zone and avoid uncomfortable situations.