10 Tips for Public Speaking
Do you get butterflies in your stomach when someone asks you to address a huge crowd? Does the thought of a presentation or delivering a speech, makes you go nervous? If you experience stage fear, then please go through these tips and follow them in order to develop your public speaking skills.
1. Do your homework
The first thing to do is to acquaint yourself with the topic that you have to speak on. If it is one of your favorite subjects, it would be easy to research on the topic and make notes. If the topic doesn’t suit your tastes, it needs a little more effort from your end to work on the presentation. However, this will enhance your confidence about your work. Who knows, you might also fall in love with this topic which you always disliked.
2. Delve deep into your topic
When you research on a topic, don’t have a superficial look at it. Instead, delve deep into the topic. This way, you will be well-versed with it and ready for any kind of last moment changes in the speech. To illustrate, it may happen that you might get less time to elaborate on your topic or vice-versa. When you are well-acquainted with the topic, you know which points can be incorporated to make your content rich and which ones can be eliminated to save time.
3. Practice
Once you’re ready with the content of your speech, read it out loud. Do this until you feel confident about the fact that you have memorized it well. To avoid last moment mess ups, you may print the important parts of your speech and quotes in larger than normal font so you can skim through them and a deliver a good speech.
4. Rework
When you are practicing for the speech, you may do so in front of your friends or loved ones. Ask them for comments and rework according to their suggestions. One more objective way of judging speech skills on your own is to record your speech, listen to the voice clip and then make necessary changes in intonation and pronunciations. Also, you need to look at the number of pauses that you take while the speech is on. This is because, if you take long pauses, it is likely that your audience might get bored of your presentation.
5. Rehearse
On the day of your speech, reach the venue one or two hours before. Have a look at the seating arrangements and technical facilities provided. Make sure that everything is in place. Especially if you have to make a presentation during your speech, ensure that the projector, projector screen and related equipments are working fine. Stand on the stage once, if allowed to, and practice one last time. This way you will know how much you will have to modulate your voice in front of the microphone. Also you will come to know if the lights above you are disturbing you or obstructing your view of your notepad.
