A simple thing that I have noticed which becomes extremely difficult for many of us is public speaking. Often we have a lot of ideas, creativity but when it comes to express it in front of an audience, especially people we are seeing for the first time, is indeed a difficulty. I was no different, in my early days I had hardly done any public speaking and I could feel my legs tremble, my voice break, my eyes loosing focus and all whenever I was supposed to enter a stage or asked for addressing a group of people.
I would like to share a few tips that I used and found extremely useful when it comes to public speaking that helped me a lot that now I feel confident enough to handle an audience much better.
1) The first and foremost thing we need during public speaking is confidence in oneself. Make sure you have the talent and tell the same to yourself. Your mind should be calm, of curse this comes with practise and a few tries, and focused and let the confidence flow in. You are not the worst public speaker around and you are one of the best future speakers, keep this in mind.
2)Always consider your audience and what they know about the subject you are talking about; generally we get a mixed audience those who don't know the topic, those who know a bit and those who have a greater knowledge on the topic. Make sure your speech/talks are simple so that all these groups can be attracted. Once you gain the audience attention, you are half won.
3)Never say anything that you are not confident about or cannot justify. This way you can handle questions from the audience in a better way.If you are doubtful you can always get back to them later or say that in my opinion/I beleive this is like this. Nobody is perfect so to admit things like this will just improve your skills rather than saying foolish things in public.
4)Never touch controversial topics, its better that we always do a practice as of what we want to speak. Make small notes, practice in front of the mirror/ a friend and ensure that you know what you are about to speak once you are on stage.
5)Voice control is a major attribute in public speaking. Ensure you are audible and your voice is clear. No need to shout (especially if mike is there) but maintain the right emotions in your voice; you can record few rehearsal speeches and improve by listening to that.
6)Make sure your body language is appropriate, leaning on a table, pressing palms together etc shows nervousness, so avoid them. Move your hands gently as per your speech if needed, and you can also walk slowly if you want as it eases the tension a lot.
7)Never bore your audience. Keep your speaking interactive, if you feel the audience is no longer interested, wind up the speech.
8)Every person has weaknesses, this can be overcome by practise only; on the meantime rely on your strengths and empower them.
9)Make sure you analyse the topic thoroughly before making a speech, you should be confident enough to deal with questions asked on the topic.
10)Do not read from notes during speech, I give this a big NO NO as you are wasting eye contact with your audience, which is the major step in public speaking. Small notes on rleavant points can be kept just as a reference if you forget something, but make sure you dont need it anyway.
11)Respond, adjust and adapt. Respond to the questions from the audience, give them importance and ensure that you answer the question completely. Adjust to the situation while you are on s stage (as per the level of audience, their numbers etc:) and also adapt to the situatons (may be you have to reduce your speech due to unforseen circumstances)
I would like to share a few tips that I used and found extremely useful when it comes to public speaking that helped me a lot that now I feel confident enough to handle an audience much better.
1) The first and foremost thing we need during public speaking is confidence in oneself. Make sure you have the talent and tell the same to yourself. Your mind should be calm, of curse this comes with practise and a few tries, and focused and let the confidence flow in. You are not the worst public speaker around and you are one of the best future speakers, keep this in mind.
2)Always consider your audience and what they know about the subject you are talking about; generally we get a mixed audience those who don't know the topic, those who know a bit and those who have a greater knowledge on the topic. Make sure your speech/talks are simple so that all these groups can be attracted. Once you gain the audience attention, you are half won.
3)Never say anything that you are not confident about or cannot justify. This way you can handle questions from the audience in a better way.If you are doubtful you can always get back to them later or say that in my opinion/I beleive this is like this. Nobody is perfect so to admit things like this will just improve your skills rather than saying foolish things in public.
4)Never touch controversial topics, its better that we always do a practice as of what we want to speak. Make small notes, practice in front of the mirror/ a friend and ensure that you know what you are about to speak once you are on stage.
5)Voice control is a major attribute in public speaking. Ensure you are audible and your voice is clear. No need to shout (especially if mike is there) but maintain the right emotions in your voice; you can record few rehearsal speeches and improve by listening to that.
6)Make sure your body language is appropriate, leaning on a table, pressing palms together etc shows nervousness, so avoid them. Move your hands gently as per your speech if needed, and you can also walk slowly if you want as it eases the tension a lot.
7)Never bore your audience. Keep your speaking interactive, if you feel the audience is no longer interested, wind up the speech.
8)Every person has weaknesses, this can be overcome by practise only; on the meantime rely on your strengths and empower them.
9)Make sure you analyse the topic thoroughly before making a speech, you should be confident enough to deal with questions asked on the topic.
10)Do not read from notes during speech, I give this a big NO NO as you are wasting eye contact with your audience, which is the major step in public speaking. Small notes on rleavant points can be kept just as a reference if you forget something, but make sure you dont need it anyway.
11)Respond, adjust and adapt. Respond to the questions from the audience, give them importance and ensure that you answer the question completely. Adjust to the situation while you are on s stage (as per the level of audience, their numbers etc:) and also adapt to the situatons (may be you have to reduce your speech due to unforseen circumstances)
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