Common sense tips for public speaking
Here are a few tips you'll want to keep handy when you're just
starting out in public speaking. These aren't anything out of
the ordinary and for the most part the points below are really
common sense. The idea here is that too often we forget common
sense when we're overtaken by anxiety, social phobia and fear of
public speaking. That's a reality for a lot of people who are
just starting to speak in front of an audience and it's also a
reality for more seasoned speakers who still find it challenging
to overcome their fear of public speaking and stage fright.
Once again, these points are common sense, but you'll still get
a lot out of reviewing them:
1. Learn from people who have gone through the same experience.
2. Use sentences and techniques that have been tested. * Some
structures are known to work better than others. Rely on what
works!
3. Practice a lot! * This point can never be stressed enough.
4. Practice in front of a mirror. * Learn to integrate your own
body language style to your words.
5. Record yourself and listen to your pronunciation. * This is
an excellent way to speak with clarity.
6. Make sure you know your subject inside out. * Your audience
will respect you if you are an expert and know what you're
talking about.
7. Let the audience know upfront that public speaking is not
easy for you. * Some speakers may disagree with this, but many
have embraced this idea. It might be more practical to use this
technique in front of smaller audiences - this works
particularly well if you have to present a wedding speech, as
the audience is smaller and more forgiving. When you are drawing
crowds of several thousands listeners, they expect you to be a
top speaker.
8. Know your stage. * You'll want to visit the podium (and the
room) before you speak to make sure you know where to step and
what to avoid. If anything is unsafe on that podium, you want to
know about it before hand and not risk being embarrassed on
stage.
9. Know your technology before you deliver your speech. * You
should always test your visual aids and microphones before you
deliver your speech.
10. Hire a specialist to take care of all technical
considerations. * If you're microphone doesn't work, you don't
want to be caught on stage trying to fix your own technical
problems. Hire experts who can do it quickly. You should only
have one focus - your audience.
11. Have handouts prepared just in case your visual aid doesn't
work. * For obvious reasons, you should check your Power Point
presentation many times to ensure that it works perfectly and
there are no technical glitches. But sometimes, the best
intentions are just not enough. Always have photocopies of the
handouts that can be quickly distributed in case anything goes
wrong.
12. Don't forget to interact with the audience. This will not
only make it more interesting for the audience, but it will ease
the pressure off of you. * If by any wild chance you get a
question or comment that you cannot answer, simply be honest
about it and let the audience member in question know that if
they want to contact you directly you can try to get them an
answer. If that question is really important to that audience
member, he/she will take you up on your offer. If the question
was not that important, you won't need to worry yourself much
because the audience member will not purpose matters any
further.