Keys to Public Speaking

The main thing is to learn to relax. Even the most confident person in the world will have problems the first few times that they speak in public. You must practice speaking in order to get it right. I suggest you start with a very small audience. Use one or two people who will give you an honest assessment of where you are. You should then videotape your session so that you can observe your own bad habits first hand. This is the thing which helped me the most. The way that I thought I sounded was totally different from what I saw when we played the tape. I am so glad that we did this because it let me see me for what I really was. I have corrected most of the bad habits that I saw and I am a much better speaker now. I highly recommend that you do this before you speak for the first time. You will always have a degree of nervousness when you speak to a larger audience than what you are used to but nervousness is actually a benefit. When I am nervous I am careful not to make obvious blunders. You need to make a good outline of the subject matter which you will use. You need to be comfortable enough with what you are presenting so that if something unexpected happens it won’t throw you off. There have been times when I have lost my train of thought or forgot the place where I was. This to me is the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a person making a speech. I had a situation once where a person in the audience put on a fake nose, glasses, and moustache. This caused me to laugh so hard that I totally lost my place and my train of thought. If I had been more familiar with my outline I would have been able to carry out the speech to the end. One of the biggest mistakes that I see speakers make is to exaggerate their movements and gestures. I for one don’t believe in rehearsing the gestures that I will use during my speech. If you are excited about your subject your excitement will carry through your speech and help to win over your audience. Another good tactic is to invite the audience to interact with you in some fashion. Whenever you use this tactic you have to be careful not to allow too much interaction because you may lose control of the audience. When you allow them to interact it will make the speech more exciting to them and they will respond better to you as a speaker. You may want to periodically call them by name or look them in the eye and speak directly to them. Do whatever fits your personality and is comfortable for you. Allow your thoughts to flow as you speak. Having an outline is good but allow your mind to flow between your main points. The best way to do this is to become infinitely familiar with your subject. Use your outline to keep you on track but don’t allow yourself to be so bound to it that you come across as stiff or informal. I find it helpful to use very large block letters to outline my message. That way I don’t have to spend a lot of time having to search for my next point. I can take a very quick glance at my subject matter and continue to flow. This comes across as being totally natural because the audience very seldom detects my glances at my speech. By all means you should be yourself when you speak publicly. If you like humor use a little from time to time but don’t overdo it because you don’t want to lose your audience to the point which you want to get across. If you are nervous you may not want to look your audience directly in the eyes. Look at the top of their heads or the bridge of their noses. This will help you overcome the intimidation which may be caused by direct eye contact. Riceland Enterprises