Public speaking pointers
Tips on how to speak like a pro!
Article by : timeaftertime - Rating :
I have talked at many conferences, given many workshops and done zillions of college/school presentations. So here is some friendly advice from me to you to make sure your next public speech goes off smoothly:
- Know your audience – There is no point in talking to doctors about how good plastic bags are, nor is it any good talking to older generations about just how great Adobe Photoshop CS3 is. Keep your talk relevant to your audience. There might be lots you want to say but there is no point in saying it all if nobody is interested/understands you.
- Be prepared – All too often people go unprepared into talks. Know your speech, practice it and time yourself so you don’t go over and get cut off. Or worse, go to the other extreme and have only a little bit of a speech that makes you look like you haven’t prepared.
- Don’t speak jargon – All too often people try to impress with big words and facts and figures. Realise that your audience could be of mixed education. Therefore what one person understands the person beside him/her needs to understand as well. Keep it real!
- Look up – I’ve made this mistake loads of times. I stand there looking at my speech and before I know it I’m half way through and I haven’t looked up once. It’s easy to do - just give yourself slight breaks, look up and then continue on.
- Find a face – You know the saying 'Think of them all naked'. Trust me, it doesn’t work. Depending on the size of your crowd, try and find a face you can relate to. Focus in on that person and talk to them. Forget about the rest of the crowd.
- PowerPoint – If for any reason you have to use a PowerPoint presentation, I’d advise you to keep each slide simple and easy to read. It can become all too easy to put up everything you say on the slide. This is quite annoying to the people listening to you. Put up the main points and be prepared with cards/papers with points about what you are going to say for each slide.
- Be confident – Showing that you are confident and know what you are talking about will allow the presentation to come across much better.
- Making mistakes - If you make a mistake, don’t worry. Apologise and continue on. Nobody is expecting a flawless presentation. People know it’s hard to talk in public so just keep going.
- Have fun – All too often presentations are made out to be boring and serious. If you can and you feel confident, stick in a few jokes. This will help lighten up the speech and will make both you and them feel more relaxed.
- Just be yourself – As it says, be yourself. If you try to fake it and pretend to be someone you are not this will come across and people will see past it.
Overall, public speaking is a hard thing to do and no matter how many talks you do the butterflies will always be there before you say your first word. Actually, you should be more frightened if you don’t have them. It’s just normal to feel nervous and worried. All those fears will disappear as soon as you say hello.
Good luck!
Calm your butterflies- check out this true life story on public speaking.
Your Comments
Posted by : the don - 30 days ago
Posted by : clairey - 26 days ago
Login to leave a comment on this article
Login | Sign Up