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According to wikipedia, public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. Public speaking is closely associated with interpersonal communication and often linked to personal improvement topics like personal development and motivation. A good speaker must be able to affect and influence the emotions of their listeners instead of simply relaying information to the audience. Transformational speakers tend to have the ability to do one or more of the following to varying degrees: enlighten, motivate, inspire, influence, encourage, stimulate, persuade, convince, and entertain. The ability to address an audience confidently and eloquently is an important skill to have in life for many people in various professions. World leaders and politicians often employ good oratory skills to create impact and build support for themselves, their political parties and any proposed bills. Professors and teachers with good oratory skills are able to impart knowedge and information more effectively. Professional trainers, coaches and speakers who regularly address groups of people require good public speaking skills to excel in their careers. For the rest of us, we may find ourselves being called upon at times to deliver public speeches. These situations include presenting to small groups of colleagues, senior management or clients at work; to job interviewers; to other project groups at university tutorials; to classmates at school; or sharing sessions at church or other social groups. Let’s look at how we can become effective public speakers. Read The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie.
Tips on public speaking 1. Dress appropriately for the occasion. It is commonly said that dressing for an interview is one of the most difficult dressing occasions for many people – dressing for a formal presentation should not be that different, and it pays to dress for success. What you are wearing and how you wear it inevitably says a lot about you as a person – especially if your whole audience will be looking at you for the duration of your speech. For more dressing tips, click here 2. Tone of voice: Your choice of words, intonation and voice projection are the main components that make up your verbal communication. A strong and firm voice projection brings across confidence and assertiveness, while intonation can convey emotions of anger, happiness, doubt and others. You can also do a “voice test” by checking if a person in the back row can hear you clearly. Before that you might like to warm up your voice by deploying a simple voice projection technique - say “la-la-la” from low pitch to high pitch, then back down. Repeat this for 2 minutes 3. Speak clearly, audibly, slowly and confidently: Confidence and conviction goes a long way in sounding convincing, so make an effort to speak firmly with authority. Speaking loudly (but not shouting, of course) always seems to help project confidence. Speak at a normal pace so that people can hear and register what you are saying, don’t slow down on purpose (unless you are explaining complex concepts) and don’t rush through your notes like a bullet train as this might result in your audience glossing over what you are trying to tell them. Pausing at the right moments allow yourself and your audience a little time to reflect and think. Pausing before making key points or punchy statements also helps to bring out the importance of what you are going to say next 4. Body language: Critical! Humans are visual animals so what we see gives us a lot more input as compared to what we hear. How you stand and carry yourself makes a big difference to the delivery of what you have to say. Demeanour is also important – look relaxed but confident, professional but approachable. In all instances, always have a straight, upright posture – research shows that people are more likely to sit up and listen to what you have to say if you keep an erect, graceful posture. Walking about the stage or presentation area with appropriate hand gestures and bodily expressions often works better than sitting down or standing still with head down and reading from a prepared speech. It gives the audience a visual which improves concentration, as well as a chance for you to develop eye contact with your listeners 5. Eye contact: Always maintain eye contact with your entire audience (some presenters only look at a single person, or in a certain direction, neglecting the rest of the population). However, when glancing around the audience, always have short, sustained direct eye contact with a single person or a number of people as you go along. Sincere, direct and concerted eye contact helps your audience stay involved and helps improve their concentration 6. Appropriate hand gestures: During a stand-up presentation, many people are suddenly at a loss where to place their hands. Some wrongly put their hands in their pockets and play with coins or keys which can be a presentation killer. We encourage you to use your arms to express your key points and to bring your presentation more to life. Being more expressive with your arms will also help to engage your audience better as you will give them a better visual. Otherwise, you can also opt to place one hand in the pocket with the other pointing to the screen, clicking the mouse or pressing the keyboard. Another more formal way would be to place your arms in front of you at stomach level with your right hand clasped above your left hand, although this is a tiring position to sustain for a long period of time 7. Script reading: It is best if you do not need to read from the presentation during your speech, but if you do remember to keep regular eye contact with the audience and not read monotonously from the script without ever lifting your head 8. Audience participation and interaction: Always helps to improve concentration, interest and assimilation. Asking your audience to participate in question and answer sessions, suggesting answers to impromptu questions, role-playing, sharing personal experiences, extolling personal points of view or helping to explain certain concepts are great ways to keep them interested, engaged and participative. The fear factor of “being asked”, “not knowing what to say” or “not paying attention to what the speaker just said” keeps them on their toes, and you can use this to your advantage 9. Listen! A big part of audience interaction is also to listen. Although you are the speaker, spend some time listening to your audience to get a feel for their responses, concerns and level of interest. This helps you to align the rest of your speech to their needs. For tips on being a good listener, click here 10. Rapport: Vitally important is the connection you have with members of your audience. Humor is a great way to build rapport (see next point). An interactive presentation with audience participation is also a way to connect with them quickly 11. Humor: Humor is one of your best weapons, and should be used in most instances although there are exceptions (very formal, solemn or tragic occasions might call for more restraint). Use humor to help you build rapport with your audience and make them feel at ease – listening and assimilation is always made easier when people are more relaxed. It also helps to endear yourself to your audience and helps them to “like” you more 12. Prizes and free gifts: If you are employing audience participation as a presentation technique, then from experience it really helps to give out prizes for participants, especially the eager ones who provide quality responses. This also acts as an incentive to participate, especially if the prizes are attractive (does not mean they have to be expensive gifts – copies of academic or industry publications, product samples, magazines on related topics, notebooks, little ornaments or meal vouchers often work wonders) 13. Use props and a variety of presentation material (flip charts, figurines, toys, product samples, demonstration toolkits, etc) where appropriate, it always helps to bring your speech to life! 14. Presentation material and equipment: Keep it simple! Whether using Powerpoint, a projector or simple flip charts, if you are providing reading material then make the best of it by keeping it to the key points. You can always give out handouts after your presentation with the details. If you overload the eyes of your audience, they might be too busy reading or writing to concentrate on what you have to say. It is best if you do not need to read from the presentation during your speech, but if you do remember to keep regular eye contact with the audience and not read monotonously from the script without ever lifting your head. Also remember to check the equipment prior to your presentation to ensure that they are working, and that you know how to operate them 15. Structure: Speak in a logical, structured manner like how you would write an essay. Have an introduction, body (focussing on key points and supporting information, statistics and facts) and conclusion (reiterate key points, findings and recommendations) 16. Content: Quality is obviously key, but relevance is also quintessential – a group of Eskimos will probably not be too interested in hearing about the benefits of buying your company’s refrigerator or air-conditioning unit. Making factual, irrefutable statements backed by statistics, anecdotal evidence or quality research helps to strongly position you as the expert of the topic you are presenting and removes doubts or questions in the minds of your audience. Be sure to power pack your content 17. Handouts: It is useful to inform your audience ahead of time whether they will be receiving handouts so that they will not waste unnecessary time taking notes during your presentation. Our suggestion is to always give handouts (that contain all the details) after the presentation, so that the audience are able to focus 100% on your speech and not have to worry about taking notes or forgetting the details if they do not record it 18. Time yourself: Always try to bring along a timer (stop-watch, watch, alarm clock, etc) so that you can pace yourself in terms of time. It also helps you to decide whether to speed up, slow down or to only focus on the main points. If running short, quickly summarise by restating your key points 19. Made a mistake? Public speaking is a “live performance” so if you made a genuine error or said something you shouldn’t have, admit it, correct it and continue. It happens to everyone, so there is no need to make excuses or apologise too much. Deal with it on the spot and move on, otherwise you lose momentum and your audience loses track of your key points 20. When to stop? It depends on the situation. In all instances, always stop when you have completed your speech and finished what you have to say, as blabbering on will only degrade the quality of your entire speech. If your allocated time is up, quickly summarise by restating your key points. You can also choose to cut your presentation short if you find that the audience are disinterested, fidgety or unable to comprehend – in such cases summarise your main points in a professional manner (remember not to show any disappointment or let your anger or frustration get to you) , thank the audience and then exit. Alternatively, move swiftly to a question-and-answer session as a smooth transition to ending your speech. Conversely, always be prepared (with some additional material) to present for a longer period of time if asked to, you never know! 21. FAQs: This is a one killer technique to wow your audience, or panel of assessors if any. Think through some common questions that your audience or panel might ask you, and prepare the answers to the best of your abilities. Prepare them in your presentation as backup slides to show how well-prepared you are and the foresight you have. Sure to impress! 22. Closing: Always summarise your key points, or key takeaways that you want your audience to remember, even if they did not register a single thing about your presentation. And always try to make an impact with your closing remarks – make them interesting, thought-provoking, controversial, humorous, or punchy. Finally, always thank them for their time and for listening 23. Practice! Yes, there is no such thing as too much practice. Rehearse in front of the mirror, in front of your spouse or partner, family members, friends, colleagues, peers, and anyone who can spare the time. Get them to tell you what they liked and areas to improve. Go the extra mile by recording your presentation and then analysing it like sportsmen do. Get a good understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are – build on your strengths and improve on your inadequacies. Practice makes perfect! And of course, it reduces your fear and self-consciousness A wealth of professional knowledge readily exists to help you improve on your public speaking skills and even teaches you how to become a paid professional speaker. For a low fee you get access to tons of training videos, audios and articles on public and professional speaking For more related information on effective communication, click here. Recommended resources 1. Read Dale Carnegie’s book on The Quick and Effective Way to Effective Speaking
Carnegie, the pioneer of personal business skills, thinks that good public speakers are made, not born. Yet business, social and personal satisfaction depends heavily upon a person's ability to communicate clearly. Public speaking is an important skill which anyone can acquire and develop. 2. Read Dale Carnegie’s book on How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking
This book will show you how to overcome the natural fear of public speaking and even learn to enjoy it. Drawing on Dale Carnegie's years of experience as a business trainer, this practical book will help you to become a successful speaker. Dale Carnegie's methods have helped millions of people worldwide. Make sure you have the advantage, and make them work for you too. 3. Get this informative DVD on Killer Presentation Skills
In this video, filmed before a live audience of 200 and enhanced with studio-overlaid visuals of the relevant slides, you will learn how to make contact with every individual in the audience; how to use gestures for maximum impact; a new approach to organizing your content so that audiences can retain what you say. Learn how presenters from Fortune 100 companies significantly increase and improve their clarity and impact. Speaker Jefferys clearly demonstrates how mastering just one technique will give you the winning edge in the three most important aspects of successful presentations. 4. Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization based in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. Through club activities and conferences, Toastmasters helps its members improve their communication and leadership skills while fostering self-confidence and personal growth. They operate clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Additional resources 1. More free public speaking tips 2. This website contains six useful modules that can help you prepare for public speaking 3. Free speech writing and public speaking 4. More on presentation skills 5. Strategies to Succeed in Public Speaking 6. Find a speech topic here 7. UCLA research on effective presentations 8. 12 steps to great presentations Free articles 1. Free articles on public speaking 2. Get more public speaking tips here 3. www.sideroad.com - more free public speaking articles Fear of Public Speaking The common fear of public speaking is called glossophobia (or, informally, "stage fright"). There is absolutely nothing to fear about public speaking, but often many of us do not like speaking in front of our audience. Unfortunately, in many aspects of life, we need to stand up in and speak in front of a group of people. In fact, truth be told, we will need good public speaking skills to be successful. As a start to reducing your fear, just remember a few things: 1. Don’t aim to deliver a perfect presentation, just do your best 2. Have 3 main, well-rehearsed points in your pocket and talk around them. Don’t try to deliver too much 3. Encourage audience participation – share the work! 4. Be well-prepared – practice makes perfect More information on overcoming your fear of public speaking: 1. 10 key principles on how to conquer public speaking fear 2. Overcome the fear of speaking in groups Browse through wide range of products in our PIH InfoMart or search for relevant books in our PIH Bookshop.
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