ephas
10 January 2021
Public speaking is not an easy game; to stand up and talk in front of people- be it five, 50 or 500. Many surveys have found that public speaking has long been one of the things many people fear the most. It is important to understand the delivery of the speech, and knowing how to attentively make your listeners listen, and keeping them keen on what you are saying.
But in the case of public speaking, it is not that easy. For effective communication skills like confidence, clarity, and precise content is needed to lure the audience into your speech, and ensure that they don’t leave until you finish speaking. When you lack any of these things, it creates anxiety, leading to unknown fidgeting on the stage, resulting in failure of efforts that you put in while preparing.
To make sure that you deliver your speech properly, exuding confidence, there are many courses on Public speaking. In Perth, these courses are done immensely under the guidance of professionals.
So, even before you enrol into a course, or preparing yourself for public speaking, make sure that you:
Define your purpose
What is the purpose of your speech? Do you want to motivate your audience? Do you want your speech to be informative? Is it a product launching speech or presentation of further plans and events- you need to know what you are going to speak about and define the tone of it.
It helps one in figuring out the strategy and preparing the content that is compelling and delivering a meaningful message to your audience. Based on that you can start your preparation.
Only, after figuring out the above:
Then you start to prepare, and early.
Be it (before days or months); the moment you come to know about the speech, it is essential to start preparing. The more you prepare, the more you will find out the rights and wrongs of the speech at an early stage, which will help you in improving before presenting. Practice aloud in front of the mirror for better performance.
Practice more
After preparing your speech, practice more and more until the last moment. Present it in front of your friends, family, near and dear ones to know your scope of improvement. If any section doesn’t fit your comfort, then change it, and find an alternate method to express it.
Keep your content precise
The shorter your content, the more attentive your audience will be. Details are important, but unnecessary details are boring. Speak what is necessary, relatable and is easy for your audience to understand. Use facts, figures, and examples to make it interesting, and also add anecdotes to generate engagement.
Behave professionally
At the day of speech, reach the venue on time, groom yourself, dress well, and adjust with the vibes of the place. Remember, that you will be delivering experience, not words.
Introduce yourself
Brief about yourself on the stage before beginning your speech. Start with some catchy lines like a fact, statistic, joke or a rhetorical question and lure the audience into thinking. However, this will set up your flow, and after that, you will get confidence to speak clearly and unapologetically.
Speak clearly, confidently and at a slower pace
You might have prepared well, but on stage, sometimes seeing a large group of people might make you nervous. This nervousness leads to fast speaking and fidgeting of hands.
To prevent this, make a conscious effort to slow your pace. This will help you speak clearly and maintain a good posture. Don’t lean on the podium, and keep your body language confident. Speak at a pitch where it is audible to the person sitting even on the last seat, or even better use a microphone.
Maintain audience contact
To deliver a message effectively, maintain eye contact with your audience throughout, and make the session interactive by asking questions or making them do some activities. This will increase engagement and build confidence in both you as well as the people listening to you; in fact they will enjoy it too.
Envision success
Visualise success, applauds, and enthusiasm of the audience after attending your session. A famous quote ‘What you see is what you get’ applies here. The audience wants you to be an interesting, thought-provoking, and engaging speaker.
Do not panic, if you hesitate in between, if there are any glitches and pauses, then don’t worry as minor delays are barely noticed by the audience. The focus should be to gather the thoughts and convey a strong, clear, and meaningful message in a firm voice.
Thus, these are the most useful tips to follow before and during a public speech.
For a good communication course or presentation skills training in Perth; contact JEM Training for such information.
