How to Speak in Public with Confidence

Author: Robert Simon
Date Of Creation: 18 June 2021
Update Date: 1 July 2024
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Confident Public Speaking Skills
Video: Confident Public Speaking Skills

Content

Public speaking is the fear of many, whether it is giving a speech, saying congratulations at a friend's wedding, or being called to the board in class. Fortunately, you can make public speaking less anxious with several methods. You may not enjoy the process at all, but it will help reduce your fear of being in front of people.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Prepare to give a speech

  1. Know your subject. Part of making yourself a comfortable and active speaker is making sure you know and understand what you're saying. Lack of understanding will make you nervous and uncertain as you present your problem and your audience will recognize this.
    • Preparation is key. Take the time to plan your speech to make sure it's completely natural and logical. You also need to pay attention to how the message is conveyed during the speech and how to improve good quality and minimize negative qualities.
    • Even if you speak in public through having to answer questions in class, you still need to understand the topic. This will help form feelings as well as express more confidently, and from there, you will create a good impression on the listener.

  2. Train your body. Although public speaking is not like a race, there are things you can do to get your body to work with you. Not only does this process encapsulate not moving the weight of your body from one foot to the other while giving a speech (keeping your toes still and you will avoid it), but it also involves to breathing, pronouncing and speaking appropriately.
    • Speak with your diaphragm. This will help you pronounce loudly and clearly so your audience can hear what you are saying without making you look like you're straining your neck to speak or scream. To practice, you can stand up straight and put your hand on your stomach. Inhale, and exhale. Count to 5 on a breath and 10 on an exhale. You will notice your abdomen starts to relax. You should breathe and speak in a relaxation camp.
    • Adjust your tone. Determine the pitch of your voice. Too high? Too low? So small that only cats and dogs can hear? Relaxing, standing comfortably (but upright), and breathing will help you get a more relaxed and cheerful tone.
    • Avoid breathing through your throat and upper chest, as both will increase anxiety and make your throat tight. As a result, your voice will sound tense and uncomfortable.

  3. Practice intervals. People usually speak faster in casual conversation, but this won't help you when you have to talk in public. Your audience needs to keep up with the issues you're presenting and they need time to process your speech.
    • Try to speak more slowly and carefully than your usual conversational tone. Try to pause between different ideas, or between fairly important topics, so that your audience has time to understand and reconsider what you say.
    • Practice expressions and pronunciation. The expression is the ability to pronounce the sound. You need to increase your focus on the following negative: s, x, ch, tr, kh, h, g, r. For pronunciation, you need to know how to pronounce every word and remember to practice pronouncing more difficult words.
    • Removes words 'um' and other word buffers such as "tense". When giving a public speech, the accompaniment will make you appear unable to understand what you are saying. If you need to think, stop for a moment - this will help you relax.

  4. Know your speech. Knowing your own speech is just as important as understanding the topic you're talking about. There are many different methods of giving speeches, so you need to choose the one that works best for you.
    • To give your speech, you need to have some note cards or outline ready. Or you can memorize them if you have a good memory (don't use this method if you are not confident with it).
    • You don't have to write everything down on the flash card (leave some room for improvisation), though make a note of something like "pause after this" or "don't forget to take a breath. "will be quite helpful in helping you memorize what to do.
  5. Memorize your speech. Although you don't have to memorize a speech or discussion topic, this can be a great way to make it easier for you to be confident and to feel more at ease with the problem you want to present. However, make sure you have enough time to do this.
    • Write your speech over and over. This way will help you memorize it. The more you write, the easier it will be for you to memorize it. Once you've written your speech a few times, test your own memory level. If you forget a few parts, you should keep writing them over and over.
    • Break down your speech and memorize each section. It can be difficult for you to memorize an entire speech at once. The best way is to memorize it in small sections (start with each highlight, then work on memorizing 3 different main points, etc.).
    • Use the loci method. Break down your speech into paragraphs or focus.Visualize a certain image for each focal point (such as imagine Harry Potter while you are presenting J.K.Rowling's influence on children's literature). Determine the position of each focus (e.g. Hogwarts for Rowling, a meadow for Stephenie Meyer, etc.). You will now advance through locations (for example, you use a flying broom to fly from Hogwarts to a meadow). If your focus contains quite a few elements that you want to present, you should place them in specific places around the place you have left out (such as the popularity of Harry Potter in the Great Hall, or author's purpose in correcting genre in Quidditch).
  6. Get to know your audience. It's important to know who you're going to give your speech to, because the right thing for this type of audience can make another type of audience angry or bored. For example, you wouldn't want to be too intimate during a business presentation, but you'll want to do this with a group of students.
    • Humor is great for helping your body and audience feel more at ease. Usually, every public speaking situation comes with the right kind of humor (but not always!). Start with mild humor to improve your atmosphere and give an impression of your confidence. Telling a funny (and true) story is a good way to start.
    • Determine what you want to convey to your audience. Are you trying to give them fresh information? Recalling old information? Or are you trying to convince them to do something about it? This process will help you focus on presenting the main focus you want to convey.
  7. Practice. This is extremely important if you want a smooth public speaking process. Just understanding the resources and ideas you want to present is not enough. You need to keep doing it to make it easier. Similar to when you use new shoes. Your feet will blister during the first few times of wearing your shoes, but over time, your shoes will fit and make you more comfortable.
    • Try to go to the place where you'll take your speech and practice there. This action will give you more confidence because you are already familiar with your surroundings.
    • Record your training and identify your weaknesses and strengths. Though it can be difficult to see yourself on video, it's a great way to perceive your weaknesses and strengths. You will notice anxiety-expressing behaviors (moving from leg to foot, hand in your hair) and you can find ways to minimize or eliminate them.
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Part 2 of 3: Sharpening your message

  1. Choose the right speech. There are three types of speech that are informative, persuasive, and entertaining. Although, these 3 types can be interleaved, they will have separate functions.
    • The main purpose of informational speech is to present facts, details and examples. Even if you're not trying to convince your audience, it still revolves around factual data and background information.
    • Persuasion speeches focus on persuading an audience. You will use information that is real, but at the same time, incorporating your own feelings, logic, and experiences, etc.
    • The goal of entertaining speech is to address social needs, but it also uses some aspect of informational speech (such as wedding greetings, or acceptance speeches). nominations).
  2. Avoid a rambling opening. You must have heard of the speech that opened with the phrase "when I was asked to read this speech, I didn't know what to say ...". This should not be done. This is one of the most boring ways to start a speech. It will continue to ramble you about your personal life, and often the topic won't be as interesting as you might think.
    • Start your presentation by stating the main overarching idea, and the 3 main points (or something similar) to support and develop the idea. The audience will remember the beginning and the end more than it does any other part of your speech.
    • You should start by being able to capture the focus of your audience right away. This means presenting some surprising fact or statistics, or asking questions that completely shatters the audience's prejudice.
  3. Build a clear structure. To avoid rambling speeches, you need to build a clear framework. You should not overwhelm your audience with the facts and your ideas.
    • Owning an overarching idea. Ask yourself what are you trying to convey to your audience? What do you want them to take from your talk? Why do they need to agree with everything you say? For example, if you are paraphrasing national trends in literature, consider why your audience should be interested. You shouldn't simply constantly present actual data to your audience.
    • You will need a few other key points to support your overarching idea or argument. Usually, the ideal number is 3 main points. Example: If your overarching idea is that national children's literature is becoming more and more diverse, you should provide an argument about the new trend, the second point will show the degree of acceptance of diversity. This new kind of publicity, and a third point will be to present why this is important.

  4. Use the right language. Language is an extremely important factor in writing and in giving speeches. You should stay away from words that are big and difficult to use, because no matter how smart your audience is, they'll quickly lose interest if you keep stuffing the dictionary in the head. surname.
    • Use impressive adverbs and adjectives. You will want to bring your speech and audience to life. For example, instead of "Children's literature forms scopes for diverse perspectives" say that "Children's literature forms new areas for many interesting and diverse perspectives".
    • Using images makes your audience pop and notice them. Winston Churchill used the phrase "iron curtain" to describe the Soviet secret. The outstanding image will remain in the audience's consciousness (similar to the "iron curtain" that has become a popular family phrase in America).
    • Repetition is also a great way to help your audience remember why your speech is important (think of Martin Luther King's "I had a dream ..." speech Jr.). It will help to emphasize your thesis so that the audience will always remember the overarching topic.

  5. Keep it simple. The audience must easily follow your presentation in order to remember it after you are finished. Not only does this mean you have to build outstanding visuals and surprisingly realistic data, but it also means that you have to maintain simplicity and focus on the focus. If you give your speech in a "round of the three kingdoms," you will quickly lose your audience.
    • Make use of phrases and short sentences. They can have great effects. For example the phrase "never repeated". It's short and to the point and a powerful kick.
    • You can also use a short and concise quote. Many famous people have made funny, or strong, statements while using quite a few words. Try to make up your own powerful statement or use an existing quote. Example: Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Be sincere; be short; sit still".
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Part 3 of 3: Public speaking


  1. Coping with anxiety. Most people feel a little nervous before they have to speak in front of everyone. Hopefully you have prepared your speech well and know how to deliver it. Luckily, there are a few ways to make your restlessness more manageable.
    • Before you give your speech, make sure you hold your hand a few times to deal with an andrenaline rush. Take a deep, slow breath for 3 breaths. This action will help cleanse the system in the body and help you breathe normally during the speech.
    • Stand with confidence in a relaxed posture, with your feet shoulder-width apart. This pose will trick your brain into thinking you are fully confident and make it easier to speak.
  2. Smile at the audience. Smile as they enter the room (if you are available) or smile as you walk onto the podium in front of them. This will make you look pretty confident and help calm the mood.
    • Smile even if you're feeling nauseous (especially if you really are). This will trick your brain into thinking you feel confident and relaxed.
  3. Performances. Public speaking, regardless of genre, revolves around your performance. Your speech can be interesting or boring depending on it. You need to have personality on stage and use it in your presentation.
    • Telling stories. Part of your performance is giving your speech or talking as if you were telling a story. People love stories and this makes it easier for them to connect with you, even when you are discussing issues based on actual data. See your overarching topic or topic as the basis of the story. Why should your audience care about your topic? For what?
    • Try to strike a balance between your rehearsed speech and some spontaneity. People won't want to just sit still and watch you mumble the information written on your flash cards. Give yourself the opportunity to broaden the topic outside of the flash cards and add a few side stories to keep it interesting.
    • Use your hands to make your point. You should not "dance" on stage, but you should not stand still like a log while chatting. Use a controlled gesture to make your point when you speak.
    • Change the tone. Your audience will fall asleep in just 10 seconds if you keep your voice even. You should get excited about the topic and express it through the change in your tone.
  4. Maintain audience attention. Make sure your audience is under your control, which means keeping them focused on what you are saying no matter what it is. This process often focuses on being an interesting speaker rather than presenting an interesting topic.
    • Make eye contact with the audience. Divide the room into different sections of your mind and take turns making eye contact with the audience in each section.
    • Ask the audience questions during the presentation. You can ask questions for each part of your speech and try to get your audience to respond before you give them information. This will help them feel as though they were part of your speech.
  5. Communicate slowly. One of the things people often forget when talking in public is talking too fast. The speed at which you speak in normal conversation will be much faster than you would need to use when giving your speech. If you feel that you are speaking too slowly, you are probably on the right track.
    • Drink water if you find yourself speaking too quickly. This will give your audience time to keep up with you as well as help slow you down.
    • If a friend or loved one is in the audience, set up a signal with them so they can let you know when you're talking too quickly. From time to time, scan their location to find out if you are on the right track.
  6. Wraps it up. The audience will clearly remember the beginning and the end of the speech and they rarely memorize the middle. For this reason, you should make sure you create an ending they will remember forever.
    • Make sure your audience understands why this topic is important and why they need to be receptive to this information. If possible, end your speech with a call to action. For example, if you were giving a lecture about the importance of painting classes in school, you should end by giving your audience an action they can take to improve the fact that the art class is doing. to be cut.
    • End with a story that illustrates your main point. Once again, people love to hear stories. You should tell a story about how useful this information can be to someone, or its particular relevance to an audience (people are more likely to be interested in focus issues. on them).
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Advice

  • Listen to and observe great speakers and try to analyze what makes them successful.
  • Don't be ashamed of your mistakes. Demosthenes was the eminent orator of the ancient city of Athens even when he encountered a stutter. A good speaker can overcome any difficulty.
  • Try to invite a few people you know to join your audience. It would be better if they are someone you have practiced speaking in front of them. They will help you feel more comfortable and familiar.
  • When asking your audience questions to maintain their attention, you should try to ask something easy to answer, and then confirm and develop their response further by interpreting them. through your views and thoughts.
  • Try to practice in front of the mirror!
  • When giving a speech, remember to make eye contact with everyone in the audience. Don't shake hands. This will show that you are worried. You need to give an excellent speech, so be prepared.

Warning

  • Keep track of the foods you eat before preparing your public speaking. Dairy products that contain a lot of sugar will make it harder to talk because they will create phlegm in your throat. Likewise, you should also avoid smelly foods (like garlic and fish) so as not to choke your audience.