Public Speaking Skills - Quick Navigation:
Overview > Preparation > Practice > Delivery > Expanding Your Comfort Zone
Although not being very good at public speaking is not actually an indication of how brilliant we may be at anything else, there seems to be a widespread assumption that good speakers are competent in general and bad speakers are not. For this reason, if not for any other, it's definitely worthwhile learning how to speak well in public.
Effective public speaking is a skill like any other, which can be learnt by reading up on the techniques and then practising them. If you are a public-speaking novice, you will find a lot of information on this website to set you on the right path.
In this section, you'll find advice about the key elements of effective public speaking - preparation, practice and delivery - as well as a page about how to expand your comfort zone.
How to make a success of public speaking
The formula for success in public speaking can be boiled down to the following:
The more you know about your subject, the audience and the place where you're going to be speaking, the more successful your talk will be. Being in command of the facts will give you confidence and help you to speak with authority.
Find out what your audience's expectations are, so you can meet and then exceed them!
Compose your talk with a clear objective in mind and structure it so it flows smoothly and is easy for the audience to follow.
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Public Speaking Preparation
If you're worried about turning in an amateurish performance, the answer is practice. If you're well prepared and well rehearsed, you will be fine on the day, whatever happens.
The process of practising your speech or presentation involves familiarising yourself with exactly what you plan to say and, in the early stages, tweaking it as you go along, to achieve maximum clarity and impact.
Equally importantly, practising your talk involves honing your technique.
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Public Speaking Practice
Along with a good knowledge of what you're talking about, a comfortable degree of confidence is the most important element you can bring to public speaking.
If you're obviously nervous, the audience will feel awkward too and find it hard to concentrate on what you're saying. Conquer - or at least hide - those nerves and you're well on the road to success.
An open, natural, friendly delivery will put the audience at ease and allow them to take in your message.
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Public Speaking Delivery
Does the prospect of public speaking scare you?
If the idea of addressing an audience turns you to jelly, you are by no means alone! However, there are several measures you can take to alleviate your anxiety and improve your public speaking skills.
Firstly, don't ignore or avoid public speaking. If you always duck the task of making the departmental presentation or proposing the toast at a gathering, you'll never get the chance to face down your fear. Worse still, if you've got a speech or presentation looming and you're trying to pretend it's not there in the diary, you're compounding your fear with every day that goes by. With sufficient preparation and practice, you can give a talk you'll be proud of and your fear will dissolve.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me emphasise again the importance of preparation and practice. If you jump in unprepared, you may have a bad experience that will reinforce your fears. Preparation and practice reduce the variables and vastly increase your control of the situation.
An oblique approach that may help to dispel your fear of public speaking by putting it in perspective is to challenge yourself in other ways. Regularly taking on tasks that you personally find (fairly) stressful and difficult, such as perhaps going to a party by yourself or being assertive in a shop if you're getting bad service, can help to build your confidence - confidence you can then bring to public speaking. Pushing your boundaries, expanding your comfort zone, can be satisfying and even exhilarating in itself and it can liberate you from your burden of worry about public speaking.
Public speaking coaching
Often, the best way to learn the techniques of public speaking and to overcome any anxiety you may have about it is to have a lesson or two with a coach. Focused, personalised, one-to-one training is the most efficient way to acquire and improve public speaking skills.
Read more about public speaking coaching in and around Manchester.
Public speaking ebook
If you haven't got access to a coach or don't feel you need one, but you would like the techniques of successful public speaking to be clearly explained, you might be interested in this ebook.
This instantly downloadable pdf tells you everything you need to know to become a confident, effective public speaker. Overcome any fear you may have, master the techniques of successful public speaking and learn a few psychological tricks to make the whole process easier and less stressful.
All the information and advice on this website, plus a great deal more, is contained in this 50-page ebook, which can be yours in a couple of minutes.
Find out more about this public speaking pdf download.
Public Speaking Skills: Overview