The 3 Essential public speaking tips to giving a successful talk.

The 3 Essential public speaking tips to giving a successful talk.



The following are 3 public speaking tips that I feel are very important and can when applied instantly make the most doubtful of speakers feel more positive.



Public Speaking Tip 1

Reassure yourself its ok to be nervous!



The first incorrect presumption many people make when when they realise they might have to speak in public is that view their nerves or fear in a negative manner. Convinced that the level of fear they have is negative, they try their hardest to eliminate it. Having told themselves or been told by others that they "should feel more confident" especially if they are normally seen as a confident person or in a senior position, their fear becomes stronger when they realise they cannot make it subside



The greatest emotion the speaker then experiences is not a fear of the presentation, but instead it becomes a fear of the fear itself.



The easiest way to feel confident despite this fear is to say aloud and repeatedly: "What I feel is ok" "I embrace my fear or nerves and will not try to lessen it." "how I feel is acceptable before a pitch, it is completely acceptable and does not mean anything is not going to go to plan."



The effects of these few words are enormous as once we stop trying to suppress the fear, it naturally decreases as it was the trying to eliminate the fear that kept it alive. So the first public speaking tip is to remember it is ok to feel some fear!!!!







Public Speaking Tip 2

Be yourself!



There is a well known phrase that "people buy people" and nothing could be more applicable than in the case of talking in front of an audience. Although we maybe do not know what it is, we all know when someone inspires us with a performance or talk.



Unfortunately most people when asked to give a speech are not sure of this and feel that they are required to be someone they are not



People who are normally informal and energeticenter "public speaking mode" when asked to give a presentation and then become, restrained. Many people become convinced that this "public speaking persona" is a better persona to show their audience than who they actually are.

Furthermore they put even more effort in ensuring the audience doesn’t see the ‘real’ them in case they are unimpressed.



Trying to be someone else in general, is exhausting, but trying to be different to how we really are when giving a speech is doubly so. The best speakers and media personalities in the world know that if they can someway get across their 'brand' to the audience in a memorable way the audience will relate to them and then buy what they are saying.





So practise being yourself in front of your audience, don’t think your regional accent needs to change, and your words need to suddenly become Shakespearian!



So Speaking Tip two is: Be yourself!





Public Speaking Tip 3

State your intentions clearly and concisely from the outset.



There’s nothing worse than attending a talk where you have very basic knowledge of the topic in hand- or maybe haven’t been briefed on all the necessary details and the speaker opens with a line such as "Obviously as we all know" Lines like this that fail to establish any context of the performance are a sure fire way to frustrate the audience right from the start. Even if you think that the audience should be aware the topic you are speaking about do not assume this!!!



In fact assume nothing from your audience.



The reality is, that if you are speaking in a business context for example your audience may have listened to a number of different talks given by a variety of different speakers on that day or during that week and may honestly not be sure what your presentation is supposed to be about. Without a well explained objective they might literally be confused as to the purpose of your talk.



So public speaking Tip 3 is: state your objectively clearly! Let them know what you will be speaking on.







Resource box

Damian Muirhead is a Performance Coach Specialising in helping people overcome Performance Anxiety Fear of Public Speaking

For more public speaking information visit:





http://www.reenvision.org

damian.muirhead@reenvision.org