Tons and tons of people are afraid to get up and speak in front of a group of people. Most of the fear comes from being humiliated in front of a bunch of people. Public speaking gets easier and easier every time you get up and speak, but what about the beginners? They are going to need a few public speaking tips to help them through their first couple of speeches, and here they are.
Take After the Best
If you know you have to give a speech soon talk a few hours and watch a couple of public speakers on YouTube. Take note of what they do and how they act. If you can get a few pointers from the successful people you are already on your way to becoming a great public speaker. Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, and Barak Obama are great people to take a few pointers from. My personal favorite though, is Gary Vaynerchuk. He is an excellent public speaker to watch.
Dress Appropriately
Obviously during your speech, a lot of people will be looking at you, so it is essential that you look professional enough for the occasion. Make sure you shower, shave, brush your teeth, and do any other personal grooming before you get up in front of everybody.
Become Familiar With Your Environment
If you can at all be sure to check out the room you will be speaking in. If you are going to be using a microphone be sure to check it before the presentation to make sure it works. Make sure the computer and everything you will be using runs beforehand. The more familiar you are with your environment the more comfortable you will be when you get up to speak.
Make Sure You Are Sober
This may seem like a weird tip, but you want to make sure you are sober when you get up to speak. There are plenty of situations that could result in you drinking before: wedding, reunion. You may think it’s a great idea to chug some alcohol before you get up to speak to relieve the nerves, but it really wouldn’t be a good idea. People don’t want to listen to a babbling drunk. It may be funny during, but it won’t be when you sober up.
Study Your Material
Make sure you have an idea of what you are going to say before you get up to the podium. Winging it would not be the best idea, unless you are really good and know a lot about your topic. During my public speaking class, I could improvise a lot of what I was going to say just because I knew tons about the topic I was speaking about. One of our assignments was to talk about a life experience, and who knows more about me then me? That was a mistake, though. I’m sure I would have done a lot better if I had a better idea about what I was going to say. The more you know, the more confident you will be.
Practice
If you feel like you’ve read your speech, read it again. The more you practice the more you will know, and the more you know the better you will feel when you get up to speak. Speaking in front of a mirror, or family member is great practice. Just keep reading your speech again and again. It will help you memorize it too, so you don’t keep looking down at your notes.
Be Positive
If you visualize yourself failing and looking like an idiot, you probably will. Flush all your negative thoughts out and replace them with positive thoughts. Think of yourself performing the best speech ever. Positive always wins, so think positive.
Who is Your Audience?
Know who you are going to be speaking to before you perform your speech. If they are colleagues, or coworkers, they are probably looking to learn something, while friends may be looking to be entertained. Being able to give an audience what they want is one of the best public speaking tips.
Relax
If you are nervous just relax. Most people that get up to speak in front of other people are nervous too, so you aren’t the only one. Forgetting to read one sentence off of your notes isn’t going to trigger the apocalypse. Odds are no one will even know, so just relax.
Don’t Let People Know You Are Nervous
People may have suspicions that you are nervous because most people that speak in public usually are, but why let them know for a fact? If people know your nervous you may have more weight on your shoulders. Relax, and make people think you have everything under control, even if you are nervous.
Talk at a Normal Pace
When I was watching people perform speeches in my public speaking class I could tell who was nervous, just by the way they talked. People who are nervous during speeches usually fly through them, lightning fast, and you can’t understand what they are saying. You may have just given the best speech ever, but if people can’t understand what you are saying, it won’t really matter. Pacing yourself will help with that. It will also make your speech longer if you need to be talking for a certain amount of time.
Eye Contact
People tend to have more trust in someone that looks them in the eye, so you are going to want to make eye contact with the people you are speaking to. Nothing looks worse than watching someone talk to the floor. Don’t look just at your notes either, but you can look down occasionally. Staring at your notes makes it look like you are reading, and shows your audience that you didn’t prepare. If you keep your head up it makes it look like you have control over your speech and the room.
Be Funny
If you want to e funny, go right ahead and make a few jokes. Everyone like to laugh, but don’t overdo it. Too much funny can really destroy a great speech. Your audience will also remember your speech better if it made them smile and laugh a little.
It’s OK to Make Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes, so it’s OK to make a few. If you accidently say the name of your sister ex-boyfriend instead of the name of the husband during your toast, no big deal. Maybe no one will notice. Like I said before, it won’t trigger the apocalypse. They are just speeches, not life or death situations. Just remember to learn from your mistakes, so that next time you will get the names right.
Try to Keep it Short
Long speeches have a tendency to bore people, so try and keep it to a minimum, unless, you have no choice. Our speeches during class had to be at least 10 minutes long, which if you think about it isn’t that long. Don’t be the guy that speaks forever and puts everyone to sleep. I know we’ve all listened to someone like that. They really don’t care about the audiences interest, and you always want to leave them wanting more.
Try Not to Speak Too Much About Yourself
The title says it all. Unless you are told to give a presentation on your life, like I was, you should keep the me-talk to a minimum. Just concentrate on the topic you should be performing. Personally, I don’t care what you had for breakfast this morning, or that you listened to Elvis on the way there, and neither does anyone else. I care more about what I came here to listen to.
Fake it ‘Til You Make It
There is a saying that goes “Fake it ‘til you make it”, which doesn’t sound like good advice, but it actually is in some situations. If you don’t have any confidence in yourself at all, try acting like you do. If you think you are confident, you will feel it. The more confident you are, the more comfortable you will feel giving your speech. The more comfortable you are, the better your speech will be. Plain and simple, so trying faking yourself out, and act like you have some confidence in yourself.
Be Yourself
Just be yourself during your presentation. Add some personality into your speech because people will like it. Despite your beliefs people don’t want to see you fail. They actually want you to do a good job and succeed. Make sure you give them what they want.
If you learn from these simple public speaking tips, you will become a great public speaker in no time. If you are looking for some more help check out Public Speaking Secrets. This is an eBook that is full of great public speaking help. It’s actually an insanely good eBook with tons of information on public speaking. Public Speaking may be a vital skill in your life, so be sure to check It out to become better.
