Public speaking is an essential skill for everyone, whether it’s presenting at a meeting or speaking at a company event and it can be daunting when first starting out! But it doesn’t have to be as scary as it seems. Follow these tips to improve your public speaking.
1. Prepare every word.
Preparing every word of a presentation may be the opposite of some advice you’ve heard on public speaking, but it can really help! When doing so, this doesn’t mean that you’re confined to reading off a script with no leeway, in fact you may end up ad-libbing big chunks of presentation, but it’s the security of being able to refer back to your words gives a psychological aid. With time and practice, you’ll reach a point where you find you don’t need any notes at all, but until you do, nail it in writing!
2. Plan your key points.
Your presentation needs structure. Work out what it is you really want to get across to your audience. It may only be two or three key points. Make those clear and communicate them hard and often. Avoid waffle that does not drive your key themes across. Sometimes less is more. Reread it. Cut the fluff.
3. Tell stories.
People love true stories. Anecdotes that support your key points. Make sure they are authentic, relevant, and sometimes amusing. Including them can make your presentation that much more memorable in the future.
4. Don’t tell pre-planned jokes.
Unless you are a full-time comedian, don’t do it. It’s a rare skill to tell a joke well; almost always, they fall flat and are not entirely appropriate. Humour is good, but best off the cuff and always self-deprecating.
5. Rehearse like crazy.
There’s no such thing as rehearsing too many times. Whether it’s to yourself in the mirror, to your partner, your family, or even your pet! Practising whilst you are still anxious about public speaking will help ease your worries and it means that on the speech ‘D’ day, you’ll know what you want to say inside and out. You need to rehearse per event.
6. Start strongly.
Write your opening lines carefully and rewrite them until you like them. Make sure you start strong. It grabs people’s attention. It also gives you the confidence to know you have captured the audience early. Use that attention and build upon it to make the speech that much better!
7. Even prepare for the ‘small ones’.
Are you giving a farewell speech? Announcing a new policy? Explaining the monthly team results? Prepare as if it’s a major speech. Work out your key points and prepare a strong opening. List who to thank or congratulate. These small occasions build your brand and leadership credentials and allow you to influence morale, attitude and opinion.
8. Use PowerPoint sparingly.
Words on a PowerPoint should be sparing and just give a taste on what you want to elaborate on. Using a graph or chart should generally just show a trend or direction that can be explained orally. You want to make sure that if you are using a PowerPoint, 90% of the attention is on you and 10% on the screen. You never want to be creating slides that the audience can just read themselves.
9. Warm-up.
Sports people warm up. Singers warm up. Musicians too. You should too. Whether it’s doing tongue twisters, practicing your opening, vocal warm-ups, whatever works for you! When you hit the podium, you won’t be stumbling over words and your tongue and brain will be in sync. If you have any doubts, think about times when a speaker has stumbled over their opening lines and struggled to get back on track. First impressions are everything!
10. End strongly.
Sum up your main points and end with a phrase or thought that people take away with them. It takes planning but leaving them with a key message is important.
11. Prepare the logistics.
Think about that What If…? Documents go missing, copies may be destroyed, laptops may break. Whilst these things may never happen, you can never be certain and so plan contingencies! The last thing you want is to be flustered because you lost your notes, your PowerPoint is on the fritz, or you arrive 10 minutes late.
They say public speaking is the number two fear human beings have after death! But it does not have to be so.
A little hard preparation before your speech will save tons of perspiration during it.
14 April 2023
Adapted from Greg Savage 2023