As more events are returning to in-person, public speaking is once again a skill that is helpful to acquire. Mastering public speaking makes important business events much smoother, and can not only help you with talking to large crowds, but it makes talking to other business professionals one-on-one easier too. When you build up your confidence, you tend to be more relaxed which makes for a really captivating speaker. We talked to frequent public speakers about what they have found to be the most effective ways to master public speaking.
Talk to people who speak often
“One of the best ways to get over your fear of public speaking is to talk to someone who does it often. If you attend a lot of seminars or networking events, you might find some of the same guests make a reappearance. This is generally due to the fact that they’re good at it and can keep the audience captivated the entire time. It’s in your best interest to connect with them and to ask if they would be willing to give you some pointers.
Mastering public speaking takes a long time because much of it has to do with practice. But getting some key notes and good words of advice can speed up the process. It’s also a good idea to add your own personality into your speeches or presentations, so don’t try to copy someone else exactly. It helps to monitor public speakers to know what it is they do well, but to also ensure you are making your own speeches as unique as possible.”
Aaron Winston the strategy director for Express Legal Funding.
Join a public speaking group
“You can only get better at something if you keep doing it. This is why my best piece of advice for anyone trying to amp up their public speaking skills is to join a group that is dedicated to doing so. Public speaking groups like ToastMasters are great for beginner and intermediate speakers who need an audience to present to.
Weekly meetings help you to get comfortable talking in front of a crowd, and they can also help you to be able to come up with some creative topics. If you want to be a successful speaker, you need to be able to find your niche and be able to add some creativity into your presentations. Speaking groups will push you to be more intuitive and creative to help jazz up your speeches, which helps you in the end to feel more comfortable about your topics.”
Arif Mughal, retail manager at Luxe Watches.
Start your speech with a joke
“Tensions can be high in a room full of people you don’t know. I don’t know about you, but I find I can focus much better when I know everyone in the room is at ease. I find it helpful for me to start any speech with a joke or light hearted story because this not only helps to relax the room, but it helps to calm yourself down as well. Nerves are one of the biggest issues as to why people struggle with public speaking, and calming them down while you’re in front of people can help greatly with releasing tension.
Laughing together with other people makes you feel like you belong and you feel less judged. You can then continue on with your presentation on a more relaxed note.”
Brent Thurman owner of Bear River Mutual Insurance.
Avoid using q-cards or creating wordy slides
Another great tip to become better at public speaking is to try your best to keep the attention of your audience. If you provide them with distractions, then it makes it difficult for you to get your points across. The use of q-cards can be distracting for the audience. This is because when you’re nervous, you tend to fidget and fumble with anything in your hands. When you play with q-cards or paper, it can be loud and it draws the focus of your audience to your hands and not your message or your words. It’s best to either memorize your points, or use a slideshow.
Something else to be aware of is that your slideshow should not be wordy and only have a few points on each slide. This allows you to acknowledge the points and expand on them which is much more interesting to the audience. It allows you to showcase more personality and your audience isn’t trying to read a bunch of words on a slide which proves to be a great distraction.
