Public speaking is a soft skill that requires excellent communication skills, enthusiasm, and the ability to engage with an audience. Public speakers make presentations to a group.
Presentations range from speaking to a small group of employees to presenting to a large audience at a national conference or event. The same skillset and ability to be comfortable speaking in public are required regardless of the size of the group.
Public speaking is a great way of building personal development on many levels, since improving communication skills is helpful in almost every area of life. Whether your goal is to engage in political debate, make a career as a motivational speaker or gain confidence in front of an audience, public speaking can help you meet your goal.
Why Public Speaking Skills?
The art of public speaking comes into play not only in the delivery of speeches and public talks, but also in professional presentations, training events, and motivational speaking. Consultants, training, managers, clergy, sales representatives, and teachers, for example, all have a reason at times to speak in front of others.
Effective public speakers are in an excellent position to get their messages across in the workplace.
Most professional-level roles require some amount of public speaking to carry out functions like presenting findings, pitching proposals, training junior staff, and leading meetings.
Candidates with strong public speaking skills are in demand for the many occupations that require the ability to speak to a group. Public speaking is seldom, if ever an entire job description, but dynamic and well-prepared speakers are highly valued by employers and tend to earn leadership positions and important client contact roles.
Anyone whose job involves communicating, teaching, or persuading will do a better job if they have public speaking skills.
Develop your Public Speaking skills
Developing your public speaking skills can increase your confidence and help you overcome speech-related anxiety you may have.
Voice Control
Your voice is the most important tool you will use as a public speaker. One simple way to improve your voice is by learning to breathe fully and deeply from your diaphragm.
Diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing, is essential for accessing your most powerful voice. It is the technique professional singers use to make their voices sound fabulous. It enables them to hold notes long after most people would be out of breath.
Body Language
Simply put, body language is your body’s way of communicating without using words. It’s the combination of facial expressions, gestures, and movements that convey what’s going on in your mind. Practice strong, confident body language to fuel your presentation:
- Stand up straight. If you’re physically capable of standing up straight, then make sure you stand tall and straight during your presentation.
- Assume the position. If you’re feeling stressed before your presentation, take a moment to stand in a powerful position. Doing this for just a few minutes will increase your self-confidence while reducing stress.
- Be facially expressive. Your facial expressions should match the message you are delivering. If you’re giving an upbeat speech, try to have a relaxed and joyful look on your face.
- Plant your feet. Shifting your weight from side to side can lull your audience.Stand tall and firm.
Delivery
When it comes to public speaking, delivery is everything. Even if you have a great voice and good body language, your message will get lost if the audience can’t easily follow what you say. Below are some ways for developing good delivery skills:
- Speak slowly, but not too slowly. Talk too fast and your audience will have a hard time understanding you. Talk too slowly and you risk putting them to sleep. When it comes to public speaking, talking at a conversational pace is your safest bet.
- Pause between ideas. Great public speakers often pause for two to three seconds or even longer. A well-placed pause gives the audience time to digest what you are saying. It also makes you sound more confident and in control.
- Avoid filler words. Words such as “um,” “ah,” “you know,” and “like” diminish your credibility and distract from your message. Instead, replace these filler words with pauses.
- Carefully articulate and pronounce your words. A mumbling public speaker is hard to understand.
Audience Relations
You need to be in tune with their audience. Public speaking is more than standing in front of a group and talking; you also need to engage your audience.
- Acknowledge your audience as soon as you take the stage. This helps to make you seem more like a “real” person and keeps a conversational tone.
- Grab their attention immediately. When you speak, you have about 60 seconds to capture your audience’s attention and captivate them before they tune out. Use this time to ask a thought-provoking question—anything that will keep them intrigued.
- Find a friendly face. There’s bound to be friendly people in the audience. Find those people and pretend that you’re speaking to only them.
- Make eye contact. Regardless of how big your audience is, try to make eye contact with as many people as possible. It will make them feel like you are speaking directly to them.
Fear of public speaking is a common experience, and developing new public speaking skills can help you face your fear confidently!
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