Fear of speaking in public can be a major obstacle if you want to develop your career. Here are a few public speaking tips and a suggestion if you are searching for a public speaking coach. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It. Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners. Let Your Personality Come Through. Be yourself, don’t become a talking head—in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.
Conquer your fear: Easier said than done, but understanding how your nerves affect your ability to speak publicly is a good start. Knowing what might happen will help to calm your nerves and carry on if they start. Firstly, the more prepared you are, the better and less nervous you will be and the better you will be able to deal with any mishaps. Do not drink caffeine beforehand it will heighten your anxiety. But do take water in case you get a dry mouth. Eat something beforehand, a low sugar level won’t help to dispel any nervous thoughts and will also affect your concentration levels. Remember that the audience is not there to see you. They are much more interested in what you have to say. They also have no interest in you failing; they are your friends not your enemies. Remember that you are speaking as a service to your attendees, this helps focus less on you and more on the content. Don’t tell the audience you are nervous. Nearly everyone suffers from some anxiety about public speaking; it is rarely as obvious from the outside as it feels. If necessary, use breathing and relaxation techniques before you begin to help settle any last minute jitters. Read extra details Speak with no fear.
Take long pauses. Similar to slowing things down, make a point to take long pauses. And make them longer than you even think is appropriate. It can have a great impact on emphasizing key points and emotionally connecting to the audience. Practice tone and projection. Don’t just eek your way through a speech using the same tone and volume. Tone and projection add a layer of entertainment and help keep the audience fully engaged from start to finish. These too must be practiced religiously.
What people say ? As an author of a public speaking book and an avid reader of anything related to mastering the art of public speaking, I’ve been through my fair share of public speaking books that just rehash the same old concepts that have been around since man has been speaking. Not only will the information be vanilla but the delivery will be boring and unengaging. You’ll wonder how you’ll ever get through the book when you’re struggling to get through the first few pages. Being an eloquent speaker is not necessarily something you are born with. It’s actually something you can learn, cultivate and hone. As the author, Mike Acker so aptly puts: “Believe in yourself. Where you are is not where you have to be.” The Amazon book can be obtained here: Overcome fear of speaking book.
Make mistakes intentionally: This is another trick I encourage you to try. Once I “accidentally” dropped my notes on the floor, and while picking them up, I warned the audiences that the presentation will be more confusing after this. I heard some laughter from the floor. The idea is to gain control of your audience. If you can make them laugh and be more interactive with you, your presentation will have that casual feel to it which will make it more memorable than others. Ultimately you will find it easier to do.
When does the course start and finish? The course is designed to lead to you to give presentations you are proud of in only 3 months. However, this is about you and your pace. You can go faster or slower. You can re-watch as many times as you want. Ultimately, the course starts now and never ends! Source: https://thepublicspeaking.school/.