If one of your New Year's resolutions is to become a more confident and effective public speaker, you will quickly learn it will take a lot of practise and persistence.
Not everyone was born to be a smooth-talking, confident and engaging public speaker. Phew. That should make you feel more at ease. However your roles may have changed and you now find yourself having to make presentations to the media, share holders or other interest groups. Are you prepared?
Effective public speaking is an art that can be learned. You must first take stock of your strengths and weaknesses.
Comfort Level:
Do you get nervous at the thought of standing up in front of others? Or, are you comfortable giving presentations?
Voice Tone:
Do you speak too fast or have a monotone delivery? Or, are you able to control your voice to make it the most effective during a presentation?
Presentation:
Do you stumble with a script that is written and prepared? Or, are you able to make a presentation as if you had rehearsed the script for days?
Audience Engagement:
Does your audience seem to lose interest after only a few lines of your presentation? Or are you able to draw your audience into your presentation and keep them engaged?
When it comes to audience engagement, use these words of advice from Author and Public Speaking Coach, Alan Stevens:
1) Insight. Your audience expects you to be well-informed on your topic. You need to be general enough to get your ideas across, but show that you have an insight that no-one else has come up with.
2) Analogies/Parallels. You need to be able to demonstrate how a current situation relates to one that has gone before. This makes it much easier for your audience to understand.
3) Evidence. It's no good making statements that you can't justify. You need to provide examples to support your argument, rather than to make your argument.
4) Endorsement. This is like calling an expert witness in a court case. If you can cite (other) acknowledged experts who agree with you, it makes your case much stronger.
5) Humour. This is not (definitely not) joke-telling. Leave that to the stand-up comedians. Your humour should be natural and in context with the speech.
And finally, a few tips that will help you feel more at ease with your next public speaking engagement.
- Prepare a script and rehearse it many times. Practise in front of objective but supportive friends or family members. Allow for a few minor edits along the way, but at least you will be prepared. Try to stick with the script as much as you can.
- Someone else prepared your script. These are the most tricky because the person writing the script is not familiar with your delivery. So take the time to personalize the script (within reason) and be sure the font is big enough so you can read it.
- Arrive early to your presentation. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the room and your surroundings. Even if there are only a few people in the room, test the sound system to be sure everything is working.
- Eye contact. It is very important to make eye contact with as many people in the room as you can. If you are too nervous, look to people you recognize in the crowd. This should make you more comfortable.
- Water is your best friend. Keep a glass of room temperature water close by. You will find other liquids like soda and fruit juices will create a lot of phlegm while coffee and tea can dry out your vocal chords. Just remember, too much water might cause the need to make a quick trip to the washroom just before your presentation.
- Control your nerves. Before making your presentation take a few deep breaths and slowly exhale.
- Slow down and focus on key words. If you find that you talk too rapidly, you must make a conscious effort to slow down. Take the time to stop on key words or phrases in your presentation. Allow the audience a moment to evaluate the point you are making.
- Open and close with your strongest statement. You need to earn their interest at the beginning and you need to leave your audience with something to remember at the end.
- Video tape or record your presentation. This one usually hurts to watch but if you want to become more effective in your presentations, you need to be able to critique your own performance. All the top presenters do.
Good luck and happy presenting in the New Year.
-Darren
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