Public speaking is more than just ordinary communication. It is a medium through which you present yourself to the world. It is how you present yourself to the world. Whether it is leading a team meeting or making a speech at a conference, you may have come across instances where you are asked to deliver a speech to the audience.
The mere thought of speaking ahead of a large crowd brings about the feeling of fear. Public speaking is a concern of stress and anxiety for many. It is also a skill that takes you places and opens doors to countless opportunities. If you stress about how to turn this fear into a strength, thereby boosting your career, there are many public training courses to enrol to help and hone those skills:
Plan
Planning speeches is the most important and a neglected aspect of public speaking. You need to be clear about what you want to speak and how to present it to your audience. Sit with a pen and a notepad, and work on your speech structure. How well you plan your speech decides your delivery success.
Practice
There is no skill that you cannot learn and master without practice. When it comes to public speaking, practice is essential as it makes you aware of the speech flow, giving you a chance to improvise. Practice ensures you deliver it rightly. You may have a mock run of your speech before the actual presentation or going on the stage.
Engage
Public speaking is equally about the audience as it is about the speaker. When you engage with your audience on stage, their attention span is longer, and they understand you better. When you speak, you may feel isolated initially, despite a large audience ahead of you, which makes you nervous. Engaging with the audience ditches such negative feelings and makes you calmer.
Pause
Many do not understand the importance of pausing while speaking, especially in public speaking. Pauses act like a breather not just for the speaker but also for the audience. Make sure you do not talk too fast or slow as it becomes tougher to hold the audience's attention during that span. Again, practice is applicable here as it makes you more aware and helps you realise to pause and create an impact or gather your thoughts.
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