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Public speaking can be both an art and a science. If you are starting your public speaking journey and preparing to deliver your first school/college speech, professional presentation, or corporate keynote address, here are 8 tips that will help you prepare.
- Research – The key to being a successful public speaker is knowing the topic. A great speech, one targeted at impressing the audience, may be short but behind it are hours of painstaking research. Being quite thorough with the topic, you will be able to answer questions, ready for debate, and able to clarify any doubts that may come up.
- Rehearse and rehearse some more – If you are a novice and starting out with public speaking, your greatest challenge may be delivering a speech with precisely the speed and tonality that will cause greatest impact. Practice makes perfect, as they say. You may want to rehearse in front of a mirror or in front of friends who can provide objective feedback.
- Connect with your audience – Every great public speaker in history has had one great strength – their ability to connect with the audience. The ideal speech is one that does not sound like a lecture but feels like a conversation. Understanding the composition of your audience and tailoring your speech to suit the occasion will help you connect.
- Play to your strengths – Your speech is your signature. Play to your strengths. Your vocabulary, your linguistic ability may be your forte. Your humour may be your strength. Whatever it is you are best at, let it shine through in your speech.
- Confidence is king – Confidence in what you say makes you a great public speaker. Standing on a stage or in a podium, having the spotlight shine on you can bring on anxiety for some. Master it by smiling and remaining in control
- Body language is queen – Experts believe that between 70 and 90 percent of all our communication is non-verbal. Body language makes up for a great deal of all our non-verbal communication. Master the precise hand gestures, movement, eye contact to go with your speech.
- Learn from the masters – Watch videos of the best motivational and public speakers in the country and learn what makes them tick. Suhel Seth, Shiv Khera, Deepak Chopra and others who are considered to be among the very best speakers in the country can inspire you to become an impactful speaker yourself.
- Speaking or communication? – Remember that public speaking is less about speaking and more about communicating. Involve your audience by asking questions, encouraging them to resolve doubts, and even interspersing your speech with a joke or two.
