6 Great Ways to Boost your Public Speaking Skills

While history knows many legendary figures of people who are well-regarded as the best public speakers, the average person should know that this is a skill anyone can acquire. No one is born as a public speaker. The skills and tools needed to make it work can all be acquired through training and practice.

And there are even some shortcuts that anyone can take, even the person who is afraid of the idea and feels great anxiety about it. The following tips work to achieve exactly that:

• Never start a public speech right away — some presenters and public speakers start talking even while they are still on their way to the stage. This is usually due to nerves and insecurity they feel about the prospect. They spring into action because their anxiety peaks just before their turn comes. But instead of calming down, this works in the opposite direction — it amplifies the feeling of nervousness. Public speakers should always remain calm, take a moment to reach the stage and take a few deep breaths before they begin. However, this conveys the right message of confidence and makes the audience that much more interested in what the speaker has to say.
• Doing public speaking with the intent to give — oftentimes, people associate public speaking with the idea of selling a product or getting other people on their cause. This sort of public speaking is done for the purpose of ‘taking’. The problem with it is that audiences can usually see through that and often disengage. Something different happens when public speakers do their thing with the intent to give. Their audience is much more receptive and open to the message, not to mention much more interested.
• Maintaining eye contact — avoiding eye contact with people can often lead to them losing interest in the presentation. That is why public speakers need to maintain their focus on the audience. If there are too many people, it is a good idea to segment them and focus eye contact on each of the segments individually. If there are a handful of people, maintaining eye contact with them at different times will secure their attention.
• Transform nervousness into excitement — there are various body responses, which signal nervousness — racing heart, tense nerves, clammy hands, shaky legs, etc. Everyone goes through them, even veteran public speakers. There is one great strategy, which can make this work in the person’s favour — turning nervousness into excitement. So reframing nervousness in one’s mind is usually a great strategy to overcome its negative effects. Being excited, instead of nervous can make all the difference. It changes the attitude towards public speech as something less scary and more of a thing to look forward to.
• Always come prepared — one of the best ways to gain confidence in public speaking is to know all there is to know on the subject. Public speakers invest a lot of time in preparation for their speech and usually cover the material a long time before the speech comes. This means they are confident in their knowledge and are ready to share it with the audience.
• It is better to end early than late — public speakers who drag out their presentation run the risk of boring their audience. It is always good to listen to a presenter who is on-point and doesn’t waste time on needless explanations. Besides, it is always a good idea to have time for questions and additional info at the end.

These are all tips, which can help anyone with their public speaking troubles.

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