How to Build Confidence When Speaking in Public
Public speaking isn’t something that always comes naturally to most of us; in many cases, it’s something you struggle with, starting small and going from there. You will need to hone your skills by speaking in a low-pressure environment in front of a few people, gradually growing your audience as you grow your confidence. The more you do, the better you will be at public speaking.
Let’s point out the tools and practices you can use to build confidence when speaking in public
Knowing Your Audience
Before you outline your speech, ensure your audience wants to hear it. This is one of the most important steps toward making a good impression. Preparation for public speaking helps build confidence, even for people out there and ad-libbing a speech. Talking points and previous prep work are necessary to iron out the speech’s kinks and prepare what the audience needs to hear.
Using Visual Aids
This is more typical for formal speaking settings, as public speakers often use visual aids to give a more meaningful presentation. Highlighting a key point of importance in the middle of a visual slideshow is an excellent way to help the audience remember it. Graphs, charts, photos, videos and so forth are great tools to make that happen.
Knowing Where to Look
Now, what do we mean by that? When speaking to a large crowd, you should look just above the eye line of your audience. That makes it look like you’re looking directly at them, but at the same time, you won’t have to make eye contact with individual people. In a smaller crowd, you can find one person who makes eye contact with you and listens to your every word. In such cases, speak directly to them, as they will help your confidence in your speech.
Writing Down Bullet Points
It may feel tempting to write your speech and remember it verbatim, but that would only bog you down with unnecessary details you can skip over in favour of addressing your audience directly. Even if you’re not directly reading your speech, you can still sound stiff if you’re delivering a memorised speech word-for-word. This means you can write things down with index cards and bullet points, allowing you to sound more natural and relaxed during your speech.
Keeping it Simple
Keeping your audience focused by having a speech of short phrases, snappy stories, and no long-winded examples is a great way to approach a public speech. Audiences tend to have a limited attention span, especially nowadays, with electronic toys and smartphones on hand. The speech won’t always attract their attention, but you would do well to keep things focused and to the point to avoid the worst pitfalls of public speaking in the modern age.
Identifying and Overcoming Verbal Tics
You may be used to slipping filler words into your speech, such as “like”, “you know”, or the universal “um”, but you should pay attention to your speech patterns. Phasing these out of your speech makes it tighter and more focused, making you a better speaker overall. Perfect pronunciation, diction and cadence take time, effort and experience to master, but once you do, you will be instantly memorable for anyone who hears you speak.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Nobody becomes a master of something overnight, so you must focus and hone your skills to a fine point. The more you do, the easier it becomes with time. Rehearsing alone isn’t enough; you will need to practice speaking in public, so you can grow more used to being in front of an audience. Start small, work your way from there and grow your skill.
