Most of us become anxious when we need to speak in front of an audience, and it's normal, even the best public speakers can feel nervous when they need to perform in front of an audience, but they manage to find ways to disconnect from those emotions and engage in delivering their speech.
This means that by developing public speaking skills we will be able to perform at our best in front of an audience, and most importantly, we will be capable of managing our nerves and fears.
Why do you need to master public speaking?
While mastering public speaking, you can inspire, influence, and lead the world around you. People like to relate themselves to a person that is a go-to-go and has a charismatic personality, and this happens because many times people associate good public speaking skills and charisma with expertise, knowledge, and authority. In the end, good public speakers can be great persuaders.
Finally, the most important thing you should know is: “Your ability to communicate with others will account for fully 85% of your success in your business and in your life.” Brian Tracy
If you are working as an independent consultant or C Level fractional executive, knowing how to speak in front of an audience will be a great asset to help you sell your services and position yourself as an expert.
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How to overcome your fear of public speaking
Making public speaking a habit will help you overcome your public speaking fears and insecurities. In the end, practice makes the master, and this rule certainly applies to public speaking.
Moreover, knowing the techniques that can help you ease your way through public speaking is the first step to improving your skills. For example: knowing how to control your breath and being able to prepare a speech properly will be assets that can help you improve your speaking skills. Also, understanding how to hold eye contact with the audience without losing focus but still engage with the public is an important ability to have.
If you are wondering where to start, we will ease your way with these public speaking keys.
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5 tips to improve your public speaking
• Organize your ideas
The best way is to organize your material before addressing it and prepare for your handouts and the technology you are going to encounter. You can also help yourself by using audio and visual material.
• Practice, practice, and practice again
Before going into public, practice again and again, as it will make you feel more comfortable when you start delivering your speech or addressing your audience. To help you organize your ideas, simply make bullet points in sequence, but you don’t need to memorize them, instead, you can acknowledge the main ideas you want to deliver, and while speaking you will share your ideas naturally. The only way to become a professional public speaker is to practice a lot, as practice will make you perfect.
• Record Yourself and Learn
Another way to improve your public speaking skill is to record yourself and then listen to it again and again, as it will be very beneficial for you to self-assess yourself and point out those loopholes and weak areas that you would like to improve. By doing this, you will be capable of working on them, and eventually, by this simple method of self-analyzing, you will be able to elevate your public speaking skills.
• Use body language
You can use your body gestures and body language to overcome public speaking fear. It will shift your attention, especially if you’re nervous. This is a useful technique that reduces panic situations, so you can start freely addressing the audience.
• Work On Your Breath
A proper speech speed is very important as listener engagement is directly linked with speech rate. For instance, if a speaker has no control over the speed of speech, there is a greater chance that they would lose the audience’s interest. So, to become a good public speaker, you must work on your breath, learn to take deep pauses, and use them strategically to emphasize ideas. Practicing breathing techniques will help you master your intervention and speeches.