Speaking in public can be a really stressful situation. Almost everyone gets anxious about public speaking, even the popular celebs. Being a confident and effective public speaker starts before you enter the room, so check out some tips on how to control your butterflies and give a better presentation.
1. Prepare
Preparation is the key to successful public speaking. Knowing your subject, preparing answers and your speech in advance will give you, even more, confidence.
Plus, it will help you calm down and speak without trembling. Don’t go for the whole eyes down, the monotone reading-type approach helps it.
2. Practice
Practice makes everything perfect, and successful public speaking is no exception. If you need to do a presentation, be it for college or for work, rope in a few people you can trust and practice.
They will surely give you an honest opinion and a trial presentation will make the real one seem less intimidating. You can also practice in front of a mirror too.
3. Calm and collect
When you are nervous, you can find yourself rushing through your speech or speak too quietly. It may be difficult, but you need to talk at a slow, nice pace. Otherwise, no one will hear and understand you, and your speech will be a total failure.
4. Try to relax
I know how it is hard to do, but it is important to relax. I often notice when a person speaking is feeling a bit nervous, because it is not difficult to read their body language, right?
Speak, enunciate, and smile proudly. When you pretend you are feeling confident on the outside, you can end up feeling even more confident on the inside too.
More: 7 Sure Signs of a Confident Public Speaker
5. Speak with confidence
It does not matter whether the audience is 2,000 or only 2 people, public speaking is 10 percent what you say and 90 percent how you say it. Deliver your speech as you are the best public speaker in the world, even if you do not believe it. If you do not believe in yourself, your audience will not believe in you too.
6. Think of your audience
People are not thinking about you, they are thinking of your message. No one even really notices any small mess ups on your part.
Think about your audience in a positive way. They are genuinely interested and they want to listen, so concentrate on your message, not your fears.
7. Remember that everyone makes mistakes
Maybe you hate public speaking, but just think, that’s only 15 minutes of your life, and then it is over. Don’t be so critical of yourself, even if you mess up, and what? Is it the end of your life? Every person in the world makes mistakes, and if you commit your mistake, but you really put the work in, people will not notice it.
Hope these tips will help you in some way. The main thing is self-belief.
You have enough power to make others listen to you. If you are a professional public speaker, please share any other tips with us.
