10 Simple Secrets to Successful Public Speaking

By Laurie Smale

These ten simple steps to successful public speaking stem from my many years of experience as a public speaker and speaking coach.

They work like magic for me and they’ll do the same for you.

They’ll help you unlock the natural public speaker in you so that people respect who you are and what you are saying.

As you read them, reflect on your situation and how they apply to you.

The next step is to have the courage to put them into practice. You’ll be pleasantly surprised!

1.Know your own value. Don’t sell yourself short. Carry yourself with a true value of your own self-worth and have a sense of this in your speech or business presentation. Take stock of your ‘lessons’ and achievements in life and acknowledge your right to consider yourself an expert through experience in some areas.

2.Radiate your passions and convictions. Does your speech reflect your passions and convictions? What is it that you feel deeply about? Where has life’s journey taken you? In your presentation, share the stories that are the turning points for you and bring the principles of these stories to your audience. This will help engage them in your speech. After all, you have lived a full life and are not an empty vessel.

3.Make friends with your listeners. Ensure your presentation is an exercise in making friends with your audience. Quit striving to be the ‘perfect’ public speaker. Instead, focus on being a warm accessible human being that your audience can relate to. A fallible person just like them. Think two-way dialogue instead of one-way monologue and informal friendliness instead of staid and distant public speaking ‘correctness’.

4.Relate to people. Make sure you relate to people during your speech. Share a little of your journey with your audience. One of the most powerful ways to create rapport and win their trust as your presentation unfolds is to have them understand that you are subject to the same human frailties and vulnerabilities as they are.

5.Be a speaker ‘in the moment’. Have your speech influence people on their wavelength. As we see, feel and hear things when we share experiences in everyday conversation, make sure you tap into these same senses when speaking before groups. Bring your examples and case studies to life by paraphrasing what was said and reliving what was seen and felt. Your listeners will experience the reality of an immediate one-to-one conversation. They’ll believe you’re talking to them personally. And you won’t come across as yet another boring public speaking clone.

6.Believable body language. Don’t stage or pre-set your movements for your presentation. We are not actors. We are public speakers. Do what comes naturally. By reliving your examples from memory, or a mental prompt, your body will be free to spontaneously and intuitively mirror the chemistry of the moment – the same as it does in everyday situations. This is the naturalness your audience expects.

7.Know where you’re going. Have a clear idea of the purpose of your speech and keep this end clearly in mind. Know precisely where your presentation is meant to take your audience. What exactly is it that you want them to be thinking when you step down from the platform? What specific action do you want them to take? How do you want them to feel? Now decide what vivid, illustrative examples you are going to use to take them there. Make it a speech with impact!

8.Seize their attention! Grab the attention of your listeners with something that makes them sit up and listen! By addressing the deadly combination of adrenalin-rush and them sitting there thinking “Let’s check this person out!” you’ll instantly take the pressure off you, stimulate their curiosity, and have them thinking about things you want them to think about!

9.Ensure your final words embody your message. Finish your talk with impact and on a high note. Many speakers finish in a tentative, wishy-washy way with lacklustre comments like: “Well, that’s about it… ” Make sure your final words are crisp, clear, and deliberate so they won’t forget!

10.Rehearse your speech ‘Live’. Make sure you rehearse your speech or business presentation ‘Live’ for a week or so before the event. Seat yourself comfortably in your favourite chair then mentally take yourself to the venue for around 5-10 minutes each day – not in front of a mirror as this tends to be distracting. Visualise yourself communicating as the confident, interesting public speaker you desire to be.

Apart from the beginning and end of your speech, rehearse to key mental prompts rather than the exact words. Keep these key ideas handy to get you back on track when needed. This ‘natural flexibility’ will ensure that each time you rehearse, your speech will be ever so slightly different, a dynamic living thing. When you arrive at the venue your presentation will no longer frighten you because you will have created an internal comfort zone within yourself. Mentally, you will have already been there speaking warmly with these people. You’ll be among friends.

So whenever you have to speak before groups – large or small – dip into these 10 simple steps to successful public speaking to ensure your audience is with you and it’s an enjoyable experience all round.

Rest assured, these practical ideas really do work.

ARTICLE // 10 Simple Secrets to Successful Public Speaking

By Laurie Smale, Author, How to take the panic out of public speaking 🎤

1.Know your own value.
2.Radiate your passions and convictions.
3.Make friends with your listeners.
4.Relate to people.
5.Be a speaker ‘in the moment’.
6.Believable body language.
7.Know where you’re going.
8.Seize their attention!
9.Ensure your final words embody your message.
10.Rehearse your speech ‘Live’.

Read all the details at https://lauriesmale.com/blog/article-10-simple-secrets-to-successful-public-speaking

All of my practical coaching wisdom is in my three books available at https://lauriesmale.com/books

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