Sound Prepared, Not Artificial (A Quick Public Speaking Tip)

If I were a bettin’ man, I’d be willing to put money on the fact that nearly every (if not every) public speaker will agree that preparation is KEY to giving a good presentation. After all, how embarrassing would it be to get in front of a group of people and give them a presentation full of nervous laughs and coughs and “umm’s” because your thoughts weren’t clear in your mind? So, yes, before giving a talk, PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE… but when giving your presentation, don’t sound OVER-prepared (yes, I consider this a thing; you'll see what I mean in a moment), fake, ARTIFICIAL.

Basically what this is boiling down to is the importance of sounding natural. The reason I even bring this up is because I’ve seen too many times where someone is giving a presentation, and yes they are preeeepared, but they sound as if they’re reciting a script (and sometimes, that is actually the case). As mentioned, they prepared, but they prepared the wrong way. They were overly concerned about the way their comments were worded, and thus they recited a script to an audience, whether physically or figuratively. That being the case, when they spoke, they did not sound natural, as they would normally speak.

Not sounding natural when giving a public presentation can present a number of problems. For starters, it can bore your audience. Too, your audience can begin to feel as if you do not have true conviction regarding what you’re speaking to them about. Not to mention, it can wear your audience out. (I can personally testify to all of these.)

Now that we know how we DON’T want to sound, what’s the fix to not sounding artificial? Here’s a huge pointer: When preparing, don’t prepare conveying sentences, prepare conveying ideas… Let that sink in. Don’t prepare conveying sentences, prepare conveying ideas. Don’t be scared. It works, I promise. Again, I can testify to it. How does this help? Well, simple. It forces you to sound more natural. As long as you have clear in your mind what you’re going to talk about and the order of points you are going to bring out, really, what need is there to recite a script? If you can talk one-on-one with someone about the subject and present your points in “free fall” mode, you can certainly do the same when speaking in front of a group of people.