Confidence in Public Speaking

Confidence in Public Speaking

When you have the opportunity for professional speaking, whether it’s for speeches or business presentations, it gives you an opportunity to shine. It makes you an automatic authority in your field. You gain more respect from your peers, business associates, and clients.

Imagine this: What if I invited you to speak tomorrow to a crowd of 100 eager people? How would you feel?
However great the opportunity may be, I’ll bet that it’s not something you would look forward to with glee. In fact, beads of perspiration may be breaking out right now from just thinking about it! Your breathing may be shallower and quicker than usual. Are you nervous?

It’s a lack of confidence that’s causing your fear. Don’t fret about it, though. Public speaking is enemy number one for most people’s confidence level. There’s something about getting up in front of a crowd that makes most of us tremble.
Luckily, you can knock that fear down a notch or two and boost your confidence so you can take advantage of the good things that public speaking can bring you!

FACING THE FEAR

You can become accustomed to speaking in public by taking small steps. Start out by simply talking to strangers on a one-to-one basis. Then speak to small groups with only a few people. Gradually, as you feel comfortable with the small groups, progress to larger and larger groups.

You can gain experience in a number of ways. Local clubs may be interested in having you as a guest speaker or your local school district may offer adult classes you could speak to.

You could even start out by speaking in your child’s class. Even volunteering to read to them at story time will help you get used to speaking in front of a group. Another idea is to volunteer at libraries, shelters, or nursing homes.
In other words, there’s no shortage of options to build your confidence when speaking to groups. All it takes is your commitment to work on reducing your fear and the action to follow through on it.

At each stage, you’re helping yourself to face and overcome your fear. As you build your confidence one step at a time, you’ll be able to take on larger groups and more important subjects with ease.

Once you build up your confidence, you’re ready for that first big speech or presentation.

PREPARING YOUR SPEECH

Nothing gives you more confidence for your speech than knowing with certainty ahead of time that it will be a good one.
Here’s a great strategy that will help you prepare an interesting and excellent presentation:

1. Write down your main points. This clarifies in your mind exactly what you want to talk about. Leave some space in between your main points to fill it in with important facts, quotes, or data that you wish to include under each main point.
2. Organize for effect. Once you know what you want to say, put your points in a cohesive order with an outline. You may want to start with the most critical ideas to generate interest, then follow with supporting points.
3. Prepare props or handouts. These items help keep the attention of your audience and give them something concrete they can hold onto and refer to for important points.
4. Be creative. Wherever it’s appropriate, present your ideas in creative ways that your audience might not expect. Once again, this technique will keep their attention and can make your points more memorable.