Most students experience some sort of public speaking anxiety, and about a quarter of people fear speaking in public. In the article, “Why Are We Scared of Public Speaking?” by Theo Tsaousides, he writes, “Sometimes the only thing that stands between you and your audience is fear.” Communicating your ideas and presenting them openly to the public is an essential component of success in life. So how do you improve your public speaking skills? In this article, I will be sharing a few tips that will help you become a better speaker!

Practice

How your speech comes across out loud compared to how it reads in your head can be very different. Practicing a speech enables you to work on pacing and pauses for optimal impact. Also, make sure you’re able to clearly and confidently pronounce your speech, and feel more comfortable with the message you’re delivering. Presenting your speech in front of family members, friends, or a mirror is a good way to memorize your speech and become more confident. If you only read it in your head, you don’t get enough experience to execute it when the time comes in front of an audience. That’ll only make you more nervous. 

Record Yourself

Each time you practice your speech, record it on your phone and review it afterward. With this method, you can look for mistakes in your speech and what you can improve on. You can also assess your pacing, tone, and much more like this. You can also record yourself to see what kind of actions you perform while presenting. By doing this, you can critique and make sure your eye contact and other things, such as hand gestures, to improve your presentation further.

Prepare for the Worst

It might sound counter-intuitive, but imagining the worst-case scenario that could happen during your speech could help calm you down. This is also known as inoculation training, where you think of the most severe thing that can happen and then think of the best way to respond to it. Doing this has the effect of minimizing fear, which can increase your poise come speech time. 

Get the Audience Invested

If you want your audience hanging onto every word in your speech, you have to gain their interest in the beginning. Some ways include: posing a question the audience can think about, telling a story that captures their attention, giving a preview of what the audience will learn, etc. By doing this, you can hook your audience into listening to what you have to say.

Smile

One way to instantly relax is to smile, even if you don’t feel like it. Research reported by NBC News shows smiling can boost your mood and reduce stress. Smiling can make your audience more receptive to you too. Smiling makes people appear more attractive to others. If your speech isn’t solemn or serious, try smiling at the beginning and throughout.

Gavel Club

The Gavel Club focuses on improving students’ public speaking and overcome their fear. The club meets every Tuesday at lunch in F103. 

At some point in your life, you’re going to have to speak in front of a group. It’s not always easy, but with preparation, practice, and a realistic view of the task at hand, you can approach your next public speaking engagement with confidence and a meaningful message!

Graphic Courtesy of CAREERSBLOG.UK