Most would rather jump of cliff than agree to a stint at public speaking. Public speaking is a fear most have not managed to master and continue to avoid it their whole life. Anxiety and sweating ensues when people stand behind the podium or up on a stage, ready to talk in front of a crowd. However, public speaking skills are highly important for any working individual as it will make their presentations more efficient and effective and allow them to clearly communicate the message to their audience. These public speaking skills will help in the personal domain too as you might be asked to speak at a friend’s wedding or give a eulogy.

Here are 9 effective public speaking skills:

1. Practice to Eliminate Nervousness

It’s completely normal to be nervous and it can be removed by practicing and if not practicing then at least diminished. Nervousness can cause faster heart rates, hot flashes, trembling and more physical symptoms. This nervousness needs to be directed towards productivity rather than feelings of fear, as nervousness will also trigger an adrenaline rush which will help you give a better performance. The more practice you put in the less anxious you will feel, as it prepares your body for the final performance. Make sure you are well rehearsed in the actual content of your material which will leave room to master the style of your delivery.

2. Adapt to Your Audience

You might be a wonderful speaker but until and unless you adapt you style and content to your audience, you shall never succeed. Your listeners are the determinants of how well you spoke rather than how well you think you spoke. The words your use, the choice of language, the punch lines, the sense of humor and more should all be considerate of the people sitting in the audience. The audience will be much more attentive and responsive when they hear the message being spoken in a language they are familiar with without the use of any jargons.

3. Be as Real as Possible

If you aren’t authentic then you might as well leave the stage, as the audience is quick to decipher the real from the fake. If you are an introvert then don’t force yourself to deliver a speech by jumping around and being loud-embrace your personality and tangle it within your content. The audience can detect the forced expression if you are faking an accent, supporting an unnatural posture or being generally different to your normal self. It may be possible that you get away with it once but not more than that as people are quick to understand the reality.

4. Plan Out Your Content

Planning comes before anything else as planning helps one prepare the perfect content. Make sure you address all the questions that will be present in the minds of the audience and use different strategies to foolproof your content. Read up on the topic you will be presenting on to have a thorough understanding and improve your speech. Plan to find the appropriate statistics and phrases to capture the attention of your audience.

5. Be Aware of Your Hands and Body

Your mouth may be saying one thing but your body and hands might be saying something so be aware of how you portray your body. Don’t wring your hands, slouch, standing on one leg, leaning on a wall or indulge in any other gesture which may give away your nervousness to the audience. When speaking, it is also quite easy to get carried away with hand gestures and using to illustrate each word but when it comes to hand gestures it is important to embrace less is more.

6. Use Visual Aids

Presentations, speeches and more tend to get boring when the source of information is a sole speaker. The audience may also feel overwhelmed when you as a speaker are dispensing a lot of information for which they don’t have notes to rely on. Thus, power-point slides, bullet points on white boards, brochures for the audience and more are all visual aids which will help the audience digest the information faster and quicker.

7. Believe in Your Ability

Chances are that you are competent and that’s why you find yourself in a position to speak before a group of people. Fear of public speaking is normal but berating yourself for fostering such a far is abnormal. It would be far more productive to generate positive thoughts and direct your fearful energy into that of determined practice to ensure success in your public speaking stint. Avoid phrases such as “Ill never master it!” “I’m no good at this” as they all represent fear of failure which is trying to repress you within your comfort zone.

8. Interact with Your Audience

The audience can be your downfall or your path to success it depends on how you use them to your ability. Delivering a monologue filled with humor, style and statistics will never be as effective as one where the audience gets a chance to interact with the speaker. A good speaker understands where the audience can be included and a dialogue created which will eliminate isolation. If the audience feels isolated they will soon become disinterested and stop listening to you. You as a speaker will also feel better connected with an engaged audience which will translate into your speaking prowess.

9. Ask for Feedback

Your skills will only become better if you ask for feedback and then use the feedback given to improve your speaking skills. Feedback can be received instantly after your finish speaking, in private as you ask few how you did, or at the end of the presentation you can ask the audience to email them their feedback. Another way to improve your skills is to video yourself and then re-watches your performance to see how you spoke and better your mannerisms. If legality allows, make sure you video the reactions of the audience as well as yours as it will allow you to see what generated a response and what didn’t.

Do you want to Study a Publish Speaking Skills Training Course?

Zoe Talent Solutions offers highly professional public speaking skills training course which will enable you effectively speak to the target audience or the general public.

See Zoe Talent Solutions full communication and writing skills course list here: Communication and Writing Training Courses