Speaking in public is a challenge and a challenge, I believe, must be accepted. What do you think? We all have that moment on the stage when we go blank.
Have you ever freezed on the stage? Well, I have seriously freezed on stage once in my school. Speaking in front of the crowd means, having to go through sleepless nights, nervousness, deadlines and many rounds to the toilet when you are just about to start, am I right?
Okay guys, my name is Michelle and today I am going to share with you some valuable suggestions that will help you speak better publicly. So Stay tuned to this session as I share some tips to help you understand the mistakes that you have been committing all this while, while speaking publicly. You are watching Skillopedia, the place to learn skills for the real world.
There is an age old saying, “A good speech is like a pencil, it has to have a point. ” For this very reason, you might sit the entire week to frame the right points by adding some big words and some very good vocabulary to make it look good. You might also make enough power point presentations with pictures, graphics and figures.
But you are losing on something here. The majority of your time would be spent on preparing the content for the event, as in what you are going to speak. But what we miss out is “How to speak.
” we spend a lot of time thinking what to say but not enough time thinking how to say. So let me give you a heads up! I mean let me tell how the figures are.
Researchers say that, “lasting impression is more directly tied to our voice and body language. ” So to my shock, content and words play only 7% of the role in communicating and I was absolutely surprised to find out. Then what does the other 93% depend on, if it's not about what you are saying?
Then voice takes 38% and body language 55% of what are you are speaking? Isn’t that shocking statistic to you? A person’s ability to speak and communicate to an audience largely depends on the body language rather than on content, rather than on what you are speaking.
So body language is like a text you send to a friend. If you are polite and funny, the vibes are good. If you put in sarcasm, you mess up the good conversation.
So if your body language is not nice, you mess your entire relationship with the audience during the public speech. So make sure you don’t hurt the sentiments of the people who are listening to you. Rather, you focus on a positive and happy way to deliver your speech, which is best reflected on your body language and your voice.
So concentrate on how to say more than what to say. First and foremost, it is important that we not only make a lasting impression but that we make a positive one. Yes, let me tell you about my professor back in college, he was a kind of weird guy.
He would take long pauses while speaking, like this but whenever he spoke, the message glued to my memory forever, which means I could not forget what he said and He had a great sense of humor on top of that and that is what attracted most of the students from my class. We all came from different parts of India and different parts of the world but when we heard him, we were all laughing on the same joke and listening to him very carefully. But apart from that humor, it’s important to look at your audience.
That’s what he did. When he took those pauses, he used to look at us. So don’t keep your eyes fixed on a spot, rather watch across the entire hall making meaningful eye contact with your audience.
This will help you connect better to them and there is no better way of explaining a point than using examples from daily life. Like I am telling you about my professor, you could also tell about one of your experiences from your school or your college days or may be even from your workplace. Because Examples help to relate to the topic much better than anything else.
Trust me, I use them too ;) so you must add examples, have a nice body language and look at your audience and you’re in for a great speech. The start of your speech is the most important part. Walk in your room smartly, lay your notes on the podium, look up, keep your chin high and greet them with a warm smile.
Make them believe that you know what you are doing. It always gives one a lot of comfort when the other one has everything under control. So if they think that you don’t know what you are saying, that’s gonna be a problem.
So be the one who has everything under control. The best way I think to capture the audience’s attention is to think about a clear and a strong phrase that people could relate to. When I was in school, I still remember, the head boy would often come to the podium and raise his fist during the lunch break and say, “defend your turf”.
What does that mean? That means to take care of your belongings. Well he used to say that because our bags used to be overloaded with food when we returned from our home after the winter break so That used to make everyone laugh and we all used to listen carefully after that to everything he said.
Did you notice? All he did was he chose a strong, a funny and an interesting phrase to start his conversation and this is what you should do. If you want the audience to relate to you easily, it was always a great way to start the speech with a light minded, nice and strong phrase that could capture their attention.
Unfortunately even though we are human beings we stand almost like we sit, which is so horrible. Never has a person who has dragged himself on the stage slouching, attracted anyone’s attention, you know what I mean? Most of us don’t realize that much of our confidence actually depends on the way we place our chin.
Too high often gives off an attitude or arrogance to the people while too low shows that you are very nervous. So what should you do? Well my suggestion is that You must observe yourself in front of the mirror by exploring different angles until you find the most appropriate one and Trust me; it will be a plus point when you will have a goof body posture.
Curved back and slouching shoulders give the picture of a book worm that has not left his seat for long. so that shows that you have been preparing for your speech for so long that you are not able to deliver it nicely because your body posture is not perfect. So if you can get taller without lifting your feet off the ground, then what you need to do is you need to make sure that your back is straight and that's how you present yourself when you start your speech.
Now let me tell you some things that you shouldn’t do while you are speaking publicly. Kindly note them down. You should not look down or off into space where there are no people.
What I mean is you should make meaningful eye contact and please never start speaking before you have reached the front of the room. Start speaking when you are comfortable and when you are on the podium and when you've got everything in place. And yes please don't play with your hair.
Okay or lean on one side and it's really not a good idea to point with a finger or to use an open palm like this. and I recommend that you don't fold your arms or cross your legs and it's also not good to sway from side to side because you are not exercising and do not turn your back to the audience because that is a very bad sign and it shows like you are not interested. So these are the don'ts of public speaking.
I hope my tips have benefited you today and to top it you must remember that nothing can be achieved without confidence, So before you work on anything else that I've told you today, make sure that whatever you speak has loads of confidence and speak it with courage. So these are the tips for public speaking for you and I hope they are very useful for you as well. Thank you for watching me on Skillopedia, the place to learn skills for the real world.
