Watching how skillfully some speakers manage to establish contact with the audience and make it experience the necessary emotions is a fascinating spectacle and a skill that everyone would like to have. Without preparation or a lot of experience, at best, you will be able to deliver a speech without leaving much of an impact on the audience; at worst, you will get nervous before the speech, feel unwell, and read notes from a piece of paper in a trembling voice.
It may be unlikely that you will need to speak in front of a huge audience, but presentation skills, including self-presentation, will certainly be needed in your life and career. Let’s see what life hacks will help you feel more confident when speaking in front of any number of people.
Speaking in Front of People and Not Feeling Stressed About It: Where to Start?
If you thought that now we will go directly to what you need to do while speaking, wait a minute. The most important stage of public speaking is the preparation of the speaker. This applies even to experienced speakers, not to mention beginners who are best off writing down what they are going to say in full. Without preparing a speech plan, you run the risk of getting lost in thought; as a result, the audience will forget about the main idea of your speech, which should be present there throughout the entire time.
Try to create a portrait of your listener – learn more about your audience, its interests, and include answers to questions of interest to them in your speech. Depending on the listener, your speech can be more or less formal, but even if your listeners are “serious” people, you should use simple words to describe difficult things and sound natural.
Most likely, you yourself will want to rehearse your speech, which undoubtedly needs to be done. However, it is better to turn to a more effective method than talking in front of a mirror – involve your friends or relatives, as well as people with whom you communicate for a very short time. The more, the better. Each person will be able to give you valuable quick feedback and shed light on your possible shortcomings, which you’re going to improve. When making a speech, it is important not only what and how you will speak but also your eye contact with people, which must be constant. If you have a speech in front of a large audience and have some time, also take the opportunity to speak in front of fewer people, so to speak, to warm up.
How to Make Your Performance Better Than the Last Time?
Here comes that day X which you have been waiting impatiently (finally, my torment will end), and some kind of fear (what if… happens). Many experienced speakers, before starting to speak, use the following life hack – they interrupt this flow of bad thoughts with something pleasant. Think about your plans to meet up with friends in the evening and have fun or your upcoming trip to the sea. It is important that the burden of bad thoughts decreases and you become less worried.
Also, try to spend part of the day before the performance, not in splendid isolation alone with your thoughts, but treat yourself to a delicious breakfast in a beautiful place and have a live conversation with someone. Try to think about positive; perhaps you will be able to see your speech in a more positive light – after all, you will get the opportunity to share your interesting thoughts, see how people react to them, practice a monologue conversation, etc.
The first minutes are very important for any speech. So try to say something casual or funny that will set your listeners in the right mood for listening. In order for people not to get bored, diversify your speech with questions to them, use visual materials so that they can switch to the visual perception of information, and give rest to their hearing. Want to grab your audience’s fading attention? Under no circumstances start talking louder or faster. On the contrary, make a slightly prolonged pause where your thought logically ends, and the next one begins.
Remember that when communicating with people one-on-one, it is better to maintain an open body position, get your hands out of your pockets and not cross them over your chest, and not stand with your half-back to the audience. In turn, a pleasant smile and the use of gestures will strengthen the listeners’ attention, as will body position changes and movement (if appropriate, for example, on stage).
If you want to improve your presentation and speaking skills, you need to understand that progress will definitely come. You just need to practice. In the process, you will determine the approaches that will work for you, and you can also use the tips above. Good luck!
