Public Speaking Tips
Public Speaking is a nerve-wracking experience. But it’s an important skill when advocating for yourself and others. With a little practice and preparation, you can develop strong public speaking skills for any audience!
Here are some tips:
Here are some tips:
As you prepare for a speaking opportunity, think about who you’ll be speaking to. When speaking to adults, such as policymakers, teachers and family members, your speech should have a different tone than when speaking to other young people.
What would you like the audience to learn or understand from your speech? Write a concise, clear, and focused message that you would like to present and build your talking points to support your message.
Write out what you would like to say and how you would like to say it. Write down any questions people could ask and think about what your responses would be.
Decide whether you need slides or resources to share and have everything prepped ahead of your speech.
Once you have prepared your talking points and materials, go over them again and again to get comfortable. Practice for others and get feedback so you can change and adapt your presentation.
As you practice, record yourself and watch it back. Watch your body language, whether you have filler words (like “um” or “yeah”), and your tone and pace.
As your present, slow down what you are saying. Build natural pauses in your talking points.
Some of the best speakers are the most charismatic. Pay attention to and practice your body language, which is a great way to work on calming your nerves. Make eye contact with your audience, instead of reading from a script, and smile!
Review your script and materials and make sure they reflect you. Add a creative twist to your presentation, to either hook the audience in from the get-go or keep them invested.
One way to improve your own public speaking is to watch others who are masters at their craft. By watching different talented speakers, you can see how each person gets their message across, hooks in their audiences, and maintains their individual identity. TED Talks are a great resource for watching public speakers.
Public speaking is challenging. Give yourself credit for delving into the skill. Remember, the audience is on your side and wants you to succeed. The more you practice and make mistakes, the more you will grow.
Tips on Virtual Speaking
Speaking virtually or remotely, such as via Zoom or Skype, is now a way of life, whether it’s for school, a job or personal interactions with friends and family members. Presenting or speaking remotely to multiple people, though, comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some tips to becoming a pro at virtual public speaking:
Gauging your audience’s reaction can be difficult virtually, as some people may have their cameras turned off or they may tend to not react as much as they would in person. In these instances, trust that your audience is with you and be confident they’re interested in what you have to say!
If your computer supports it, use a virtual background but remember to keep it professional.
It can be hard to know where to look when speaking virtually. If you’re speaking live, you can choose to look at your computer’s camera or the eyes of your audience. If recording, look directly into your computer’s webcam.