How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

Speaking in public is an acquired skill for many business professionals, or you work for a financial firm and need to lead a much smaller group. There are five main ways that can help you improve your public speaking skills, no matter what type of speaking that is, or how large of a group you have to speak to for a presentation.

Plan Ahead

There is no way around it; you have to plan out what you are going to say. Even if you have note cards, a teleprompter or a PowerPoint presentation, anything could happen. Not only should you plan to use the resources you have available, but make sure you have a back-up plan just in case the technology fails you. Writing down your thoughts ahead of time gives you some good prep work before completing the presentation.

Provide Substance

If your presentation is dry, it can make speaking in public more difficult because you aren’t able to play off the audience’s reaction. But if you have killer content and you know it, your confidence level is much higher, and you can see the smile and interest on the audience’s faces. Make sure the content you relay is interesting, informative, and relevant.

Know Your Expectations

Knowing your audience and what they expect is another great way to do better with public speaking. By knowing what they expect to get from the conference, meeting or presentation, you can provide an audience-centered presentation that holds onto their interest and motivates you while speaking. The result is that your audience has a more meaningful experience, and you have better confidence knowing this.

Add in Details Last

By this point, you have an outline, notes and generalized content. It is now time to start adding the last-minute details and putting it all together. Be sure to remember it should be interesting, original, informative and relevant. Don’t be afraid to make changes or adjustments to the presentation when you need to, in order to make it entertaining and interesting, but also get in all the most important facts.

Practice

Being fully prepared also includes practicing. Don’t just go over it once or twice, but multiple times. Practice alone, in front of a mirror, while you are recorded, and in front of other people. The more you practice, the more comfortable you get with the presentation, and the better you will be when you are standing in front of an audience.