How To Be A Good Public Speaker?

If you have spoken publicly or given a presentation, you know how hard it is to nail the speech. This is true for most of the people, even the confident ones.

I want to give you ten simple and actionable tips to become an excellent public speaker. You will need a fair amount of practice to apply them to your public speeches or presentations.

1. Regulate your pace.

Most people speak at a fast pace due to anxiety. You will lose your audience if you talk too fast. On the other hand, you will bore them with a slow pace. Speak at a pace that keeps your audience engaged.

2. Take Pauses.

Taking pauses helps the audience understand your speech. You will also get time to collect your thoughts and articulate them. Moreover, it helps regulate your pace to keep the audience engaged.

3. Use hand gestures.

Hand gestures add emphasis to your words. You will also feel and look confident when you occupy space while using them. But don't raise your arms above your shoulder as it is distracting and aggressive.

4. Avoid filler words. ( 'uh', 'uhm', 'like', 'you know', 'basically', 'simply', etc)

Filler words signal low confidence and poor credibility. They make it hard to deliver the actual message. Use pauses instead of filler words.

5. Move speech articulators well to sound clear.

Move your jaw, lips, teeth, tongue and mouth fully to sound clear. Avoid nasal speech by visualising speaking from the breastbone area. You want to sound richer and clearer to nail your speech.

6. Control your breathing.

Breathing patterns and nervousness are correlated. You can stay relaxed during the speech by regulating breathing patterns. Take deep breaths instead of shallow and tiny breaths. You can read this article by LifeMathMoney to learn deep breathing.

7. Use concise sentences.

Don't speak in lengthy and complex sentences. They make your speech hard to follow. Break your information into short sentences that are easy to grasp. Connect them well to keep your audience engaged.

8. Use positive self-talk to boost your confidence.

Most people feel underconfident before a public speech. Instead of worrying about making blunders or negative judgments, Talk about how you will nail the speech and how everything will end well.

9. Speak in a conversational tone.

Most people speak mechanically and unnaturally while speaking publicly. Speak the same way you talk to one person. It will make your speech personal, relatable and easy to grasp.

10. Practice

You cannot become a public speaker just by reading these tips. You need to practice many times to be able to apply these tips. But, with practice, these tips will become your second nature.

Thank you for reading. See you in the next article.

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