Public Speaking Tips and Tricks: Some Beginner Advice
Little bits of advice from someone who is not a professional
It has long been regarded that public speaking is the United States’ biggest fear. While there are no real statistics for this, if you walk into a random group of people and ask if any of them are scared of public speaking, it’s likely that at least half of them would say they were. It makes sense too. People are usually worried about messing up and getting laughed at, being boring, or just freezing up when they start to present.
However, we keep hearing that we should learn public speaking and that it helps your communication skills, you already know the rest. It may not be fun, but it’s a valuable skill nonetheless. While I’m not an expert, I’ve just practiced it a pretty good amount of times and am good at it naturally, I have noticed a few things that make good presentations better than the rest. They’re not too overwhelming and everyone can do them.
#1: Be prepared, but not too prepared
Ah yes, the scout motto and a common adage that we hear all the time. Being prepared is responsible for a large part of your confidence in public speaking, which is crucial for your presentation. When I have watched my peers, as well as myself present, I’ve noticed that some of them (the good ones) have done their work ahead of time and put some effort into this project, while others do not and tend to have inferior presentations. Improvisation works great, it’s what I like to do and have the most fun with. However, having a good idea of what you are going to say and how you’re going to say it are things you should do no matter what if time allows.
Now, being prepared is great, but sometimes you can give information overload to your audience. If you are giving a speech without visual aids, then be careful to not ramble on for too long, as you are more likely to bore and lose your audience. Throwing in some dynamics also greatly assists in that. If you do have a slideshow or other visual aids, make sure not to read off of your slides or put paragraphs of text in each one. Bullet points are very helpful, and putting a brief sentence or two of information for each point is usually the way to go. However, facts, statistics, or quotes may take up more space and can work great as well.
#2: Have good body language
This is no secret. It’s pretty simple, but for some it can be hard to implement. Positive and inviting body language can be difficult to notice at first, but it’s easy to spot when someone has bad body language. Often times when people give a presentation or speech they tend to not move much at all, except maybe their hands. This makes the audience feel less engaged as you don’t make them feel like you are giving them a fun experience. Please please please don’t be motionless. It will provide an awkward experience for everyone including you.
Now that you know what not to do, here are some things you should do. The first big thing is to keep your hands exposed, because it subconsciously makes people feel more at ease. This is likely because it lets people know you have nothing harmful in your hands. Similarly, it shows people that you aren’t stuck in your shell. Alongside this, moving your hands and having a smile (unless it flows better with the speech, such as with a story) are always good methods of inviting your audience into your speech. Lastly, if your presentation has some length to it, a great thing to do to ease your stiffness is to walk around the stage. This seems to instantly calm people down as it forces them to slow their heart rate a little bit to not seem as nervous.
#3: Make sure your audience actually knows what you are going to do
No one likes a clueless audience. Some presentations and speeches are much easier to understand than others topic wise, but you should always make it clear to your audience to what you are doing. A great thing you can do is make an agenda, which can be as simple as bullet points stating what you will talk about in what order. It primes your audience for what you are going to actually talk about and it can help make them stay engaged, which is the key thing with public speaking. However, that isn’t everything. If you are showing your audience something you must make sure your audience can see what you are doing. Say you are teaching how to make a pocketknife holder for a leatherworking presentation. Since your materials are rather small in size, having something like an ELMO would be really helpful, that way your audience can see what you are doing. Otherwise, they’ll just see a piece of leather without seeing how you are sewing it. Point is, make whatever you are doing very visible to your audience and give them a general idea of what you are going to talk about.
#4: (Bonus)Get your audience involved with your presentation
My last major tip is to get your audience involved with your presentation or speech. Some situations do not allow for this to happen, so in that case, ignore this. But if you are giving a slideshow presentation or a speech where you can answer questions this could help you. Giving a questionnaire at the end of your presentation and giving candy to people who get it right is a great way to keep your audience hooked from beginning to end. It forces them to really listen in to what you’re saying, and everybody likes candy. People love these presentations because they end up just being very fun and the competition puts everyone in a good mood. In the event you can’t give out candy, just answer questions. Answering questions still keeps your audience engaged and provides a good degree of interaction between both parties.
Conclusion:
I hope you learned something about public speaking from this. I’m not an expert and I do not claim to be, but I’ve done my fair share of speeches and presentations in my teenage years. Remember, as important as being prepared is, don’t have too much information and overwhelm your audience. Having good body language and acting confident is crucial to making your audience and yourself feel comfortable during the presentation. Finally, give your audience a good idea of what you will be talking about, and use audience participation if you can do so. A summary always helps as well. If you are looking for good resources to learn further about public speaking, a good google search will give you great recommendations, as there are so many other people who are nervous about this as well. Remember, you can read many books on this, but practice will help you the most.
