5 Tips for Successful Public Speaking Opportunities

culled from:marchpr.com

1. Make the opening lines of the speech clear and crisp. Know them by heart. Sounding confident, even if you’re not, establishes credibility with the audience and can boost your actual confidence level.

2. Speak a bit louder than usual. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of nervous energy. In fact, it can convey your excitement. Detz recommends speaking to a few specific individuals toward the back of the room.

3. Make strategic eye contact. The key word in the previous tip was individuals. Speaking to the back wall tends to make nerves worse. Instead, make strategic eye contact with a few individuals, even if it’s just for brief periods of time. This makes it feel like you’re having a regular conversation and alleviates a lot of the tension you might be feeling.

4. Use body language to burn off nervous energy. There’s a lot that goes into selecting the appropriate body language to use, but generally, hand gestures toward your audience and your presentation are the best bet. (NOTE: Never turn your back on the audience to gesture toward your presentation. It makes you seem inconsiderate and breaks the connection with the audience that you’ve worked so hard to establish.)

5. Breathe. Deep breathing is used in yoga to help people relax, and that technique is also applicable to public speaking. (Hint: when done correctly, your stomach should expand without your shoulders moving up and down.) Working strategic pauses into your speech also provides an opportunity to take a good, deep breath.