Occasionally, young speakers ask me for advice on public speaking.
I love it when they do, not because I’m flattered to be asked (although perhaps I am), but because the art of public speaking is a noble one and if I can contribute positively to anyone who has the courage to stand in front of a group of people, then I’m happy to help.
The following is a random list of suggestions that I’ve given over the years. I hope that they’re helpful and relevant for people of all ages:
- Take advantage of every opportunity to speak
- Read
- Read more
- Spend 99% of your preparation time on the content of your message and 1% on the fancy PowerPoint slides
- Learn to speak without reading your notes
- Learn to speak without any notes at all
- Tell stories
- Be yourself
- Watch TED talks regularly to learn from the best
- Never say anything from a stage that you haven’t rehearsed in private
- Learn how to use your voice, hands and body to assist you in delivering your message congruently
- Treat every audience with respect, whether there are 10 or 1000 people
- Don’t be afraid to leave great stories, jokes or anecdotes on the cutting room floor if they don’t fit your subject. You can always use them another time.
- Leave them wanting more
- Don’t forget to breathe
Do you have any other public speaking tips that you would like to share?
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January 15, 2013 at 8:02 pm
Lady Gwendolynn
Darren I have to ask what is “TED” is it an acronym or the actual name? I’ve never heard of it before and I know I’m one of those people that has difficulty doing public speeches of any kind.
I think I even have a question for you. I know I’ve had to do public speaking assignments for class in High School and in College (often on material I didn’t want to speak out on) and one thing that my mind always likes to come back to is, “How do I know the audience will understand or care about the subject matter as much as I do?” I know part of your job as a public speaker sometimes is to “make” the audience care & help them understand, but if you are speaking about something that has a special place to you in your heart – it’s hard not to think about the, “What if no one enjoys my presentation? What if no one cares at the end?”.
Often the only thing I’ve tried to tell myself to help with these “jitters” is to tell myself, “People wouldn’t be here in this room right now willing to listen to me if they weren’t curious to learn, understand or something!” I’ve only had one other opportunity to really “speak” in front of a crowd on mic, not considered a classroom, and it was interesting but same thoughts came up and I was still pretty nervous. Any advice on how to deal with this kind of anxiety and nervousness?
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January 17, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Darren Poke
Thanks for your questions LG,
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. They host conferences around the world that enable experts to speak about their area of expertise. Here’s the link: http://www.ted.com/talks
In relation to the jitters that you speak of, they are more common than you would think. I wrote about how to deal with them in this post last year, https://betterlifecoachingblog.com/2012/05/01/3-statements-to-help-you-overcome-your-fear-of-public-speaking/
I hope this helps.
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January 16, 2013 at 11:29 am
sherrylcook
Join your local toastmasters club. There you can learn, practice and get constructive advice on how to speak better. You will also receive the encouragement needed to grow as a professional speaker. The more you speak, the easier it gets!
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January 17, 2013 at 7:34 pm
Darren Poke
That’s great advice Sherryl, thanks for sharing
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January 19, 2013 at 2:18 am
Lady Gwendolynn
Thank you Darren and thank you Sherryl. I’ll look into them and see where their at. 🙂
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