1. Journal your Experiences
It is always best to speak from experiences. People have a short-term memory’s. If we do not keep a journal of the experiences, all the good stories will be forgotten.2. Observe Great Presentations
As children we learn most of things by modelling what our parents, siblings, teachers or friends. The same is true with speeches. You should copy, imbibe good characteristics by watching truly amazing speakers.You see, we are in an age where all presentations are available just a click away in www.Youtube.com or www.TED.com. By sitting in your couch, you can watch Steve Jobs classic Stanford commencement speech, “Live before you die“). Or you can watch how Tony Robbins gives an awesome talk ‘Why we do what we do’. All the good stuff is out there for free. You just need to get into a habit of regularly watching these presentations with an eye for the little things that can help you improve your own public speaking.
3. Being Health Conscious
What does health have to do with speaking? It might sound silly but if you want to be a good presenter, you need to take care of your health.4. Find a Mentor
Even though there are many public speaking tips you can find and learn on your own, there is nothing like having a mentor.A mentor can show you areas that you won’t be able to see. A mentor can advise you on what is right, what is wrong and how to do it correctly. You might ask: “how do you find a mentor?” It is simple. Anybody who is good in public speaking can be your mentor. If you have a relationship with someone good at public speaking, ask him to mentor you. In fact a mentor could be your co-worker or teacher, or your friend.
5. Ask “WHY”
Do you feel nervous or have some sort of fear when someone asks you to give a presentation? Many of us do. This habit will help you dissolve that fear.The habit of asking WHY you are giving the presentation is fundamental to overcome your anxiety. It gives some direction to your presentation.
The presentation planner could be anyone – a priest in your church, or principal of a school, or a social activist running an orphanage. Sometimes, you might not get a direct answer for your WHY. In that case, use your common sense and find the possible reasons. Suppose the priest asks you to talk to young children at church and he does not give specific answers for your WHY, the possible reason could be that the priest wants the children to get inspired and do better in life. Answering the WHY will help you with clarity about your presentation.
6. Write Down the Presentation Content
Are you a natural speaker? Do you think, “I am going to speak, why should I write it down?”There are natural speaker’s out there, who can give solid speeches off the cuff, without having a single word written down. That is, however, the exception. For most people writing down the presentation is the only way to deliver a clear presentation. Even those “natural speakers” can usually do a better job with some form of outline to make sure their narrative does not wander.
7. Internalise the Content
Have you ever forgot some content in middle of a talk and rolled your eyes?Internalising your presentation will help you solve this problem. Internalising is the process where you start drilling the content, as many times as possible till you no longer have to think about the words.
8. Care for the Audience
When you are “live” before an audience, do you get concerned about what the audience will think about your language, clothes, background, etc.? These things matter to a certain extent, but they are not worth your attention when delivering a speech.As a speaker, people are generally classified into three levels.
- You are only concerned about you. You think: “Am I going to deliver without making any mistakes”, “Am I dressed properly”, etc.
- You are concerned about your content. You think: “Is the listener getting what I am saying” or “Is my message good enough for them”. You can get flustered if there are any disturbances such as PowerPoint do not work, or power shuts down, etc.
- You really care for the audience. Whatever the situation, you will be cool. You are only concerned about making a difference in your listener’s life. You present with genuine love and care in your heart. This will help you to care for your audience and you’ll really Rock! Irrespective of the mistakes, nervousness, the one who cares more for the audience, wins.
9. Get Feedback
Have you filled a customer satisfaction form in a restaurant? Why do they do that? They want to get better. They want to know what was good and what was bad.Can we use this concept for our presentations? Absolutely. Get feedback from your audience. That doesn’t mean that you will bombard them with a long list of questions. Just ask them few simple questions such as: “If I could ask you one key thing you learned from my presentation – What would it be?” or ““Did you feel that something could be done differently?”
However, you should not get flustered if someone gives you a critical feedback. I’ll tell you a secret to process feedback. If an expert gives you a feedback, 99% of the time, the feedback will help you even if it is critical. However, if a regular listener gives you feedback, check if it makes sense. If not, get feedback from more people and see the pattern. 1 person can be wrong but 10 people cannot be wrong.
10. Review the Presentation
Do you know who is the best person to judge your presentation? You probably guessed it right. It is YOU.Try the following. Next time, when you give a talk, ask your friend to video record your presentation. Then, review the video. You’ll be humbled. You might see – repeated gesturing, unnecessary movements, and 100 other areas of improvement. Do not get overwhelmed. Just ask yourself: “What one thing can be done better?” Take one obvious area and work on the same. Once you overcome that, focus on the next item. You’ll grow leaps and bounds as a speaker.
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