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Most people hate coming in front of the public and making a speech. We are as afraid of it as anything else. Yet, there are various occasions where we have to do it in front of a crowd, whether it’s at a wedding, in a business meeting, conference, or even a class project. Public speaking is one of the biggest fear for a lot of people.
But if you want to excel in what you do, then you will have to prepare yourself for the fact that you will be presenting your products, services, brand, projects, or anything else in front of people. It doesn’t matter if your heart starts racing or if your palms start sweating, you can’t let your fear win over you. If you think that you have a speech problem that keeps you from speaking coherently, then you need to see a speech pathologist. It doesn’t matter where you live, whether in the United States, England, or Liverpool speech pathology can help sort out your problems. For other people who are just afraid of it, we are going to give you a few tips that will have you speaking confidently whether it’s a class project in front of a few classmates or a conference in front of hundreds of attendees.
1. Study Your Topic
Sometimes we get caught up in fear of public speaking so much that we forget the basics. One of the things that can help you on the big day is your mastery of the topic or the subject that you have to talk about. The more you know about your topic, the better you will speak. Mastery in the subject or topic can ensure that you don’t stutter, stammer, or do anything else for that matter. Do as much research on your topic as you can. If there are points that you still feel uncomfortable with, revise them and learn them beforehand. This will give your confidence the extra push that it needs and when you finally speak, you will do so with confidence.
2. Practice, practice, practice
Once you have attained mastery of the subject, now you need to practice your speech. Do it as much as you can. There are many tricks that you can incorporate into your practice sessions. You can practice in front of a mirror so that you can see where you are going wrong and what you are doing right. You can ask some of your friends to help you out, and you can give your speech in front of them. Ask them to point out where they think you should improve. Find out how long your speech is. It should be according to the allotted time. You don’t want your speech to fall short of the time, and you don’t want it to overshoot the clock either. The more you practice, the more familiar you will become with it so that when you stand on the podium on the big day, you will not feel awkward and deliver it perfectly. The more comfortable you are with your speech, the less you will have to resort to time fillers like “like”, “um”, and others.
3. Know Your Audience
One of the things that most people forget while they are preparing their speech and practicing it is the target audience. You have to know your audience if you want to have a good effect on them. If you want your speech to move them, then it should be appropriate for the audience. Find out beforehand who you will be giving the speech to; will you be delivering the speech in front of adults, kids, young adults, men, women, and so forth. Once you know that, you can add humor, anecdotes, or something else that is appropriate for that audience and you know that they will appreciate it.
4. Make Friends
Another important thing that we forget is to get to know the crowd before you actually take the stand. We are so afraid and anxious about our time on the stage that we spend all the time before worrying about it. Instead, if you just mingle with the crowd and chat them up, you will feel more at home when you start speaking. You will find out that you have lost a lot of the nervousness that was present before and that you are speaking with confidence. Another benefit is that when you are speaking, you will have a couple of familiar faces that you can focus on.
5. Get Comfortable
This is one of the most difficult things to do if you have a fear of public speaking in you. But you have to get comfortable with the environment, the people, space and the equipment. Get to the venue early so that you can see the stage, the seating arrangement of the audience, the equipment that you will be working with and other things so that when you do walk up the stage, you walk into a familiar setting instead of something new and frightening.
6. Ice Breaker
When you start the speech, don’t just get into the topic and try to lose yourself in it. You should warm up the audience by doing an ice-breaker activity or sharing a quick joke, commenting on the previous speeches or share an anecdote. When you do that, you make sure that you are comfortable with the audience, and the audience is comfortable with you. The audience will warm up to you since you will be talking in a conversational tone. Once you have their attention, start your topic and show them that you are an expert.
CONCLUSION
Almost everyone is afraid of getting in front of a strange crowd and trying to make a point. But if we don’t try to overcome our fear, we may not achieve our true potential and make something of ourselves. Every good public speaker will tell you that they started exactly where you are. So, make sure you do the things discussed above and give a killer speech.
About The Author:
Christine Rudolph is a passionate lifestyle blogger. She is an enthusiastic writer, inclined towards ever-changing trends. For more updates follow her on Twitter @RudolphBlogger.
