Public speaking is hard for almost everyone but it is a skill that you must master if you want to be an effective leader. You will be required to present information to executives, clients, and stakeholders and this is especially difficult for people with introverted personalities. Here are 5 proven public speaking tips to help you give great presentations.
1 – Expect to be Nervous
You should expect to be nervous when you have to give a formal presentation. You should be nervous because what you’re doing is important! Even the most seasoned public speakers get nervous before every performance, including me! You want to do a good job and keep the audience engaged and that is not easy.
When you’re feeling nervous before a presentation, there are a few things that you can do to calm yourself down:
- Practice – you should run through your presentation at least once to ensure that your timing is right and to test the flow of your presentation and adjust if necessary.
- Know Your Topic – when you’re comfortable with your topic, this will help your presentation go smoothly as you aren’t constantly questioning yourself.
- Visualize Your Success – when you have a plan to achieve success, you will be more likely to succeed.
- Meditate – meditation and breathing exercises are suggested by career counselors and therapists to help mitigate negative emotions.
2 – Be Authentic
The best public speakers are 100% authentic and it shows. When you’re being yourself, you are more comfortable and this will have a huge impact on your presentations. When you let your personality shine through, your audience will be more engaged and trusting as you present as a real person and not a corporate drone. Authenticity is something that people can relate to and they will feel a personal connection with you which will entice them to pay attention to everything you’re saying. This is one of my favorite public speaking tips and it had a very positive impact on my presentations.
3 – Know Your Audience
You should always know your audience when you’re planning a presentation. Tailoring your visual aids and talking points for your specific audience will allow them to connect what you’re saying to their own daily tasks which will help them retain the information. You want to focus on the audience because your presentation is about them, not you. Think about what they need to know and address your talking points accordingly.
4 – Tell Stories
Telling stories during a presentation can really grab your audience’s attention and it provides a nice break from presenting bullet points. Adding in a story with a slide showing a visual representation of your story will create a high level of engagement with your audience, especially if your story talks about common issues that your audience may encounter at work. When people can connect your story to their own work, they can immediately consider the applications for their current job.
5 – Get Into Your Public Speaking Performance
One of the most important public speaking tips is that you should think about public speaking as a performance. Even if you are presenting budget details to executives, you should be enthusiastic about it. You are in charge of the mood in the room and the mood will not be good if you are disconnected from your audience and yourself. Having a script is good but make sure that you aren’t reading it in monotone. You should have inflection in your voice and show that you are excited about your topic to keep the audience engaged throughout your entire presentation.
Public Speaking Tips and Leadership Courses on Pluralsight
You can learn more about leadership skills in my Pluralsight course, Fostering Effective Team Collaboration and Communication. This course includes animated scenario-based training and you will watch as a management team implements a communication plan to lead a self-managing team. By the end of this course, you will be able to establish a communication plan, avoid miscommunication, and provide your team with the tools for successful collaboration. Click the button below to get started with a free trial today!