5 Things to Remember About Public Speaking

Top 5 things to remember about public speaking Public speaking can make the most confident person quake in their shoes. These are things that I have found extremely useful and still follow today.


1. Be yourself. People don't like a speaker they can't identify with.

2. Don't worry too much about making mistakes. I don't mean with facts, ensure your facts are correct, what I mean is that if you stumble over words or get mixed up and have to stop for a couple of seconds to get yourself straight, don't stress and think that everyone is going to think you are terrible. Most people attending a lecture or watching a speaker think that public speaking is the number 1 fear so if you forget your place or stumble over a word or two they are probably thinking that at least it is not them up there. Take a deep breath, get yourself together and continue.

3. Pauses seem longer to you then to the audience. When everyone is looking at you time seems to stop or slow down to a dead slow. If you take 3 seconds to take a deep breath or pause, it is not long to the audience. By rushing you will increase your nerves.

4. Most people speed up when nervous. No matter how many times you practice in front of a mirror, if you get nervous you will probably speed up. Again, take a deep breath.
Do not write a script. Ever heard people read out from a paper word for word. It sounds unnatural. Write bullet points with enough information to remind you what you need to say. Know the topic as well as you can.

5. Most people don't set out to look for mistakes by a public speaker; they are there to hear what you have to say. A new trainer once asked me how to get rid of nerves before she trained her first course. I told her that she couldn't, it was best to let her be nervous. Every couple of minutes take a deep breath and smile.

Katherine Davison

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