Seven Ways To Radically Improve Your Public Speaking Skills
Did a two hours workshop with Bishan Toastmasters some time back (in early June). And I finally got down to converting the recording to an mp3. Would like to give it to you on one condition. Scroll down to the bottom of this post and answer this simple question:
“What is the best public speaking advice you have received so far?”
In my earlier post dated 29th January, I shared with you an epiphany I had while eating my mum’s delicious fried carrot cake.
If each one of you share with me the best advice you have received so far with regards to public speaking, I will have over a hundred! And then I will collate all hundred and post them up. Can you imagine? That will be like 100 workable tips at your disposal… talk about strength in numbers.
If ONE speaking advice has made all the difference for you, think of learning and incorporating another 99 more? This is going to drive your speaking performance off the roof. Talk about accelerated learning!
So here’s the deal, I will trade my seven speaking strategies (which have made all the difference for my clients) for ONE best speaking advice you have received so far. And when I have collected 100, you are going to have all of them! In financial terms, this is like the most profitable investment you can ever made. A whopping 100 times return of investment!!!
So quickly scroll down and write me the best speaking advice you have received so far over the years.
Yes… right now.
Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach
P.S: Remember to enter your email address so that I can send you the link.
Can I write more than one?
When you get up on stage speaking, who are you being?
The success of your speech is measured by whether the audience take any action after the speech.
It’s not just about knowing the audience. BE your audience
Will write more here once I think of some more.
“Get out from behind that damn podium!”
Sorry for the language, but that’s an exact quote.
Eye contact: Make eye contact with one person for one thought or one sentence and then move onto another person. This is a great way of building rapport.
The more that you get into speaking and presenting, the more it becomes clear that the people with the best speaking reputations, are not just presenting, they are living ‘in the moment’.
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it. If it’s said with feeling, sincerity or passion, the key message will stick. Good luck.
Be in a state of listening and receptivity. Speaking is not so much about “doing” something as it is being receptive and available to your audience.
This advise transformed all my communications, not just public speaking. It takes some practice, but the payoff is HUGE.
“Know thy subject, not thy powerpoint”
PowerPoint and other visuals need to be an addition to, not a substitute for, your presentation. Please don’t read me your slides because I can read a lot faster than you can speak and after I lap you, I get bored.
Check out the book Speak like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln for a slew of great advice (here’s an example: Create a “power line” by using the CREAM principle. Use either Contrasting words, Rhyme, Echo (the repetition of a word or phrase), Alliteration, or Metaphor).
Make sure you have rehearsed the first minute of your presentation. This is critical - make sure it is rehearsed over and over and over until you can say it in your sleep. The first minute is when you are being judged - and the better the delivery, the greater the confidence the audience will have in you. Also, if things go don’t well later during the presentation, your audience will be more supportive and more forgiving.
One slide, One idea.
Tell them what you are going to say;
Tell them;
Tell them what you told them.
Do more interacting with people than explaining down to people.
Caz: There’s little I hate more in a lecture than the professor making direct eye contact with me for more than a second or two. Maybe that tip works better if you’re further than 5 feet from your audience, though.
The best advice I’ve received was regarding the use of slides: don’t read them. After hearing that, I wrote my bullet points without any connectors so I’d have to make up my own phrasing on the fly. I got nothing but praise from the audience afterward. It may have been the only class presentation where everyone stayed awake.
Second tip for free: practice the presentation the day before, and you probably won’t need to look at your notes during the real thing.
You must tell a story. A personal story is even better - people are drawn to drama and conflict - work that into your presentation and you will have a winner.
Do not be afraid of pauses. They allow you to gather your thoughts, see how your listeners are responding, and let them review what you’ve just told them.
“Know your audience”.
Understand your audience. This includes their level of understanding on the topic being presented and how it is important to them.
having stage fright, the one advise that has helped me with public speaking with my classes is to take deep breaths repetitively to help me relax just before starting =)
1. Don’t read from your slides for your presentation. They can read for themselves. The slides are to outline the ideas you are talking about.
2. Make eye contact with people in the audience, and solicit participation by asking questions. Even if the answer is obvious.
3. Never present complex ideas on a slide. Complex ideas should be represented by small uncomplex ideas.
4. Don’t leave the same slide up for more than 2 minutes.
5. Is your presentation narrating your slides, or are your slides narrating your presentation? Know the difference.
Thanks guys for spending time n effort to share your best speaking advice!
The best advice I have received is “It’s not about ME”!
That really helps calm me and also to be more focused on my presentation and not myself! It IS about the presentation and your audience!
It is not what you say or how you say it. Just remember, it is not about “you”. It is all about the listener. When we focus on the listener, we will develop a bond and rapport with them.
best speaking advice i have gotta so far - BE YOURSELF AND SPEAK ON SOMETHING THAT HAVE TOTAL BELIEFT IN. from there everything flows….
Create an impact from the opening. Start with a bang.
“Speak from the heart, deliver with emotion.”
Put your speaking cap on. See yourself speaking clearly and comfortably.
Understand that you don’t have to rush, so take your time, pause at the appropriate moments, become at one with your audience.
Have a conversation with them.
(as a Radio Announcer/Presenter/EmCee)
Even if the audience is many thousand; It helps to speak as though with one Person. A Friend.
speaking with style and humour with logical sense is the best way to bring across your message to your audience
Do remember word respresent 7%, Tonality - 38% and Body Language - 55%.
when public speaking, the pause is powerful.
Cheers
darren
www.executivespeaking.com.au
My best advice was “be yourself”.
Keep it short, concise and inspiring
Try practicing your speech or presentation with a tennis ball in your hand. Consider what you are doing with the ball and if what you are doing might be distracting or augmenting what you are saying. The ball is, of course, a metaphor for body language (as mentioned above by Alfred).
Try overemphasizing ball movement and conversely try minimizing your actions. Consider how that feels and what that does to the message you are trying to deliver.
If possible, record yourself on video so you can see yourself with an objective eye.
Crystalize your message, objective or topic so that it is clear, simple and achieveable. Do this before you begin to prepare your presenation. It will pay off in your speech.
Get up there and commit, people take a message from you actions and attitude. When doing public speaking, commit and don’t look back.