Your audience wants you to succeed, not fail. They have a purpose for being in the audience. The audience want to feel like they are investing their time well and deserve better public speaking.
They want to learn from you. The audience wants to understand a topic better. They want to be inspired.
Great public speakers own the room and aim to give their knowledge away. They know that their presentation is a conversation with a lot of people. They know that they are not perfect, but they are confident about their message.
Great speakers are passionate about what they do. They want to tell others about it. They want to be honest with the audience.
- What do great presenters do that we can learn from?
- How are they so successful with their presentations?
- What do they focus on while giving their talk?
The best presenters make sure that everything works together.
- Their images and video.
- Their body language.
- Their facial expressions and voice.
Great speakers know that an impactful presentation inspires the audience to act. They concentrate on their delivery to ensure.
This is how to become a better public speaker
Here are seven things you should know about better public speaking. Let’s dive in.
1. Purposeful body movements
You should have a strong posture. Relax your arms at your slide. As you talk, you’ll begin to gesture naturally. These gestures reinforce your message and help your audience understand what you are saying.
Your body gestures should be purposeful. They should be varied, so your audience doesn’t get bored with the same ones.
You must move your body with intention. It demonstrates self-confidence. Your body movements need to be purposeful. When you are on a stage, make sure you visit each part: the far right, the middle, and the far left. Walk to each area and stop for a couple of minutes.
If you need to stay in one location, move your body to face each section of the room. Your body needs to demonstrate that everyone is included in your message.
Pro tip
If you want to make a point, stop moving. Your listeners will pay more attention to your words than your body movement.
2. Positive facial expressions
Smiling makes people feel comfortable with you. It makes people feel welcomed. When you speak, your audience pays attention to your facial expressions. Listening is easier when you are smiling.
Your facial expressions should match your words. Happy words mean you need a happy face. Serious words mean you have a serious face. It would help if you used the full range of emotions.
You can’t over smile. Smiling lights up your eyes and tells your audience you are sincere and can be trusted. When someone in your audience smiles back, you know you have someone engaged in your audience. If you don’t smile, maintain an upbeat facial expression.
Pro tip
Practice smiling. Practice in the mirror, in your car, or while sitting at the table eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
3. Make eye contact with individuals
“Eye contact is one of the primal ways of communicating.”
Clive Harman, an English actor
Our eyes are an excellent way to effectively communicate. They are our windows to our soul. Your eyes are more powerful than you think. Eye contact is a powerful way to make a connection with your audience.
Your eyes are critical to showing your confidence, establishing trust, and building an attachment with your audience. Instead of looking at your entire audience, focus on people within the crowd.
Speak to their eyes and hold eye contact with them.
Eye contact is a great way to not speak past your audience. Look one on one at as many people as you can in your audience. Make eye contact with one person and then move on to the next person. It helps you realize that you are speaking to a group of individuals.
When speaking to a room full of people, you need to appear comfortable. Making eye contact gives your attention to your audience, not your notes or your PowerPoint slides. Make eye contact with one person, not a group of people.
Pro tip
Find people who are smiling, nodding, and showing support through their body language. Focus on them and make eye contact with them. They are your biggest supporters, and they will help you gain confidence with your speaking.
4. Tap into the power of the pause
Comedians are the masters of the pause. They know when their ideas will be funny. They are great at captivating the audience with a pause. Watch your favorite stand-up comedian. Watch how they master the pause.
When you are speaking, you must pause between your sentences. Think of pauses as a period in a sentence. They help your audience catch up to your words and digest your message.
Pauses give you time to breathe. This pause gives you more power. It helps you control your pace. Many speakers are uncomfortable with silence. They use fillers words like “um,” “like,” and “you know.” If your audience starts to total up how many times you said a specific word and turns it into a game, you have an issue with your filler words.
Pause.
Pauses help you punctuate your key messages. They add weight to what you have to say. They give your audience time to digest what you just said.
Pro tip
Read something that you have written out loud. Pause at the end of a sentence for three seconds. When you reach the end of a paragraph, pause for five seconds.
When you get to the end of a page, wait for seven seconds. This exercise may feel awkward, but it helps you become aware of a pause.
5. Pay attention to the pitch of your voice
Focus on the rise and fall of your voice when you speak. It helps you communicate emotion. When your pitch is too high or low, it can be unpleasant to the audience. Use a variety to keep your audience’s attention.
A tendency for speakers is to end a sentence or point in a raised pitch. This lowers a speaker’s credibility. Instead of an upward pitch, use a downward inflection at the end of a point. This will help you return more quickly to a conversational pitch in your voice.
Pro tip
Record yourself and learn when you change the pitch of your voice. Find the spots you do it often and focus on lowering your pitch at those moments.
6. Show power with the volume of your voice
How loud or soft is your voice? Adding volume to your voice helps make sure that everyone can hear you. In a large room, a loud voice enables you to show your power.
The power of your voice can show emotion and confidence. When you talk loudly, you give energy and authority. You show your passion. When you naturally speak louder, you get people fired up about your presentation topic.
Pro tip
Ask your audience if they can hear you by asking them to raise their hand.
7. Concentrate on your pacing
When you are nervous and feel unprepared, people speak faster. When you talk too fast, it makes it difficult for your audience to keep up. Speaking too slowly could put your audience to sleep.
It would help if you focused on your pacing — not too fast and not too slow. Find the sweet spot. Try to slow down during complex topics and speed up during familiar topics. The speed of your words is essential in making sure your audience can digest what you are saying.
Pro tip
If you struggle to slow down, practice pauses and taking a deep, long breath.
Bringing it all together
There are seven things you should know when it comes to better public speaking. These tips will help you become a better presenter.
Make sure you have purposeful body movements and positive facial expressions.
Ensure you make eye contact with individuals, not a group of people. Tap into the power of the pause, pay attention to the pitch of your voice, show power with the volume of your voice, and concentrate on your pacing.
“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.”
Lilly Walters, an author
To become a better public speaker, express yourself in a compelling and engaging way.
These simple yet powerful tips should help you with better public speaking.
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