Motivational Public Speaking

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Most of us have this great fear while delivering a speech that every single word that escapes our lips is being critically judged. This feeling makes us avoid all kinds of public speaking assignments. But little do we know that it is very easy to conquer and become a persuasive public speaker.
Here are five strategies which have been compiled from the secrets of top public speakers from across the world.

The audience is not aware of tension

Your listeners can’t make out whether you are tensed or relaxed, unless you make it obvious to them. You are too far for them to notice your sweaty palms or shaky hands. The secret of success is to concentrate on your listeners and not on your tension. This will result in the audience liking you better and your tension will ease out.

Maintain constant eye contact

The most natural reaction to tension is to want to hide. But when you are about to address a crowd, you have no place to conceal yourself. In such a scenario the tendency is to look down or look away. This is detrimental to your success as a public speaker. You might think that it is a good idea makes your listeners think you are looking at them by looking at their foreheads, no you are wrong here.

As a speaker you have to look into your audiences eyes, with knowledge and passion. This will help you develop an instant chemistry between you and the audience, smile at them and they will smile back. This has twin benefits; your talk will appear more real and relax your nerves. One way to achieve this is to identify a few individuals in different places in the auditorium and switch from one to other every 10-15 seconds. This will give the crowd the impression that you are talking to all of them.

Never say sorry

Nothing can be worse than starting your talk with an expression of regret. By doing so you are actually displaying a lacuna in yourself which the listeners are not aware of. This will give a message that your talk will be substandard to the audience.

Modulate your voice and use slow and deliberate style

Speaking fast in the same tone or pitch will make your listeners feel bored and uncared for. There is a high possibility that your listeners will soon get bored and lose interest. Remember your college days when you were bored in a lecture where the speaker was using monotone. Try to remember those lectures you felt interested and try to find the secrets of their success.

By being passionate about the subject you are speaking on and thinking about the value addition you are going to make in the lives of your listeners you can effectively avoid monotone. Make you speech personalized by using “you” in the talk.

Focus on three or four key points

Once you decide on the subject you are talking about, make a few key points to elaborate upon. Remember that your audience may remember only one or two points from your 30-minute speech. So make sure you have only two or three main topics and that your speech is centered around them.

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Public speaking is a fearful proposition for most of us. Indeed it is said that a majority of us fear death less and public speaking more. Anyway for those of us who wish to conquer this fear and become influential orators here are ten useful points by following which you could become a super-hit public speaker.
1. Venue: Get acquainted with the venue and surroundings of your speech. One way is to get there early and familiarize yourself with the stage and the various audio visual equipments present there.

2. Listeners: The more familiar you are with your listeners the better your speech will go, isn’t it easier to talk to a bunch of buddies than to unknown people. One way is to welcome some members of the audience as they arrive and indulge in small talk with them.

3. Subject matter: You should be completely thorough about the subject of your talk. The more prepared you are the less nervous you will be. Prepare your talk, rehearse and rewrite and finalise before you arrive at the venue.

4. Take it easy: It is good to perform some physical exercises couple of hours before the speech. This will help relax your muscles.

5. Imagine delivering the talk: Think of how you would like to appear at the actual occasion of your speech. Visualize yourself addressing the gathering with confident, coherent and commanding voice. This helps build confidence.

6. Your audience wants your talk to be successful: Listeners have arrived there expecting your talk to be absorbing, educating, regaling and enthusing. The audience wants you to emerge triumphant.

7. Never say sorry: Don’t talk about your tension, problems or anything that you have faced with your talk. By doing so you are highlighting a problem which the audience may not have noticed.

8. Pay attention to your topic — not how to put it across. Concentrate completely on the topic you are speaking and away from all your tensions, apprehensions etc. This will have the magical effect of killing tension.

9. Convert problems into advantages: Use your tension to build up your excitement and zest.

10. Never miss an opportunity: Practice makes perfect, personal involvement builds self-assurance, the main trait required to become a public speaker.

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Some of you might have experienced this sensation. As you wait for your turn to address the audience, your throat grows dry, mind blank and stomach churns. This is the most crucial tension period. How does one handle this and get over? This has no quick-fix solution. It has to be dealt with at all levels, mental, physical and logistics.

Handling fear at a mental level

Spend at least 10 minutes for every minute of your speech to gain mental confidence that you are completely prepared to deliver the talk and handle any questions thereof. This preparation time remains very high till you gain experience and become a seasoned speaker. Remember to commit to heart the opening and closing paragraphs of your speech. Make a note of the key points of your talk and keep these points less in number, say four or five. This helps your confidence boosting.

Handling fear at the venue

Get familiar well the venue. Arrive at the auditorium or hall well in advance, at least an hour before the scheduled time of talk. Walk around, study the stage, seating etc and feel relaxed in the surroundings. Practice talking on the stage to an imaginary audience, walk around and simulate/ dramatize your speech. This will help take your mind off the surroundings while you actually deliver the talk.

Avoiding physical stress and gaining confidence

If there are less number of listeners or if you are addressing a small audience one good way of instant comfort is to go to each member of the audience and shake hands and get introduced. In a larger meeting it is best to arrive early and greet the first 10-20 people. This helps connecting to your audience and makes them your fans. Since your tension stems from looking at large groups, making friends with few members of the group ensures that you have a comfort level with some of them.

Feeling tensed is natural; you need to find ways to relax. One way can be through physical activity, go to a secluded place, wave, and dance, make faces, shake head, legs, flail your arms etc. These activities help shake nervousness out of your physical self.

Don’t sit in one place as you await your turn, this will help nervousness settle in. Walk around the back rows or in the corridors outside the venue. This also gives you access to the bathroom to relieve yourself or to the drinking water etc this helps you concentrate on the speech and how to relax.

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One of the most vital steps to become a persuasive speaker is to improve self-esteem. One usually feels tensed while delivering a talk. This fear plagues even established theater persons, artistes, actors etc. Taking on this fear and conquering the nervousness are the keys to a successful career in public speaking.

Using notes makes it easier to rebuild confidence in those speakers who become tensed in the face of the audience and forget their speeches. But notes should only be pointers to a particular topic and the entire speech should never be carried. It will appear very stupid if a speaker just hunches over the paper and read out his speech. A major disadvantage of using notes is the fact that it prevents you from looking the audience in the eye.

One of the most important things to do while preparing for a major presentation is to go through a rehearsal. You can ask your colleagues, friends, family, club members etc to sit as audience and grill you as you deliver your speech. It would be a good idea to first practice in front of the mirror and then in front of a small group and then in front of a large audience.

Remember that like in any other field, the old adage ‘practice makes perfect’ holds good for public speaking too. You have to constantly look for and take up every chance to give a talk and consider these opportunities as stepping stones to success. Continuously delivering talks will improve your speaking abilities and further your prospects in the area.

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Are you afraid of standing up and speaking out in front of a group? Can you admit this fear and try to conquer it? If you are answers are yes then read on.

The first step to conquer this most common fear is to admit this fear and question yourself as to the reasons behind this fear. Why is this fear inside you? Is it because you are afraid of making a mistake on stage, or is it because you are worried your image will take a beating in front of public. Or are you scared that someone may not agree with your speech and question you critically. And in such a scenario if you fumble for words, you will fall in front of the entire group? Are these your reasons?

If they are, then my advice to you is to become the member of one of the several speaking clubs in your area. The members of such groups meet and help their peers to get over the fear of public speaking by providing opportunities and encouraging members to deliver talks. If you enroll for more clubs then it is better for you. As you attend meetings you will soon gain a new confidence and get over your fears.

Addressing an audience is quite tough, but with necessary encouragement, support and practice you can overcome this fear permanently. Modulation of your voice, tone, breathing, gestures, movements of your body etc helps you sound lively and not bore the audience. You can address a group of people in the most absorbing way and with adequate rehearsals you can be quite a hit and will be sought after as a public speaker.

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I was conscious about myself when I was addressing a gathering. But when I was teaching I was worried about making the kids learn what I had to tell them. The concentration was more on the message and less on me. This realization helped me overcome nervousness completely.

We are tensed because we bother about ourselves and worry about making a fool of our self. Once you can get that self-consciousness out of yourself and think about the message and your listeners you will feel confident. This is precisely what teachers achieve, they are aware that they need to spread the knowledge and if their pupils don’t learn from them they will never get it. Teachers are there to help kids not to gain a public image. Hence the tension is gone.

Trainers follow a pattern, referring to notes to reiterate points, follow a logical sequence to put their points across. They seek feedback and respond to queries from their students. So to be an effective public speaker you have to don the role of a teacher and concentrate on the content rather than self. Talk to them rather than preach to them.

Remember that your listeners want to learn from you and they have come for that. They don’t expect a hilarious skit or a show; they are there for the message which only you can give.

One more unique thing about listener is that they are very liberal. They don’t mind small slip ups from your side. They don’t care if you miss a word or sentence here and there. They are supporting you and want you to be successful. So ensure that every talk of yours will educate the audience. This will surely relax your tensed nerves and help you become a successful public speaker.

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Addressing a group of people is an unnecessarily horrifying experience for most of us. By taking a few steps one can actually enjoy speaking to the public. Some steps are given below:

1.    Training and Rehearsal: This is the best thing to start with, the moment your speech is confirmed. Take steps to be ready for the big day and since it would take long time, being your preparation quickly. Rehearsals are best done in front of people whom you are comfortable with, yourself, your family and friends. Look at yourself in the mirror and deliver your talk. Imagine that you are in the auditorium and everyone is waiting for you to speak. Make leeway for interruptions like coughing and other health issues. The more real it is the better prepared you will emerge.
2.    Grab the complete concentration of your listeners’ right from the beginning. This can be achieved by opening with a question, or by relating a story, joke or any humorous incident in your life. Once the listeners’ attention is grabbed they will remain with you till the end of your talk.
3.    Observe your listeners. It is difficult to maintain eye contact in the beginning but you have to do that. Keeping your attention at your notes is not good for your speech; it will make your audience lose interest in your talk. You can start by keeping your eyes on one of your listener’s forehead making him think that you are looking at the person sitting behind. This will achieve one great thing, popularity among your audience as they will think you are speaking to them one on one.
4.    Use body movements, tone and pitch modulations, contortions of your face or any other gesture or posture to drive your point home. These will make your presentations active and prevent your audience from getting bored.
5.    Walking on the stage as you talk also helps in keeping their attention. But a warning about walking, don’t over do it or do it too fast. Do it deliberately and talk to the listeners on that side as you walk. Start your paragraph on one side and walk to the other side and finish it there. Repeat the same to drive your points home. In case you want to look up a point in the speech it would be best to walk to the lectern and deliver a few statements standing in one place. This continuous movement helps keep audience attention on you.
6.    The beginning and ending of your speech should be related and contain a memorable insight, especially if you want the listeners to do something in response to your talk. A brief recap of your speech would be good, but make it as impact as your beginning.

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The horror of addressing a gathering is almost equal or sometimes greater than the fear of death. It is hard to understand where this scare stems from, for some it is uncomfortable to be closely watched by unknown people, the fear of making mistakes while delivering a talk, or whatever it may be. By following a systematic approach one can slowly but surely transform into a powerful orator.

First and foremost understand the genre of your listeners. You should gain an insight into who comprises your audience, demographics, professions, age-groups, etc. An understanding into the interests of a majority of the audience, what they are expecting you to say, what they would like to hear makes you more confident as you prepare. Treat every talk like a conversation and not a public speech, you will feel much better.

Determine well in advance what kind of response you want from your listeners after your talk. This makes the heart of your speech. It is easy to develop a winning speech by concentrating and preparing for its outcome rather than on the trivialities. This helps you to be precise, to the point and powerful.

Make it a point to tell a tale, incident in your life or even a funny anecdote connected to your talk. This immediately draws the attention of readers and makes them concentrate. A beginning with questions also makes the speech absorbing. Talk to the audience about something they can easily relate to, they will respond better to your speech. This also makes your talking a lot simpler. But make sure that the tale/ anecdote you recount is related to your speech topic and you have to put efforts to splice it to your story.

While delivering a sales presentation, talk about the value your product will give your listeners and not on its features. Potential customers would like to know their benefits and not how your product functions. Relate examples to illustrate your point (s).

It is good to use computer, slides, charts and other media to make your presentation more powerful but over-dependence on them will prove a debacle to your speech. These visual aids should be used to illustrate the most important points. If you have to use media use something that would make your talk interactive, like fill in the blank charts, question answers etc. these simple techniques help drive home the message better than any presentation.

End your talk with a statement that reiterates your opening paragraph. Remember that your audience takes in information in pieces of data, so while you talk about the big picture, break it into pieces and give them small bits to think and absorb.

Begin slowly and follow the above steps and you will surely overcome your stage fear and soon emerge a highly influential public speaker.

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Do you get that gut wrenching, fainting and nauseating feeling when you are faced with the prospect of having to speak in public?

Sometimes this fear begins a few days earlier to the actual talk making you nervous and feeling spaced out. And finally in front of the lectern you just fumble for words and wish you were dead than be there. This fear makes you withdraw from the challenge even before you accept it, right?

Don’t worry; this is perhaps the most common fear among humans. Is it relieving to know that there are others in the world, who shares the same fear, the number could be millions and all have admitted to it at various parts of their life! This is the number one fear according to several qualitative research surveys.

You are orating when you address a group in a purposeful way with an intention to influence, entertain or disseminate information to your audience. The fear is known as public speaking anxiety. Numerous ways and methods have been arrived at to overcome this fear and improve career with this newly acquired skills.

These suggestions will help you prepare better before your actual appointment. Cultivate a positive mindset that a majority of your fears have no basis and the remaining 1 percent fears are valid and you have to deal with them. Decide mentally that you will not stammer and you will definitely not. Never commit your speech to your heart. It can be confusing if you lose so much as just one word. Giving pauses even as you deliver your address help you cover more ground.
While delivering your actual speech ensure you stress upon the important aspects of the talk and also ensure that you are very thorough with them. This heightens your self-belief and throws out any negative thought you might have regarding your oratory abilities.

It is believed that hypnosis often helps curtail nervousness. This technique of hypnotic suggestion has been used successfully during the past to relieve tension. Hypnosis helps program our minds better and attain more positive outcomes.

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It is a common feeling for most of us. The thought of addressing a gathering makes our heart rates shoot up, weakens our knees, and dries up our throats. When you are supposed to deliver a talk, do you think if you will get through unscathed. Given below are five revolutionary ideas to help you gain composure and exude originality when you are addressing a gathering.

1. First and foremost make a mental resolve not to make a big deal of public speaking.
Before you start, resolve not to bother about what the audience may think of you. Is that possible? Is it possible to give up the craving to impress your audience? Worry more about the content of your speech, your rationale, and not bother about anything else. This is a serious development, but you have to make up your mind whether to worry more about your own comforts and message or the objective or to bother about the momentary, vacillating, feelings passing through superficially in the brains of the listeners.

2. Being ready is more important than being trained. It is the an oft repeated word in public speaking training sessions, every trainer will advise you to train and retrain. Did you realize that overdoing training you run the risk of getting skeptical about your abilities and result in more apprehensions? Isn’t too much practice same as deciding in the mind that you are failure if you can’t get this right. Rather I’d suggest being prepared. Understand what you want to talk about. Get your ideas in order; streamline tales, data and incidents. Practice talking but don’t commit your speech to heart. It will not make you gain faith in yourself but will make you feel scared and apprehensive. Most importantly it will make you look like a recitation machine.

3. Determine to enjoy
Talking is enjoyable. Sharing, revealing one self, reciting your story, communicating a message can be a lot of fun. If you are one of those people who don’t like to speak too much, you can discover several other methodologies you employ for self expression and enjoy the same. Enquire within and search your soul to find out if it is going to be any use to you if you want to make public speaking a fun activity. You will get a lot of ideas such as demonstrating a skill, sharing a joke, having a game, dance, singing etc to make your talk fun.

4. Analyze and be sure about your knowledge base
To address a gathering you don’t need to be an omniscient. It is funny but there are several people out there who feel very nervous if they are not completely knowledgeable about their subject. Their fear stems from the worry that if a listener raises a query and they can’t clarify and more scared if someone in the audience corrects them.

Remember that you just have to know what you know. If a member of the audience asks you a question and you have no clue about its answer then admit it. Or even better ask other members of the audience if anyone knows the answer or simply tell him you will find it and get it back later.
5. Visualize committing blunders in advance.
An error can be the most popular part of our presentation. Mistakes help you network with the listeners better because they allow you to connect with your audience as a human being. The moment you admit to committing an error your get down from the preaching and omniscient position. You will connect to your audience well because from then onwards you are like them. The best way is to invite those moments, interact with them with glee rather than being nervous.
Employ them, revel in them. They are just the formula and soon you could make something great happen….

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