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Three Techniques to Become a Confident Public Speaker

Even experienced managers can feel uncomfortable about speaking in public or

making a presentation, but there are three simple, practical methods that

anyone can learn to overcome this feeling.

If you feel tense when you need to make a speech or a presentation doesn t

worry about it. Even experienced, senior people can often feel uneasy before

speaking and for new entries to the workforce the experience can be terrifying.

But the good news is that there are some simple, practical techniques that

anyone can learn to take the stress out of speaking. I know because I speak

from firsthand experience. I can still remember the days when I really hoped I

would be struck by lightning before it was my turn to speak, yet now I

deliberately seek out speaking opportunities.

FIRST of all, the most important thing to learn is to prepare. If you have not

prepared for a presentation you will probably feel very uncertain and rightly

so. To avoid this make sure you have at least some time to prepare what you are

going to say. Even five minutes is better than nothing and will make a real

difference.

You should think about what you are going to say and make notes of at least the

key words in each section. But more importantly you should prepare well and

memorize the first words and the conclusion. Research shows that people

remember best the beginning and the end. In addition, if you can start strongly

people won t mind if you glance at your notes later or get momentarily stuck.

In fact if you have no time for anything else at least think through what you

are going to say at the beginning. Even when you are presenting a standard

speech you have delivered many times before still take the time to run through

the first words before it is your turn to speak. You can do this practice

silently in a corner of the room, or better still out loud as you drive to the

venue.

Part of preparing is to prepare for the unexpected. Maybe you were expecting to

speak for 30 minutes and at the last minute you are given just five. Or maybe

you expected a junior audience and you actually have a roomful of senior

managers. Try to imagine all the possible scenarios and ask yourself what you

would do. Take special care about technical problems. Don t assume that

projectors and DVD players will work. Make sure that you have a plan B that can

be delivered with no support or maybe just a flip chart.

SECOND, try to make contact with the audience before you speak. This makes a

difference for two reasons. To begin with you will feel more confident if you

have established contact with a few of the people listening. In addition it

allows them to focus more on what you are saying without wondering who you are

and if you are worth listening to. To make contact make sure that you are in

the room early so you get a chance to talk to the others as they arrive or in a

coffee break. If your slot is in a conference maybe you also get a chance to

meet some people at dinner the day before. Never miss these chances. You should

also try to get someone else to introduce you, this boosts your credibility and

means that the audience begins to listen to you with an open and positive

mindset that you won t get if you introduce yourself.

FINALLY, the easiest way to become a confident speaker is to speak often. Never

reject an opportunity to speak unless you really can t make it because of

scheduling conflicts. Through experience you will master the techniques and

tricks mentioned here and also learn how to deal with surprises. But one last

piece of advice: unless you are planning a career in TV or politics don t waste

your time videoing your presentations to look for flaws. This is a useful tool

for your presentation skills coach but in my experience it is too discouraging

for personal use. Since you are not used to seeing and hearing yourself any

video will seem disappointing even if the event it records was actually well

presented. So put the camera away and focus on the person-to-person delivery,

which is very different from television