Throughout the years we've had a ton of great public speaking tips from our members. Here, we've aggregated all those tips into one place!
You'll find each of these tips organized a specific category relating to that speaking tip (courtesy of Arjan Sidhu):
- Preparation
- Content
- Verbal Communication
- Non-Verbal Communication
- Post-Presentation
*if you'd like to add more, please email [email protected]
Use them for your next speech, enjoy!
You'll find each of these tips organized a specific category relating to that speaking tip (courtesy of Arjan Sidhu):
- Preparation
- Content
- Verbal Communication
- Non-Verbal Communication
- Post-Presentation
*if you'd like to add more, please email [email protected]
Use them for your next speech, enjoy!
preparation
Drink Water
Prior to speaking, make sure you stay hydrated. Having a dry mouth can make it harder to enunciate. Being nervous also makes the mouth dry, so keep a bottle of water handy.
warm-up vocal muscles
Say tongue twisters and do vocal stretches (like singers) to open up your vocal range during your speech.
power poses
See Amy Cuddy's TedTalk for more information. Stretch and assume a more overbearing posture to activate the body to appear more confident during your speech.
Pen-drills
Practice speaking with a pen in your mouth to push your tongue back and improve your enunciation.
Draw an Outline
Condense your speech on paper to just 3-5 key points. If you can remember these takeaway points, the rest of the speech flows around them.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Understanding what biases and knowledge your audience already has will inform what content is most meaningful to them. You should never repeat the same speech if the audience is different.
KNOW YOUR LOGISTICS
Visit the room where you will be speaking beforehand. Knowing the logisitcs (ie. microphones, stage, number of seats in the auditorium, exits and entrances, etc.) will help you become more comfortable with your environment
BREATHE
Take time to inhale and exhale deeply five times before you start to speak. This will allow you to start off with proper cadence to your speech.
content
keep it simple
Less is More. Your audience can only digest so much information. Keeping it simple and straight forard can often make your speech more memorable
use 3-part lists
Consider breaking your speech into 3 key points. Rule of 3 is a good balance of simplicity and comprehensiveness.
use 'prep' framework
PREP (Point, Reason, Example, Point). Start your speech with a clear point. Explain your reason for choosing the subject. Illustrate your point with examples. End with a clear point that wraps up the speech.
tell anecdotes
Audiences remember stories better than they remember facts and figures. Telling a descriptive story is the best way to illustrate your point
focus on the grabber
The audience is most engaged at the very beginning of your speech. Give them a reason to pay attention to the rest of your speech by grabbing them.
cAutiously use repetition
Unless there is a clear benefit to doing so, try not to repeat yourself. If you find yourself paraphrasing yourself, consider moving on to the next point before you bore the audience with redundant info
start with the 'CALL TO ACTION'
The first thing to do when preparing a speech is to define your end goal. What do you want the audience to do after they leave the room?
What information should they walk away with?
Once you’ve defined what you want your audience to take away, build your talking points around supporting that goal. This lends itself to a more focused and actionable speech that provides real value to your audience.
What information should they walk away with?
Once you’ve defined what you want your audience to take away, build your talking points around supporting that goal. This lends itself to a more focused and actionable speech that provides real value to your audience.
expand your vocabulary
Diction and using vivid words can make your speech more colorful than just using passive tense and more mundane language. Always try to stretch your vocabulary when you are practicing
verbal communication
Have a Positive Attitude
Reframe your thoughts when see yourself getting nervous. If you are nervous before speaking, say to yourself: “I’m not nervous. I’m excited!” When you say this, it changes your attitude to what you’re about to do. Seeing things as an opportunity will project better energy from you
Slow Your Pace
Speak slower. People have a tendency to speak faster while on-stage. Speaking slower will actually bring you back to normal pace, and will make you appear more confident.
Silence is Golden
Pause during a key inflection point of your speech to add emphasis to it. If you are speaking and suddenly lose your train of thought, pause before continuing speaking.
Do Not Acknowledge Mistakes
You know your speech better than anyone else does. Chances are that no one will know if you skipped over a key point or said something differently than the way you wrote it down. Move forward as though nothing is wrong and try to incorporate any edits later in the speech.
Volume
Speak loud enough so that the back of the room can clearly hear you. Once that base volume is set, speak louder and softer to emphasize different points of your speech.
Enunciate
Open your mouth as wide as you can when you talk. Muffling your own voice can make it hard to understand what you are saying.
Breathe
When speaking publicly, remember to pause and take ephemeral breaths to rest your voice and replenish your air supply as well as provide your audience time to absorb your information.
Sell Your Confidence
The more you project confidence, the more confident you are likely to feel. Get out there and own the room. Even if you are terrified. Fake it. Look people in the eye and command their attention.
non-verbal communication
Eye Contact
Look at audience members one by one (or group by group if audience is too big) to connect you to the crowd. Try to give each person that you look at an entire sentence or thought, without breaking your gaze.
Smile
Smile before you head on stage and smile during your speech. When you take a moment to smile, it naturally brings a feeling of confidence and relaxation over your entire body.
Facial Expressions
Raise your eyebrows, change the position of your mouth, tilt your head, etc. are all ways to incorporate facial expression to make your speech more visual to the audience.
Stand Straight
Posture is a key attribute to convey confidence. Stand straight with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands by your side (when not gesturing).
Keep your Weight Balanced
Make sure you are keeping equal weight on both your feet and not leaning too far forward or backward. You want your posture as balanced and relaxed as possible.
Incorporate Hand Gestures
Use hand gestures to help move your body and communicate your content. It is most effective to vary your hand gestures and to use them intentionally.
Walk the Stage
When transitioning between points in your speech, walk across the stage to engage with different parts of the audience and to keep everyone's attention on-stage.
Visual Aids
Make sure visual aids are easy to read/see and are engaging. They should not supplement your speech, but rather complement it. Your eye contact should remain on the audience and not on the visual aid.
post-presentation
Be Authentic
Have people to you would like to emulate in public speaking, but always put your own twist on the style you deliver your speeches.
Tape Yourself
Audio or video recording. Study yourself from the eyes of an audience member and review where you think you can improve.
Study Others
Pick individuals that you believe are elite public speakers. Study what strengths they have and what makes them such a good communicator or leader.
Self Evaluate
Build a cause and effect on why your speech went well or poorly in order to diagnose the outcome of your speech so that you can improve the next time.
Ask For Feedback
In Toastbusters, you will always get valuable feedback following your speech. Employ this service outside Toastbusters as well because there are always opportunities to grow.
