15 Tips For Powerful Public Speaking

It is a well known fact that, when Americans are surveyed about what makes them afraid, their number one fear is public speaking. Over the years I’ve heard so many people say, “I’d rather die than get up there in front of a crowd” that the graveyards must be at least half full of people who fell on their letter openers rather than give a talk.

I started my public speaking career at age fourteen, when the local radio station hired me to do a ‘school news’ weekly segment, and I went on to have a broadcasting career through my early twenties in both radio and TV.

Once I started a new career in psychology, speaking and training became a regular part of my life, and now as a business trainer and coach I’m in front of groups all the time. I’m used to it, and I enjoy it, but I’m the exception.
For those of you who aren’t comfortable with public speaking, I thought it might be helpful to pass along some tips about how you can keep your cool and wow your audience.

Do the following:

1. Get out from behind the podium whenever possible. You feel protected behind there, but the podium turns you into an immobile talking head, and that’s a sleeping pill for your audience.

2. Tell stories. Real stories with a real point to them (not one-liners) to bring your material alive and show your audience how they can move what you’re saying into their lives.
3. Practice your talk in front of a full-length mirror, with particular attention to your facial expressions and your body language. Stand with both feet apart, knees bent just a little. Stiff legs can interfere with circulation and make you feel faint.

4. Record your practice presentations so you can really hear how you will come across. Yes, I know, you don’t like your own voice. Almost nobody does, but don’t let that stop you.

5. Be aware that we speed up and our voices tend to get thin and shrill when we’re under stress, so make a conscious effort to slow down, breathe, and keep your voice full and low, while maintaining a strong, consistent volume. Enunciate clearly and don’t mumble.

6. Make eye contact with your audience. Don’t just focus on the people directly in front of you. Divide the room into four quadrants, then keep moving your attention around the room as you briefly rest your eyes on a different person in each quadrant while you talk.

7. Finish strongly, with a call to action or a series of statements that tie everything up. End things with a real finish.

Speech-killers you should avoid:

8. Don’t fidget, avoid eye contact, or use sentence extenders like, “er”, or “uh”.

9. And, like, don’t keep using the word “like” in front of everything, and don’t, like, use any other word that will make your audience wish they could, like, kill you and leave. Good grammar and clean sentence structure count.

10. It’s OK to have a folder or some cards in one hand, but don’t ever read lengthy passages from anything; your audience will feel cut off and get restless quickly if you do.

11. Try to avoid reading, word-for-word, what’s right up there on the Power Point that everyone has already read, or can read for themselves. It’s b-o-r-i-n-g.

12. Don’t tell jokes unless you are very comfortable with them and have a great delivery. It’s also easy to offend with jokes. This doesn’t mean you can’t use humor – I recommend it – just don’t tell jokes.

13. Don’t ever go beyond your allotted time. It’s rude and unprofessional, and it will subtract quickly from whatever value your program had.

14. Don’t let your ego get in the way. Unless you’re Bill Cosby or Julie Andrews, those people in your audience are not there to see or ‘buy’ you personally; they want the information you have that can help them. Don’t get in the way of your information.

And here’s the final big thing to know: Don’t take this public speaking thing too seriously. Go out there and have fun! If you’re having fun, your audience probably is, too.

Doug Hickok is a nationally known Leadership Coach who works with business leaders to maximize their performance in the following specific areas:

• Leadership
• Management
• Communication
• Conflict prevention, resolution and facilitation
• Time management
• Coaching
• Public speaking
• Customer service

He also presents training and motivational programs for organizations at conventions and meetings around the country.

Prior to becoming a coach, Doug was a practicing and consulting psychotherapist for over twenty years.

Doug is Adjunct Faculty at the Robins School of Business (Management Institute) at the University of Richmond.

He is a member of the International Coach Federation, a Founding Member of the International Association of Coaches, and a Certified Diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association (D.A.P.A.).

Doug is President of the Hickok Group, a Richmond, Virginia coaching and training firm.

Tags: communicate, communication, presentation, presenter, speaking, speech, talk, teach, training