7 public speaking tips to make you a champion

Is public speaking a daunting task for you? Are you lagging in your career because of a lack of public speaking skills?

Public speaking is one of the most critical soft skills which is transferable to every industry irrespective of the job responsibility. You can benefit from it not just in your professional life but in your personal life as well. Public speaking skills help in boosting confidence, improve the career and develop communication skills.

Public speaking will help you improve your personality and become the center of attraction among your colleagues.

Public speaking is daunting for more than 90% of people. They consider it the most challenging skill. However, it is possible to become a successful public speaker with the correct technique and tips. These days there are a variety of public speaking training courses available online and offline. You can join them to learn and improve your public speaking skill.

If you want to improve your public speaking skill, keep reading this article to learn the seven valuable tips to become a champion in public speaking.

Know Your Audience:

The audience is the most critical element in public speaking. Without an audience, there would be no public speaking. So, getting a hold of your audience, their demographics, choice, age group, and interest is essential. You have to do this before you choose the topic for speaking and creating the presentation. This is because your choice of topic and way of creating a presentation would depend majorly on your audience's choices.

Simplify the Complex concept:

As a public speaker, your responsibility is to state the information in a more straightforward manner so that your audience can grasp it quickly without putting too much effort into understanding it. You can retain your audience's attention for a long time only if you say it more simply. Try to break down the complex information in a simple, understandable format. You can easily use graphs, charts, and pictures to explain the topic.

Ask for Feedback to Improve

Before you step onto the stage, make sure to practice your public speaking skill in front of your mentor, friends, or family and get their feedback on your performance. This will help you know your mistakes, and you will be able to improve those. You can join public speaking training courses to learn and get feedback from the trainers. Your mentors will correct your mistakes and make you aware of what is going wrong with your public speaking skills.

Focus on Your Hand Gestures and Body language:

Your body language says a lot about your personality, even when you are not speaking. It reflects your inner voice without words. If you are nervous, your body language will reflect the same. So it is crucial to be aware of your body language. Try to feel positive and confident, and it will automatically be reflected.

Moreover, stand straight, don't slouch, walk properly and maintain standard eye contact with everyone. Also, maintain a proper tone of speaking. Take pauses and focus on your tone.

Apart from body language, your hand gestures play a vital role in public speaking. Some people have a habit of talking with their hands. While these hand movements are a great way to emphasize a particular fact, excessive movement can act as a distraction. So pay attention to your hand movement while you are speaking.

Incorporate Visual Prompts

Most people get nervous while speaking on the stage because they are afraid of the idea of having all the eyes on them. The best way to divert your audience's attention is to add some visual prompts such as presentation, props, placards, etc.

This will divert your audience's attention, and you can catch your breath in between. However, make sure your presentation is visually appealing and not disturbing. Only add a little text to the slides, and focus more on images. Add data, facts, and figures to make your presentation appealing to your audience.

You can learn how to prepare an effective presentation if you join any public speaking training course.

Practice makes the man perfect:

There is no alternative to practice. No matter how good you are at public speaking or how well you know your topic and audience, there are moments when you will feel nervous or make mistakes.

The best way to avoid making mistakes is to spend enough time practicing your public speaking skills. You can do it in front of the mirror or with your friends and family. While you are practicing, you can record your speech and send it to someone well-versed in public speaking skills. You can also join public speaking training classes to get enough opportunity to practice your public speaking skill. Before stepping onto the stage, ensure you have practiced well and have a command of your topic.

Adopt Storytelling Format

No matter how well you know your topic, if you can communicate it properly, it will all be valuable. The best way to explain a topic is to adopt the storytelling format. Storytelling is an art that needs practice. Moreover, it is the most effective way of addressing an issue. You can start with a question and move ahead with the topic like you are narrating a story. This will keep your audience's attention retained till the end.

Wrap up-

Public speaking is one of the most common phobias. However, it is the most crucial soft skill that everyone should master, irrespective of industry or job role. No matter how much you fear public speaking, the above-mentioned tips will help you deliver an amazing speech.

If you are looking to improve your public speaking skill, then you can join Orator Academy for the best training classes, highly customized curriculum, and the best-experienced mentors. It offers you the best platform to practice your public speaking skill and become a champion in the same.