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7 Rules of Speaking in Public
7 simple rules how to perform before a large audience.
There are many situations in our life when we need to talk in public. The skill of public speaking is important in our everyday life and in building our career. Follow 7 next rules to speak without fear and to capture the attention of audience.
1. Admit nervousness
Admit that you are a bit nervous. When you do this, the audience will be more forgiving if you show your nervousness later. And now you feel yourself more relaxed because you know that the public doesn’t expect an ideal presentation.
One of the best way to do this is by joking about it.
2. Redefine your audience
Change your opinion about the audience. They are not lecturers who are evaluating you. Convince yourself that they are all fellow students or other lecturers who are going to present after you. It means that they are all nervous like you. So there is no reason why you should be too.
Do not think that nobody is around. It is very hard to convince yourself that no one is around when you are actually speaking to them.
3. Visualize your speech
Create a good presentation. Use slides, pictures, diagrams, tables etc. Half of the time, the eyes of audience will not be on you. When somebody looks at you, change your focus to other person who is not looking.
4. Make mistakes intentionally
Drop “accidentally” your papers on the floor for example. While picking them up, you warned the audiences that the presentation will be more confusing after this.
What for? You gain control of your audience. Make them laugh and be more interactive with you, and your presentation will have that casual feel to it which will make it more memorable than others.
5. Speak to one person at a time
The easiest way to overcome the fear of crowd is to speak to one person at a time.
Choose one listener of all the audience and present your speech to him or her. If someone asks you a question, change your focus to him and answer the question.
6. Be impressive with personal opinion
Include in your report your personal thoughts on the matter. That will differentiate your presentation from the rest, and when you see the interested look on the faces of your audience, it will elevate your presentation to another new level, a level where you start having fun.
7. Have fun experimenting
This is the most important rules of all. Have fun with the audience. Try new ways to give the best presentation to your audience. Experiment. Try out a new funny approach, or walk around the hall instead of being static on the stage. Have fun with experimenting on human behavior and you will see that public speaking is not that bad after all.
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