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Tag: Public speaking (Page 1 of 2)

Five tips to improve public speaking

15/03/2023 /

One of the common mistakes in public speaking is that we often underestimate the importance of the form in the message we try to convey.

Unlike written pages, oral communications are a bloom of conscious and unconscious signals coming out from our body, like voice tone and modulation, gesticulating, glances with the public, dialogue speed and so on.

Each of these signals carries a different value that can alter the substance of the message, even in an unsuccessful way.

As diplomacy is essentially communication, a good deal can be reached only after smart negotiations and persuasive talks.

Hence, creating the right empathy with our listeners could add further value on the outcome of our agreements.

In an article published on the popular magazine Mental Floss, the American journalist Cindy Fisher Crawford has tried to summarize 5 effective steps to becoming a better public speaker from “Toastmasters International” and other public speaking experts:

1. MAKE YOUR SPEECH CONVERSATIONAL

As tempting as it may be to type up a speech and read it word for word, refrain from doing so.

Audiences listen better when the speaker talks to them instead of reads to them.

2. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

A great way to ensure your speech goes smoothly is to rehearse what you’re going to say.

3. CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If they’re yawning, you need to infuse a spark in the conversation.

4. DELIVER YOUR SPEECH WITH PASSION

The best way to get your audience to care about what you’re saying is to show how much you care about the topic.

5. TAKE YOUR TIME

Your presentation is not a race. Take your time as you interact with the audience and slow down if you make a mistake.

https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/3/2456/3914858504_831952e460_z.jpg?resize=457%2C305&ssl=1

Image source: FLICKR – JohnDiew0107 –

(CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

Top tips for becoming a confident, effective speaker

16/06/2021 /

Having to give a speech in front of an audience can cause some people to shake, sweat, get sick, or freeze in terror. The root of this fear is simple: It’s scary because it’s unfamiliar to anyone who doesn’t regularly perform to a crowd.

The best way to become a better public speaker is through repetition and feedback from a trusted source, but there are several habits you can establish early that will make your journey easier.

Here are some of Joshua Rinaldi, the former president of New York Toastmasters, top tips for becoming a confident, effective speaker, published on the World Economic Forum:

  1. Practise transitioning from a transcript to your memory.
  2. Use notes sparingly.
  3. Release nervous energy with controlled breathing.
  4. Take your time.
  5. Play to your strenghts.
  6. Don’t apologize at the start of your speech.
  7. Know your audience.

Read more here 

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

Become a better public speaker

27/01/2021 /

Having to give a speech in front of an audience can cause some people to shake, sweat, get sick, or freeze in terror. The root of this fear is simple: It’s scary because it’s unfamiliar to anyone who doesn’t regularly perform to a crowd.

The best way to become a better public speaker is through repetition and feedback from a trusted source, but there are several habits you can establish early that will make your journey easier.

Here are some of Joshua Rinaldi, the former president of New York Toastmasters, top tips for becoming a confident, effective speaker, published on the World Economic Forum:

  1. Practise transitioning from a transcript to your memory.
  2. Use notes sparingly.
  3. Release nervous energy with controlled breathing.
  4. Take your time.
  5. Play to your strenghts.
  6. Don’t apologize at the start of your speech.
  7. Know your audience.

Read more here 

 

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

How to become an effective public speaker

16/12/2020 /

Having to give a speech in front of an audience can cause some people to shake, sweat, get sick, or freeze in terror. The root of this fear is simple: It’s scary because it’s unfamiliar to anyone who doesn’t regularly perform to a crowd.

The best way to become a better public speaker is through repetition and feedback from a trusted source, but there are several habits you can establish early that will make your journey easier.

Here are some of Joshua Rinaldi, the former president of New York Toastmasters, top tips for becoming a confident, effective speaker, published on the World Economic Forum:

  1. Practise transitioning from a transcript to your memory.
  2. Use notes sparingly.
  3. Release nervous energy with controlled breathing.
  4. Take your time.
  5. Play to your strenghts.
  6. Don’t apologize at the start of your speech.
  7. Know your audience.

Read more here 

 

Image – Pixabay (CC0)

5 tips for novice public speakers

30/09/2020 /

Dananjaya Hettiarachchi, the winner of the World Championship of Public Speaking 2014 organized by Toastmaster International, interviewed by Richard Feloni for The Business Insider Australia, suggests 5 tips for novice public speakers.

Tip 1
Always start with a message. A common mistake is to start with a topic, instead a speech should begin with a message, as concise as possible. This message is whatever you want your audience to be thinking about when your presentations concludes.

Tip 2
Be confident enough to yourself. You need to sell yourself before to sell your message, the way to do that is to be genuine. A speech should be conversational, not theatrical. The only way to go in front of an audience and to present in a way that isn’t simply miming is to practice again and again, pretending that you’re talking to your closest friends.

Tip 3
See yourself through your audience’s eyes. Speakers tend to become wrapped up in themselves, maybe because they’re afraid to acknowledge a room full of listeners. But if you’re going to speak, you need to realize that you’re doing it for the benefit of others, not yourself.

Tip 4
Have a forum to practice. 80% of the path to becoming a great speaker is trial and error and the only way to learn is by speaking in front of an audience that will give honest feedback.

Tip 5
Find the right coach or mentor. You should find someone willing to help you grow as a public speaker. This does not need to be someone who can teach you advanced speaking techniques; they just need to be someone who gives you permission to explore possibilities, who gives you permission to fail.

Read here the full article

Speech

Image: flickr – Brian Talbot – (CC BY – NC 2.0)

7 ways to improve your body language in public speaking

08/04/2020 /

In a post published by Abhimanyu Das on ideas.ted.com, he summarises how we can improve our public speaking through some easy tweaks of our body language not limited only to our hands and arm gestures.

Here are the 7 ways listed by the author:

1) Lean towards your audience

2) Match your gestures to your words

3) Give your hands a rest

4) Tilt your head

5) Smile like you mean it

6) When you slip up, don’t panic

7) Practice — even when you’re not in front of a crowd

8) Watch this TEDxZagreb talk now

Read the full text here

 

13/11/2019 /

According to Chris Anderson, there’s no single formula for a great TED talk, but there is a secret ingredient that all the best ones have in common: they build an idea inside the minds of the audience.

In this TED talk Chris Anderson, TED curator, describes this concept and provides four tips to be effective in it.

Read Less, Understand More

10/07/2019 /
Nowadays, the information overloaded society in which we live forces all of us to face a huge amount of information that requires a lot of time. Read faster can help us to preliminary detect the useful information and to go more quickly through them saving time. For this reason, speed reading is a skill that everybody should learn to be more comfortable and more productive in our modern society.
In this TEDx video Jordan Harry CEO of StudyFast gives some practical advice to increase the speed reading without losing details.  He says that speed reading is not a superpower but it is a skill that everyone can learn and improve. The main aspect on which the people interested in achieving better reading performances must work concerns three bad habits:
  • SUBVOCALIZATION, that consists in saying words in your head while reading;
  • REGRESSION, that implies to get to the end of a page and realize you haven’t taken in what you read;
  • FIXATIONS, that tend to create spots on what we are reading which impede our speed.

Improve your English speaking

23/01/2019 /

The free e-book I Still Can’t Speak English by Jason West, downloadable at bookboon.com can finally help you to learn to speak English quickly by curating your own free and hugely effective social learning and social media English course.

From the Introduction of the book: “If you have studied English for some time; if you have taken lots of different classes, studied using lots of different course books, listened to lots of audio and still do not feel confident when you speak English (but desperately want to); this ebook is for you.”

 

 

Tips for public speaking

05/07/2017 /

Interested in public speaking? Laura Vanderkam, writer and speaker, on Fastcompany suggests some useful tips to engage the audience. Above all:

1. Don’t try to mentally ridicule your audience to get confidence. Simply be focused on the message instead.

2. Don’t think you’ll lose spontaneity if you rehearse. Rehearse to someone instead helps confidence, and confidence helps spontaneity.

3. Starting with a joke is risky to engage the audience. An anecdote is easier to tell and works better.

4. Don’t try to involve the audience anyway. Treat them like professionals.

5. Slides? Not Always. Many speakers give a better talk without.

6. Cutting charts and formulas not always works: numbers and charts may be of real help if clear.

7. Copy the pros? Be yourself instead: you’ll look more naturale and credible.

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

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