Public speaking, or the fear of, tends to appear now and again in various threads. So here is a thread to contribute tips, tricks, and methods to help with public speaking. We can bypass the 'imagine everyone naked' method. It's overused and to be honest, could be quite distracting or nauseating given the audience...


So as one who was once quite self conscious and not fan of public speaking I'll give you my secret to being able to talk to any size group. I realized I was good at talking to people 1-1 but a crowd made me nervous. So, I don't talk to the crowd, I talk to each person in the crowd, one at a time. Every sentence, or paragraph or so I talk directly to someone else. I just keep switching around the room. If it's a really large group, I pick random people in different areas that look like I'd be comfortable talking to and switch around with just those people.

Ok.... who else has a good way to beat the speaking jitters?

Remember, they are there to hear what you have to say. That helped me. If you know your topic back and forth, there should be no reason to be nervous.

I understand the fear, but overcame it by fully understanding the topic. If you are nervous, you are scared that you will not be taken seriously.

I do best when I have mastered my material.

Really, I think just doing it enough to lose the fear is the best thing. I remember being petrified in a play in elementary school, not much better in middle school...but by high school I was in front of people enough to start losing the edge, and in college I wore it all out.

But if you expect me to sing a solo, ain't gonna happen.

Why are you speaking? What are they coming to hear you talk about?

If you speak concisely about what you're there to talk about, and you actually know the topic, you'll do fine.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I do best when I have mastered my material.

Really, I think just doing it enough to lose the fear is the best thing.

Bingo.

If you've had enough practice talking in front of folks, and you know what you're talking about, it's simple.

I teach and speak in public enough that I've had plenty of practice. The only time I get just a little bit nervous is when I'm tagged to speak about something which I don't know all that much about.

I did best when I mastered the subject also.

But, to share one particular time, I was giving a timed test. I was to do a presentation on a subject to an audience.

I had to keep it as close to 10 mins. as possible, I had to show the mastery of the subject matter, allow time for about 3 questions and do the presentation using AN OVERHEAD PROJECTOR.

Having always used a computer attached to large screen, I was not used to using the overhead projector, you know, the kind where you have a clear sheet of plastic where you have something on it that you want to show the audience.

Well, I was doing very good, was comfortable, when a girl in the audience(crowded room), kept touching her shoulder, when I made eye contact.

After 3 times of that I finally looked over my shoulder and realized my shoulder was blocking part of the projection to the screen....

But some good advice here guys.

Although it may sound a bit self defeating, I think great public speakers are like great salesmen in that they're born not made. You can try and teach yourself to present to an audience with some success, but if you don't have the right personality, focus, and love for the experience, you'll never be great at public speaking.

That said, I love to be in front of a group speaking. The bigger the group the better. I did a Wounded Warriors presentation at the Amway Arena one Saturday evening during a Magic game and loved ever minute of it. Again, it feeds what I love to do, which makes the entire process much easier.

As to tips or tricks, this may or may not work for others, but its served me very well over many years.

1 - Never read your presentation from a script. That's the quickest way to turn an audience off. I only use the most basic outline of what I want to cover, and then modify it in my head on the fly if I'm speaking behind other people on the same or similar topic.
2 - Don't death grip the podium. That just transmits stress and discomfort to the audience.
3 - Personally, I don't like to stand behind a podium to give an entire presentation. I generally move back and forth across the stage or platform while I speak. That keeps the audience engaged and moving with you which helps prevent boredom.
4 - Do not repeat what others have already presented or what you've already covered. That turns off an audience big time.
5 - If at all possible, present part of the time and then do a Q&A with the audience the rest of the time. This terrifies some presenters because of the unknowns that may arise, but I think its one of the most beneficial things you can do to draw your audience into the conversation, and help everyone walk away afterward feeling as though they got something out of the process.

Other than that, breath, smile, try to stay relaxed, and enjoy the experience. Its usually a blast.

Look at their foreheads. To those in the audience they can't tell your not making direct eye contact, and it can help you relax.

Also, slow down. You are talking faster than you think you are.

Relax. Easier said than done, yes. Remember nobody cares if you make a mistake, just know your material and have a conversation. If appropriate, invite questions, the back and forth can keep it interesting for everyone and help you engage and be more at ease.

If you are using a flip chart and need to do math, take a #1 pencil and in one of the upper corners of the pad write the numbers you will be using (very small) in your presentation.

You won’t need to remember the numbers or take time to do the math.

I have had audience members come up to me after and remark they were amazed at my command of the numbers. The thing is, I’m not that good at it.

Have taught off and on for 30 years. From grade school age through college level.

Engage the audience - ask them questions. Knowing your subject is obviously best, but not always required.

Did some substitute teaching for a while. Subbed for anything, which can be very interesting. When called on to talk about something you don’t know well, first and up front tell them what you do or don’t know. If you try spreading the BS and hoping you can fool them, you won’t.
Got the assignment to sub for calculus once. I never got beyond Algebra 1. That was one of the first things I told them. Then I asked about everyday procedures and we followed those. As for the homework, I had them put their problems on the board, as a group we looked at each and decided if the student that put it up there was correct or not. Very democratic. When I could I added to the situation. They did some problems with decimal places - ie .001 + .00015, etc etc. For most it was why this stuff? I was able to explain measuring as a machinist, that a human hair averages .003”, your notebook paper averages .003” as well. Relevance? As a machinist I have had to work to half a thou - .0005” comsistently.

I think it is safe to say that this group, on Sigforum, can offer something to just every group they meet.

Master the material, organize your thoughts, finish with a short recap. Piece of cake. I tell myself it does no good to be nervous and the everyone else in the room is glad they're not in my shoes.

Practice, practice, practice. Get in front of a mirror. Know your subject, visualize the audience, anticipate questions, know how to solve problems. Be truthful, don't bullshit anyone if you don't have the answer, make it known you will get an answer, realize all you have is your word.

When fully prepared, I believe you can talk to a hundred as easily as one on one. I loved helping customers.

Join Toastmasters; it's a cheap way to get practice time talking to people plus you get good feedback. You don't have to end up with a Toastmasters speaking style but if you don't have one, it's not bad.

Also, you need to memorize your speech well enough to make it seem you're talking off the cuff. Look at Robin Williams delivering his skits, they're all memorized but you wouldn't know it from just one exposure in one setting. Don't knock memorizing until you tried it. Of course, this is for speeches / talks that can be memorized.

Develop your speech. Then edit, edit, edit it down. You should spend a whole lot more time taking away stuff than you do developing your material. You want to distill your material to the message's essence and ruthlessly remove anything that doesn't add to the message.

A story illustrates a point best. Story tellers keep audience's attention.

I've talked in front of company meetings of over 300 people. Talked in front of business meetings. I've also taught various classes in professional and university settings.

Propranolol.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Propranolol.

This times 1000!!!! Okay, to be clear this isn't for people that just need to develop some skill in public speaking. It's for those of us that have actual involuntary panic attacks.

I am a very outgoing speaker one on one. I'm even good when it's with my group at work who I have known for years. But as soon as it's a group of strangers I have massive panic attack to the point of not being able to speak. I posted about it here and was told about Propanolol. It basically stops the adrenaline rush and not much more. But it has totally made me able to do the required public speaking I need to do. Prior to propranolol I almost couldn't even get through those silly few sentence introductions that they make us do at different trainings. You know the "I'm Jim and I've worked here at Sanofi for 20 years. Something interesting about myself is I love guns and hate liberals..."

Other than that the OP opinion on speaking to an individual in the group is probably pretty helpful.

"Imagine your audience in their underwear".
I read somewhere that this advice came from a Brady Bunch episode, so that seems like not so good advice, but seemed to catch on for a while as one of those self help things.
Knowing your material well, and keeping it short as already mentioned seems like the best advice.

I agree with the above - know the material. If you have confidence in your knowledge of the material, it goes much smoother and you don't get jarred by questions. Know your shit is the biggest contributor to a smooth presentation, in my experience.

The 3Bs

Be Brief
Be Brilliant
Be Gone!

(1) Know the subject matter and your presentation backwards and forwards. Practice talking your talk several times.

(2) If you are using a digital presentation, don't have long bullets and don't read them to the audience. They should see the bullets and listen to what you have to say, or be looking at the digital pictures / charts / graphs that you are using to explain your topic. IE, "I can read your slides just as well as you can".

(3) Pick 2-3 people in the audience to 'speak to' and alternate looking at them.

(4) Record yourself practicing and make sure you speak LOUD enough and SLOW enough. Lots of low and fast talkers out there.

Practice absolutely makes perfect. I used to get nervous at even the thought of a public performance.