Effective Public Speaking Is About Content

Many people have the view that effective public speaking means that you must have great skill in public speaking, be grammatically correct and be a great showman. There are people who do possess these skills, but a person who is enthusiastic about their subject and is interested in getting their information across can be much more effective than someone who is going through the motions.

Today, effective public speaking is about the conveying of ideas and information to the audience not about great oratory. This makes it much more easier for the ordinary person to be effective. The speech is the thing not thespeaker.

An audience is interested in good content that is delivered by someone who is knowledgeable and interested in what they have to say. This is the basis of effective public speaking

Effective Public Speaking Skills And Beating Fear

Here are more strategies to more effective public speaking and speaking skills and overcoming public speaking fear:

1. Practice. Practice giving your speech until you are comfortable in delivering it. You are not trying to be word perfect but more that you can convey your ideas and information in a natural way, like in conversation. Practice in front of family and friends to get used to giving your speech to an audience.

2. Start off with a short speech. Just a few minutes is all that is needed to get used to public speaking. And build on it from there. Your first speech could be just your name and occupation.

How you think about effective public speaking can cause problems when you are start out in public speaking and presenting.

Effective Public Speaking Skills And Stage Fright

Here are some tips to beat public speaking stage fright and develop the skills of effective public speaking and presentation;

1. The audience want you to succeed. They can empathize with your predicament, so they are on your side.

2. Being prepared helps to take a large percentage of the stress of public speaking away. You need to know your subject inside out. Know your audience's expectations and wants and their level of expertise.

3. If possible meet and greet some of your audience (if you don't know them). It is easier to give a speech to people you know.

In my next post I will continue with further techniques to be public speaking anxiety that will help develop more effective public speaking and presentation skills.

The Barrier To Effective Public Speaking

The biggest barrier many people face to effective public speaking is public speaking anxiety. Many people are affected by the fear of public speaking as evidenced by it coming top of surveys and studies into people's fear, more people fear it than death.

Some nerves before giving a speech lead to more effective public speaking. It help you feel more energized and focused on delivering the best speech you can. It is a problem when it gets in the way of delivering your speech or presentation. Although may people fear it, many of them have gone on to be able to give an effective speech or presentation. The nerves do not ever fully go away but they act as the spur to give your best rather than a barrier to effective public speaking and presentations.

More Effective Public Speaking Steps

The next steps for effective public speaking and presentation are;

4. Keep it simple - use as a straightforward structure to your speech - introduction (tell 'em what you are going to tell 'em), main body (tell 'em - 3 - 5 main points), conclusion (tell 'em what you told 'em)

5. Use visual aids to support your speech not to replace it. This includes PowerPoint Slides.

6. Use notes to help you recall during your speech. Use them as memory jogger only, not to read your presentation or speech from. Also, don't read your speech from the presentation slides.

7. Practice your speech out loud until you can comfortably give your speech without notes or reading it.

8. Check out the room and the facilities where you are give your speech or presentation to avoid any last minute glitches.

My next post on effective public speaking and presentation will discuss presentation nerves and public speaking anxiety.

Effective Public Speaking Steps

The steps for effective public speaking and presentation are:-

1. Determine your purpose - what is it that you want to achieve? What response do you want from your audience? Are you informing them or do you want persuade orentertaining them?

2. Determine your audience. What do they want to get from your presentation or speech? How much experience do they have of your topic?

3. Don't put too much into your speech. It is recommended that you should only have 3 - 5 points included. Any more than that it get too much for the audience to follow and for the presenter to present effectively.

Part 2 will conclude with the rest of the steps for effective public speaking and presenting.

Effective Public Speaking Skills Are Respected

Effective public speaking and presentation skills are very respected skills to possess. There are many applications for them besides speaking with ease and effectively to an audience. Effective public speaking skills can be transferred to help with job interviews, appraisals, pay rises etc. By developing effective public speaking and presentation skills also helps with personal development in developing self confidence, structured thinking and the ability to think on you feet.

Effective public speaking and presentation skills can be developed by anyone. It is not a special set of skills possessed only by a chosen few. But like any worthwhile human skill it takes some application to become good at it. It requires some time and persistence to acquire effective public speaking and presentation skills.