How to Speak in Public with NO FEAR

1. BREATHE. Sounds silly but breathing exercises prior to public speaking will help keep you centered. During your presentation, it will also help you keep your pace, let you collect your thoughts, and give the audience a chance to catch up.

2. Be prepared! Be prepared! Be prepared! You will know it and the audience will know it if you have no sense of your topic. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean memorize every word.. but have a base of your key points, the timing, and of your slides.

3. Connect with your audience. It is easy to get caught up in your facts and presentation but remember you are talking to a room full of people. Take them on a journey with you. Pick certain members of the audience to engage.. make eye contact and speak to them. If they respons by laughing, smiling, or nodding this will only boost your confidence.

4. Tell stories. Story telling is one of the beautiful way in which speech can captivate an audience. Often I will tell a funny story that ties into my topic. This not only makes a point but engages the audience.. Just make sure it is humor that will be funny to your audience.

5. Don’t think about yourself. This speech is not about you! It’s about your audience. Don’t worry what they will think about you but instead worry about how they will recieve your speech or presentation. This also should help with the fidgeting that is bound to happen if you are self-conscious.

6. Be crystal clear about your message. Don’t word vomit whatever comes to mind. Simply think of three key messages you want the audience to take away. If you do this the audience is most likely to remember three key messages instead of ten decent points.

7. Have fun! I’m sure you are thinking to yourself that it will never be fun.. but what I mean is be excited about your topic. The audience will be able to see this and hopefully join in the excitement too. Just don’t be over the top in your presentation or that will be all the audience remembers.

I HEREBY BANISH YOUR FEAR!

*POOF*