Public speaking fear can be a huge obstacle if you want to develop your career. Here are a few public speaking advices and a recommendation if you are looking for a public speaking course. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It. Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners. Let Your Personality Come Through. Be yourself, don’t become a talking head—in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.
Channel your inner Patrick Stewart: The tone of your voice and how you talk will have a significant impact on the way your talk is received. To speak clearly and confidently you must become like a classically trained actor (e.g. Shakespearean actor and esteemed Star Trek captain Patrick Stewart). Use the 5 ‘P’s to improve the clarity of your speech: Projection – Make sure the back of the room can hear, but don’t deafen those at the front. Pace – Keep a steady pace. Your nerves may encourage you to speak faster to get the ordeal over, but that will make it difficult to understand and dampen your message. Try varying the pace to keep things interesting. Pitch – Vary your pitch, monotonous voices are boring and difficult to listen to but don’t be over the top. Also, try not to use an upward inflexion at the end of all sentences, it makes you sound like you’re unsure about the things you are saying. See more details Overcome fear of speaking.
Practice with distractions. Once I know the content, I like to add a little bit of distraction to test how well prepared I really am. Turn on the TV or rehearse while pushing your child in the swing. Anything that adds a little more challenge. Find a style that works for you. Different events will often require a different approach or style. Sometimes reading a prepared speech is fine. But know it backward are forward so you’re not staring down at the pages the whole time. Some use notes. Others prefer to be 100 percent scripted and memorized. If that’s your style, memorize the content so well that you can go off script if needed — and so you don’t sound like you’re reciting a poem. Use the proper approach for the appropriate event.
What people say ? Mike Acker has written a book that anyone needs to read, not just for public speakers but if fear is something that is holding you back from pursuing your dreams. I love the authors anecdotes and stories he uses to back up the material. Mike’s book is built on 7 strategies he uses to overcome and push through the fear of public speaking. Full of relatable anecdotes, executable tips, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this book promises to teach you 7 proven strategies to help you find your inner presenter. Don’t wait any longer. Today is the day you take charge of your anxiety, calm your nerves, and – most importantly – speak with no fear. The Amazon book can be purchased here: Public speaking coach ebook.
Redefine your audience: Redefine your audience generally means changing how you see your audience. Instead of seeing them as lecturers who are evaluating you, maybe you can convince yourself that they are all fellow students who are in queue to present after you. They are all equally nervous so there is no reason why you should be too. Or perceive them as long lost friends that you haven’t seen for 10 years. This way you can maintain eye contact trying to figure out where you have seen him before. To the audiences, they will see a very friendly and personal presentation.
When does the course start and finish? The course is designed to lead to you to give presentations you are proud of in only 3 months. However, this is about you and your pace. You can go faster or slower. You can re-watch as many times as you want. Ultimately, the course starts now and never ends! Source: https://thepublicspeaking.school/.