The ability to speak perfectly and be good in presenting something, be it products or services, is one of the essential skills for almost any entrepreneur. It doesn’t matter if you consider constant public speaking to be a necessary thing in the process of achieving success, or if you prefer to work in a quiet office on a product, you will have to speak one way or another.
Unfortunately, not everyone can succeed in this due to numerous reasons. Some people are scared; some just cannot put themselves together.
As a result, instead of the enthusiastic roar of the crowd, you get cold sweat and a feeling of devastation. Sound familiar? It’s okay – we’ll teach you how to become an excellent speaker.
Make a positive first impression
Be confident. Even if you have doubts inside of your head, the audience does not need to know about it. Then, straighten your back. First, it looks good. Secondly, an even back is a sign of a self-confident speaker.
Smile to listeners – to win them over.
Look at those for whom you are speaking. It is unlikely that this is the ceiling, floor, or far wall. Making eye contact with the audience tells people that you are a confident speaker and allows you to control the audience’s attention.
Make people look at you
Don’t start talking until people are paying attention to you. You don’t have to juggle or have an orchestra in front of you. Just be quiet. The audience will wonder why you seem to have come out to speak, but in fact you are silent. Have they paid attention to you? Now you can start talking.
Correct visualization
In general, a presentation on the screen must be handled very carefully – it cannot be informative enough; otherwise, it will not be able to help you collect your thoughts. Also, it should not be overloaded – otherwise, the audience will simply forget about you and start reading the text on the screen.
Take the example of Steve Jobs: “one slide, one thought.” You don’t need to throw out the entire outline of your speech on the slides – just one thesis or a funny picture illustrating your idea is enough.
And you don’t need to be zealous with fonts, colors, and animations – people should be looking at you, not flickering behind your back. Using short videos is also a good idea, especially if your audience needs some rest.
Develop a pre-performance ritual
People often resort to omens to make their lives easier in situations where they are not sure about the successful outcome of a particular case. The pro runner won’t run faster by wearing the lucky socks. However, socks can help him feel more relaxed. Instead of following clues, Wall Street Journal journalist and business author Dan Pink advises establishing a clear ritual prior to speaking.
Running your eyes over the slides, checking the projector connection are just small steps that will help you focus, and each time they will bring more satisfaction and tranquility.
Tell a story
The important point is that people love stories. It is even better if this is something personal, a story from life, your own experience (even if sad). You can’t give people advice (no one can give people advice), but you can show how it worked in your particular case.
Joke
You can make the atmosphere better with the help of humor. If you’re a natural-born comedian, great, you can improvise a little on the go, but it’s always best to prepare some kind of joke beforehand. And you can’t overdo it – yes, it will melt the hall, but at the same time, it can turn your serious, in general, performance into a booth.
Get to know your audience
Even at the stage of preparation, it is essential to understand who these people in front of you are, what they want to know, and why. It depends on your audience how you present information – it is obvious that people of different ages, fields of activity, and social status listen in different ways.
Teenagers need something livelier, and with pictures, the board of directors needs sales schedules, people at the personal growth training want to see successful examples. In all cases, you not only convey different information but also perform it in different ways.
Relax
Many people, before and at the beginning of the show, are tense to the limit. It is understandable: with many people in one place and everyone looking at you, one cannot feel another way. If you have ready-made material, then your business is just presenting it.
There is no need to worry about what they think of you; just relax and do what you have to. In addition, you will notice that as soon as your speech begins, you feel more confident every minute – the psychosomatic system understands that everything is good.
