This Is It: Your Ultimate Public Speaking Cheat Sheet

If you want to obtain success in different domains of life, you have to present and communicate your ideas openly and clearly to the public.

You can establish strong relationships, grow your business or advance your career by becoming a good public speaker. You can also influence people to take actions on the matters which affect their lives in particular and society in general.

Similarly, you can promote your ideas and create a good rapport for yourself in the masses.

You have to show fair amount of courage to stand in front of the public. It is a herculean task to effectively deliver your idea, pitch or body of knowledge to work upon.

Most people find it very difficult to even face a small group of people, nothing to talk about expressing themselves effectively in front of thousands. Words desert you when you get on the stage.

You start shivering out of fear of facing the masses and stand there looking like a fool. It is in fact your fear which usually stands between you and your audience.

The fear of speaking in public is called Glossophobia, a very fancy name to say the least. It takes hold of you whenever you are about to perform an oral presentation in front of public. It is estimated that almost 25% of people around the world experience this particular kind of fear.

It is also pertinent to note that it is not the biggest fear people have when they have to make a speech. There are many other factors which make public speaking increasingly difficult. Some of them are as under.

• Self-consciousness in front of the masses.
• The fear of appearing nervous.
• Poor past experiences or past failures.
• The feelings that you are being judged.
• Lack of preparation or knowledge related to the topic.
• Dissatisfaction with your abilities.
• Narcissism
• Lack of confidence or discomfort with your body movements.
• Poor upbringing, personal grooming or breathing habits
• Comparing you to others.

All these factors combine to create a strong fear, flight or freezing response in you as soon as you stand on the podium. You take the entire situation very threatening and try to take precautionary measures.

As a result, your normal brain functions depart and your thumping heart completely overwhelms your thinking process.

Some of the people even prefer fighting terrorists than doing public speaking.

OUR ULTIMATE PUBLIC SPEAKING CHEAT SHEET

Speaking in front of masses is definitely difficult. However, you need not to remorse because you can actually become a great public speaker just like Socrates, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Tony Robins and Zig Ziglar.

In fact, speaking confidently in public is one of the most rewarding experiences you can ever have. All you need to do is to thoroughly go through our ultimate public speaking cheat sheet.

By following all the instructions in this guide, you will be able to shed your fears of speaking in public forever and become a great public speaker within the matter of days.

Now grab your pen and paper and start practicing the following instructions and you will see the difference during your next speech.

These instructions are actually the golden rules of making a good speech, presented by some of the best practitioners in the business.

WRITE THE REAL SPEECH

What is the first rule of creating a fantastic speech? Don’t sound boring to the listeners.

The speech you write should be real and interesting enough for your audience to at least bear you as long as you are on the stage.

In this regard, following should be the main components of your speech.

Keep Talking Points to the Minimum

Your speech should revolve around two to three points at the most. You do not want your audience to say, “What he has said in this lecture” at the end of your speech.

Including too many points in your lecture is the cardinal sin of speech making. Your audience is giving you their time which is perhaps one of their most precious processions.

Therefore, you need to respect them by restricting your speech to one or two points only.

Speech Structure should be Simple

Any good story needs a good start, middle and an end. Most speakers tend to ignore this rule nowadays but you should not. Your audience will take more interest in your speech if you inform them of your real intentions right in the beginning.

It is advisable to explain how you plan to give your speech and what will be some of the milestones along the way. You can even summarize your main points before explaining them in detail later on.

For instance, you can start with “Today, I am going to talk about three main points…”

Define Your Purpose

You also need to define the purpose of your speech. You must have a full idea of what you want your audience to do once you have delivered your speech.

The purpose of your presentation should be realistic, relevant, timely, and readily acceptable. You must also ascertain whether you are the right person to deliver this speech or not.

Analyze Your Audience

You must also consider the demographics of your audience while writing your speech. First of all, you must determine the audience size.

You also need to check their academic, professional, ethnic and cultural background to write your speech accordingly.

Similarly, you must also take their age group, gender, political affiliations, social status and professions into account to come up with a memorable speech.

The Speech should be Well Thought Out

As a speaker, you should be able to know why people are gathering in the first place. Is it an educational gathering or a social meeting? Is it an annual convention or a lecture on good decision making? Are you going to give an educational update or simply talk about the benefits of professional development?

Keeping all the above mentioned criteria in the mind, you must now be able to write a well thought out speech.

Similarly, always try to only include ideas, facts, evidences and incidences which are relevant to the theme of the gathering to maintain audience’s interest.

Try to Find what Your Audience already Knows

While writing your speech, you also need to find out what your audience already knows about you and your topic. You must also learn what they feel about being the part of the audience.

Are they really interested in hearing a speech from you?

Be an Expert

You should be an absolute authority on the topic you are going to talk about. You should have full grasp of the subject matter. You can further enhance your speech by including all the facts, figures and supporting material you can find.

Never sound like as if you know nothing about the subject and just standing in front of people to waste their time.

Practice

No one can deny the importance of practicing your speech again and again. Practicing your lecture will also enable you to find any plot holes and flaws in your speech as well as any confidence and body language issues you have well in time.

Practicing your speech is necessary to avoid any embarrassment during the actual presentation as well.

HAVE A CAPTIVATING TITLE

What is the most important part of your speech? It is the title without any doubt. The title of your speech can propel you to the stardom even before you begin the actual presentation.

It is your title which enables your audience to judge what is coming their way. It is incredibly important for you to have a captivating title especially if you are speaking in a conference where there are many other speakers delivering lectures at the same time.

The title of your speech is your most important tool if you want to grab your audience’s attention, set positive expectations for your speech and engage their mind for some time to come.

In this regard, here are the most important factors to take care of while creating a title for your speech.

It should be Original

Enough said already?

However, what most speakers do is to simply follow what others speakers are doing and come up with apparently similar and thus boring title for their own speech.

Subsequently, their speeches simple sound the same as rest of the others. In order to make yourself stand out, you need to come up with a unique and creative title.

Try to be a little different and never just fit in.

As a result, you will have an intrigued and large audience that wants to listen something new and interesting.

Highlight what is in the Speech for the Audience

The title should also highlight the benefits of hearing your speech to the spectators. For instance, you cannot simply explain the features of a pen if you want someone to buy it. The chances are no one will take any interest in your pen.

On the contrary, you need to explain how owning this pen can positively change their life forever. Your speech title can serve the same purpose for you.

Attract Attention

Your title should be attraction grabbing. It should not be “normal” because our brain is accustomed to hearing and processing normal things. Therefore, your audience will totally ignore your speech if it has an ordinary title.

You in fact need to use unusual and fancy language in the title to make everyone stop whatever they are doing and start paying attention to you. Keep your title concise and enforce them to think about it twice. Therefore, instead of writing:

“An analysis of the ways in which a coffee can be made”

You can write:

“The best and easiest ways to make coffee”

Be Curiously Relevant

Although, you should generate curiosity among audience with your title yet you need to be very careful while practicing this tip. You must not make your title overly incomprehensible for the public and that is what most curiosity-generating titles tend to do.

You must write a title which can tell a listener who knows nothing about the idea what you are going to present.

Don’t Alienate Your Audience

Titles like “XYZ Reasons to Do XYZ Things” can instantly alienate half of your audience. It is tempting to use these types of topics especially when you are trying to convince your audience to do a certain thing.

However, most of them might already agree with your point of view and may not take keen interest in your speech after learning about the title of your speech. Then there will be people whom you just cannot convince no matter whatever you say.

You need to have a title which can encourage them to at least listen to your speech. Subsequently, your presentation must include a constructive argument to convince your audience.

After all, you cannot convince anyone if he is mentally absent and paying no attention to your lecture.

THE ACTUAL CONTENT OF THE SPEECH

After the title, come the actual contents of the speech. These are the things you actually want to include in your lecture to have a lasting impression on your audience.

These are the supplementary and complimentary materials which can make your speech really outstanding and authentic.

Add Insights

Insights related to your main point of discussion can really make your speech more interesting and appealing to your audience. You can better explain your point of view and wow the audience by giving deep insights about how a certain thing works or why a certain incident took place.

Insights about your topic will enhance your audience’s capacity to gain deep, accurate and intuitive understanding of what you are saying.

Add Facts

It is absolutely necessary to add as many facts in your speech as possible. Facts and statistics can offer you a myriad of benefits when you are making a speech.

They can add realism to your presentation. They make your speech more powerful and move your audience to take action.

They can also considerably enhance your credibility. They also emotionally impact your audience in addition with presenting you as an authority on the topic.

Avoid Fluff

Fluff is your greatest enemy when it comes to making extraordinary speeches. You must not make your speech redundant by talking about the same concept again and again. It is another thing to briefly repeat what you have already said but explaining the same thing frequently will make your audience bored to the tears.

Therefore, never beat about the bush in your lecture and only deliver brief and clear speech. It is important because people can only follow160-175 words per minute easily while listening to any speech. Anything more than that and they would fail to comprehend anything.

Support Your Claim with Evidence

You should also support each of your claims with relevant evidence. It is these evidences and supporting materials which make your presentation a true gem.

They will not only make you more persuasive but also let the people know you are on the right or stronger side of things.

On the other hand, your arguments without the supporting evidences will not have any weight. They will not be very persuasive. You have to include more reasons, stronger arguments and evidences to be able to convince your audience.

Express Your Ideas with Articulation

You need not to present yourself as an iambic pentameter to your audience. However, it is always beneficial to make your speech a little bit more rhythmic and poetic. It will go a long way in making your audience remember your speech.

Similarly, you also need to give your speech texture through variations in your voice, hand gestures and even the way you stand on the stage.

Your listeners must be able to separate your commas, exclamation points, semicolons and question marks. Put emphasize on your words by varying your tone, excitement and volume.

Use Clear Language (Eloquence)

You should always use clear language to deliver the speech. Using difficult and fancy words will only scare your audience and they will eventually lose interest because they cannot understand a thing.

Therefore, only choose simple and conservational words. Use vocabulary which is not complex but easily understandable for everyone. Furthermore, use speech patterns which are social and encourage spontaneous responses.

In fact, you can take a clue from President Trump about how to make a simple but captivating speech.

THE RULES OF DELIVERING A SPEECH

You don’t want to look miserable and become a laughing stock while delivering your speech. At the same time, you do not want to go overboard and deliver a speech which nobody wants to listen.

There are some golden rules of making an oral presentation. By implementing these rules, you will be able to overcome your nervousness, be more confident and deliver a speech which you will be proud of.

Short Introduction

Nobody can deny the importance of a stellar introduction. However, you must keep your introduction nice and short because you normally have only 90 seconds to grab your audience’s attention.

It is worth mentioning that people start judging you as soon as you walk on to the stage. There is also no room for dithering as soon as you start talking. It is even better if you memorize first 200 words of your introduction.

It will allow you to start your presentation confidently as you already know every word in the introduction and how to deliver it.

Briefly Explain what You Want to Talk about

After introduction, briefly explain what the agenda of your speech is. You must inform them why they are here and what they will achieve at the end of your lecture.

It is imperative for you to have a clear message and also deliver it effectively right in the beginning of your presentation.

Divide Your Speech into Different Segments

You must divide different points of your speech into different segments such as the introduction followed by point one, point two, point three and finally the conclusion.

Similarly, you should only have a gist of each section and explain them in detail during the actual presentation. There is no need of memorizing the entire speech.

You can go off-script any time if you deem necessary and nobody will even notice because you are delivering a speech not acting in a drama.

Use Your Voice

Many people tend to start shouting when they make a speech under the immense heat of emotions. You cannot do that otherwise you will scare your listeners off.

You can actually rely on you normal voice and speak as you are speaking with members of your family or a group of friends.

Use Your Body

You also need to give physical impressions through your body. Your body is a great tool to impress your audience if you know how to use it properly. You must have full idea of how experienced speakers use their bodies to communicate their message.

For instance, it is better to keep standing than sitting on the stage if you have a choice. It will help you keep 100% of you physical appearance visible to your audience.

Similarly, try to appear from behind the lectern and use only few but well defined gestures.

Be Humorous

You can be a little bit humorous and even self-deprecating during your presentation. Do not take yourself so seriously lest you become a victim of proverbial banana skin.

However, you must use humor only at appropriate places. You cannot force humor in your speech. You need to be naturally humorous and entertaining.

Try to infuse humor by telling exciting stories related to main topic of speech. Never try to sound funny because you are not a comedian after all.

Timing

It is imperative for you to keep track of the time while presenting the lecture. People nowadays have very busy schedules and therefore, set time apart for these types of commitments according to advertised time slots.

Therefore, make your speech succinct and try to finish it in time.

Focus on Relationships

It is often said that your audience should be center of your universe when you are speaking publicly. You must strive to develop and retain relationships with them. You have to deliver your message and it is only possible if you have someone to pay heed to you.

You actually manage to foster three types of relationships while giving a lecture, the one between you and your audience, the one between you and your content and the one between the audience and the content.

In first type of relationship, you engage your listeners and induce interest in them. The second type of relationship enables you to explain your point of view to audience.

The last one allows your audience to relate to your speech and understand why it is beneficial for them.

HOW TO OPEN YOUR SPEECH

The moment has arrived for which you have been preparing for long and suffering sleepless nights. You are standing on the stage and everyone is looking at you. You have all the confidence in the world and finally you have begun.

“Hello, everyone, my name is —— and today I am going to talk about —-”

Suddenly, people start checking their phones, shuffling in their seats, talking to each other, checking the conference schedule and doing everything but listening to you. This is perhaps the worst example of a speech introduction.

It is your introduction which determines how long the audience will keep listening to you. You will fail to effectively convey your message if you manage to bore them right in the beginning of your presentation.

You need to do everything during your introduction to keep the disaster at bay that is losing interest of the public. Following are some effective methods to start your speech with a bang.

Use Quotes

You can put your presentation on the right path by opening it with a relevant yet interesting quote. For instance, you can start with the most famous quotes of Mark Twain that is:

“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”

Use Different Scenarios

Another popular method of starting a speech is using different types of scenarios. They can work wonders for you because they instantly connect spectators to your message.

You can make your audience follow your thoughts and feelings by asking “what if” questions like:

“What if there were no colors in this world? How bland would our lives be?”

Similarly, you can also create an “imagine scenario” in the start to impart a sense of sensation to the audience. It enables each member of the audience to conceptualize an extraordinary scenario, helping you grab their attention for rest of the speech. You can ask questions like:

“Imagine you are stranded in a deserted island for days and the helicopter that came to rescue you has also crashed right in front of your eyes. What ideas would flash in your mind?”

Silence is Gold

People expect you to start speaking as soon as you get on the podium. Therefore, a moment of silence can catch them off guard. A pause or break lasting for 2 to 10 seconds can make your audience quiet down and sit calmly.

You can bring all the attention to yourself with the help of an extra pause or a moment of silence.

Ask Questions

Asking questions is yet another method to open your speech in spectacular fashion. You can ask any rhetorical or literal question. Keep in mind that people intuitively try to answer questions even if you do not seek answers.

Questions like “who would like to live a lavish life like kings and queens?” tend to garner most interest and answers.

Start with a Powerful Statement

Using powerful sentences in the introduction is the best way to keep spectators amazed. You can make your introduction even more interesting by employing the silence technique right after your opening phrase.

Use Statistics

Haven’t we talked about the importance of using statistics in the presentation? You can also get your message across in the introduction with the help of relevant, real and surprising statistics.

The more these statistics resonate with your listeners, better your chances are to astound them.

Use Anecdotes

Do you have any anecdote about the topic of your speech you want to share with the public? If yes, unleash it right in your introduction.

However, the anecdote must be brief because your entire introduction should be only of 2-3 minutes at the most.

Whatever the anecdote you tell, it should emphasize on your speech topic in addition to providing some humor to your audience.

Establish Your Credibility

If you want your audience to remain interested in your speech, you need to establish your credibility in the introduction.

There are many ways to appear more credible such as using statistics and supporting evidences, referencing to your experiences related to speech topic, revealing your credentials and telling your full name and title.

You also need to explain why your opinion matters and why the public should spend some time on listening to your points of view.

HOW TO END YOUR SPEECH

You must start your speech with an exquisite introduction. But, it is also important to end your speech brilliantly. The cliché “thank you” is no longer going to work.

The ending of your lecture should be an amalgamation of passionate final thoughts and words which people can remember for a long time.

In fact, ending your presentation brilliantly is a part of you well-rehearsed and well-executed performance.

Following are some terrific methods to make your conclusion even more fantastic.

End with a Call to Action

You might have noticed that most influential speakers in the world in the likes of Bill Gates and Tony Robins do not end their speeches with a lazy and mundane “thank you.”

You need to culminate your presentation magnificently despite the fact that it takes a lot of creativity and passion.

The best method to do so is to prompt your audience to do something through a powerful Call to Action.

Take the stirring speech William Jennings Bryan made against the gold standard in currency in 1896 as an example.

“Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns: you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

End Your Lecture on a High Note

Ending your speech on a high note like an opera star is yet another wonderful method to stimulate your audience into taking action. You should be vocally and intellectually on the high.

You, as a speaker, should leave your audience thinking just like a comedian makes his audience laugh. It is your last words which galvanize your message, purify your thoughts and mobilize the public.

Plan Your Closing Remarks

You must also plan and rehearse your closing remarks if you want them to be impactful.

Think about the desired end result of the entire activity and it will become easier for you to write down the conclusion that motivates your audience to take action.

Some speakers even design their conclusion first and then write rest of the speech accordingly as well.

End with a Summary

Summarizing the key points is the simplest formula to finish any presentation.

In this type of speech, you tell your audience what you are going to tell them in the introduction, then you actually tell them what you have to tell them and finally you tell them what you have told them. In this regard, you can use following words in your conclusion.

“Now, let me summarize the main points of my speech once again.”

Now, briefly list your key points one by one. This also sends a message to the audience that you are going to finish your speech.

Close with a Story

You can also mesmerize your audience by telling them an interesting story right in the conclusion of your speech.

The story should actually contain a moral which directly illustrates the main points of your speech. However, narrate the complete story and never leave your audience guessing.

Use Some Humor

You can also close your speech with some humor. Tell them an anecdote which emphasizes on the main point of your presentation in addition with making everybody laugh.

Challenge Your Audience

You can also challenge your audience to apply what you have just taught them. You can even ask different questions to them to understand how much they have grasped the concept.

Similarly, there are many other types of closes that can help you achieve a spectacular and memorable ending.

SOME GUARANTEED WAYS TO MAKE AN IMPACT WITH YOUR SPEECH

There are many techniques you can employ to capture the attention of your audience and make some impact through speech.

We have discussed some of these methods in the previous sections. Following lines contain some guaranteed methods to make an electrifying and motivating speech.

Start with a Dramatic Introduction

You can literally introduce yourself to your audience through your introduction. It has to be dramatic, sharp and to the point.

A dull and boring introduction containing words like “today I am going to talk about” is the biggest reason people do not take interest in speeches. Therefore, take your introduction seriously and make it unique, captivating and memorable.

 Always Listen

Communication is never a one way activity even if you are talking to a crowd of thousands. You must listen to others and comprehend their ideas before speaking up if you want to be a good speaker.

Therefore, listen to what people are saying, try to make connection with them and subsequently, put your own thoughts to their opinions and questions.

Offer a Tangible Resource to Take Home

People tend to forget verbal advices no matter how amazing to hear and valuable they are. It makes it difficult for the people to implement them in real life.

Therefore, you can give them a tangible resource or guide to take home.

The guide could contain key takeaways of your speech as well as related examples and advises people can easily implement.

Use Stick Sentences with Adequate Pauses

Sticky sentences not only elaborate your point of view clearly but they also stick in people’s mind for a long time. People tend to only remember powerful phrases and sentences.

They allow your audience to fully absorb the information and reflect upon it. Deliver your most powerful stick sentences, take a pause and then deliver them again. Repeat the process on multiple occasions throughout your speech.

Incorporate Humor

You also need to present yourself as a human and the best way to do so is to incorporate some humor in your conversation.

You can encourage the spectators to be part of your presentation by using humor as it surpasses all boundaries and keeps the audience engaged.

Encourage Audience to Participate

Your audience must also participate in your presentation. For instance, you can get to know the mood of your audience and what they want to hear from you by having a Q&A section right before starting your speech.

They will be more engaged if you only talk about what they want to hear.

Enable Them to Contact You In Future

You can also share your contact information once your speech is over. It allows your audience to make a direct connection to you without doing anything special.

Even if they do not contact you in future, you can give them a feeling that you care about them at “personal” level. In fact, the simplest way to get personal is to share your contact information.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE SPEECH

Preparation is the key when it comes to delivering a blazing speech. We briefly discuss how you can prepare for your all-important presentation a day before under the following headings.

Rehearse thoroughly

You need to rehearse your speech as much as you can. Practice always makes a man perfect and same is the case with speech making. However, do not take the pressure to your nerves and avoid over practicing. Keep everything simple and sweet.

Memorize Opening and Closing Only

There is no need to memorizing the entire speech. What if you misremember a sentence or forget a complete paragraph altogether. Things can become quite embarrassing for you in this case.

On the other hand, just memorize your opening and closing a day before, practice them thoroughly and elaborate on them in the actual speech.

Arrange a Meet and Greet Session

Some speakers even arrange a meet and greet session with their audience a day or two before the speech. You need to share ideas with as many people as possible when you have time.

Shake hands with them and try to appear personable and approachable. You may even learn their names, problems and stories which you can later incorporate into your speech.

Relax in the Evening and Night before the Speech

Taking adequate rest both physically and mentally is also important. You really do not want to appear scruffy and worn out to the public.

Therefore, you need to relax the evening and night before the speech. Take proper sleep, go out with your family or listen to soothing music and everything will be fresh and crystal clear in the morning.

Prepare Your Dress

Clothing disasters are becoming more and more common during speeches these days. You must prepare your dress well in advance to avoid any such disaster in your speech.

Select the dress you want to wear, make necessary alterations if needed and make a full dress rehearsal if possible to check for any faults and problems.

Gather Enough Material

You should have enough but related stuff so you may not fall short of speaking material during speech.

Consider the specified length of your speech and collect extra material, facts, figures, evidences and anecdotes you want to share before time. Now go through all the material and choose what you want to include in your actual speech.

Prepare Your Visuals

Some people commit the cardinal mistake of preparing their visuals just before their speech. You must prepare your visuals at least 24 hours before your presentation. Check them thoroughly and see if you need to change anything.

Similarly, ensure that the public address system is working normally and will not malfunction during the presentation.

HOW TO PERFORM ON STAGE

You should also display a lot of animations, enthusiasm and excitement on the stage. You have to look confident and full of energy if you want to impress your audience even before starting your speech.

You must also overcome stage fright in order to totally captivate your audience and deliver a fantastically wonderful speech. Following tips would certainly be of great help in this regard.

Use the Restroom

Pre-speech jitters and related anxiety can cause many complications such as the need to go to toilet. You should not take any risk.

Simply go to the toilet just before your speech and relieve yourself of any unnecessary pressure.

Familiarize Yourself with the Hall

Most experienced speakers tend to familiarize themselves with the meeting room or hall where the speech has to take place.

Therefore, have a good look at the lighting to microphones, electronics and even the seating arrangement in the room when you have time. Check the room before the speech and ensure everything is according to your likings.

This will allow you to smoothly run your presentation in addition with looking confident and ready.

Look Confident

You need to look confident even if your heart is thumping and your legs are shacking. In fact, clenching your buttocks is one of the easiest and quickest methods to prevent shaking.

You can look thoroughly confident by getting comfortable with your mistakes, smiling to your audience and waving hands to the people who are nodding. You can even hide your nervousness by being more expressive with your emotions.

Take Deep Breaths

Deep inhalation eliminates the restrictions caused by anxiety on the throat and chest. A long slow breath is one of the most powerful tools in the world to combat anxiety.

It helps your body and brain relax by enabling the greater supply of oxygen to lungs and brain.

Therefore, you must breathe deeply in the moments leading up to your presentation.

Adopt a Commanding Position

Your body posture shows a lot about your personality. It has been scientifically proven that your posture greatly influences your mood.

Therefore, you must look attentive and active on the stage. Adopt a commanding and ready position.

One of the best poses to take in nerve-wrecking situations is the power pose. Above all, you can command respect from people simply by standing tall and upright.

Look across Your Audience

When you get on stage, look across your audience to have a better idea of their mood. Some spectators may even wave hands to you. Yet, there are some who would only make eye contact with you.

It is necessary for you to respond to such spectators visually to develop a better connection between you and them. This will greatly help you get through your speech without any real trouble.

Practice the Opening Sentences

Practice your introduction a number of times before the start of your presentation. You get more confident simply by practicing your introduction because you already know how you are going to start and engage the audience.

It also enables you to create a powerful first impression.

Focus only on Positive Thoughts

You can control the physical responses of your body by harnessing the connection between your mind and body. You can enhance the feelings of control and wellbeing by focusing only on positive thoughts during your speech.

For instance, thoughts like, “I am an expert in my field”, “I am confident and credible”, “I am energetic and enthusiastic” can really help you eliminate stress and free your mind of negative thoughts.

Smile

You always need to maintain a pleasant and presentable persona when you are on stage. Smiling helps you relax your nerves, avoid stress, promote a sense of wellbeing and enables you to create a pleasant personality.

You can also exude self-assurance and self-confidence through a gentle smile. You can show your audience that you are very excited and happy to deliver this lecture.

Don’t Resist Your Anxiety

Last but not the least; do not resist your anxiety. You will always feel anxious and nervous especially during first few minutes of your presentation.

Therefore, you will create more problems for you if you start fighting your stage fright right on the stage.

Just focus on your presentation, your audience and the message you want to deliver and the anxiety will slowly fade away.

CONCLUSION

Delivering a speech is always difficult. Even the most experienced of speakers make mistakes during their presentations.

However, you can always improve your public speaking skills.

In this regard, our step-by-step guide or cheat sheet will greatly help you in shedding your fears, combating stage fright and becoming a great public speaker in a short span of time.