Do you know what’s the primary reason for people having stage fright? Not being confident in the way they speak!
This condition is known as glossophobia, where a person fears speaking in public. Research says 75% of adults have it in some form. However, you can improve public speaking skills if you have an engaging voice and mastery of tonal modulations. There are numerous other ways that can make you a distinguished public speaker; let’s know a few of them from today’s blog.
What are Public Speaking Skills?
Do you think someone who speaks to thousands of audiences simultaneously is a public speaker? Obviously, they are! But public speaking isn’t confined to any specific number; it can be any number of people.
For example, if you are the CEO of a company that needs to conduct regular meetings with 10-12 people at minimum, you are a public speaker.
Public speaking skills refer to speaking effortlessly with a live audience. This mainly requires mastery in voice modulations, communication skills, speech delivery, enthusiasm, and comfortable speaking.
Most people fail to engage their audience until the end of their speech and maintain a positive presence. This isn’t because of the discussion topic but how you present that information. If your speech is delivered monotonously and flatly, your audience will disengage, but if it is full of vocal variations, people will be hooked to know what’s next.
However, we will discuss multiple ways to improve public speaking skills and presentation abilities later in the guide.
Public Speaking Skills Examples
Do you want to improve public speaking skills but don’t know how? There are multiple components of public speaking, but here we will discuss a few.
Clear Articulation
If you have clear articulation, you can express your ideas coherently. It means your audience can understand your message and feel the emotions within. You must enunciate and pronounce each word correctly, especially if you are talking to a mixed audience who might not have the same grasp of the language.
Great Presentation Style
Presentations play a vital role in maintaining audience interest in your speech. You can follow popular public speakers like Darren Hardy, Shawn Achor, Oprah Winfrey, and Nick Vujicic to learn what great presentation styles are.
You can feel tense while speaking to people, which will certainly show in your body language. However, if you follow top public speakers, you’ll see they maintain good posture, make required hand gestures, and maintain eye contact with the audience.
Voice Control
Your voice is essential to make you a great public speaker. A voice coach can help you train your voice over time. At the same time, speech analysis software like Voece AI can give real-time feedback on your vocal delivery.
It is an AI-powered voice analysis software that helps you test your voice qualities and send you unbiased feedback. These reports further help you develop your vocal characteristics for better speech delivery.
In the following section, we will look at eight tips to improve public speaking skills, which will not only help you become a greater orator but also help to reduce your stage fright!
Tips to Improve Public Speaking Skills
You can be a good public speaker by implementing leadership and public speaking skills training in your daily life. Below are some tips you can practice to improve your public speaking abilities.
Listen to Top Public Speakers
The best way to learn public speaking skills is to listen to top speakers. You can watch one TED Talk daily to learn the presentation styles of top professionals. However, this doesn’t mean you replicate their style, way of talking, and other gestures. Uniqueness in public speaking sets you apart from others and keeps your audience connected longer.
The best way to improve public speaking skills is by taking inspiration from the greats in the business. It will allow you to understand the nuances-like how they are engaging the audience, when they are pausing, and how they answer difficult questions.
Try to Add Humor to Your Speech
Have you ever heard of Gretchen Robins? Her smart use of humor in the speech engages and inspires thousands of people. Similarly, you can inject humor into your presentation to grab the audience’s attention for longer. But ensure that the humor is in the right taste.
Practice Voice Modulations
In public speaking, your voice is the only source to express your emotions. You must learn articulations, pronunciations, accents, pauses, and more to ensure you communicate the right message to the audience.
Additionally, your volume, pitch, intensity, and other vocal elements must be to the point that they sound soothing and impactful to the listeners. Voece can help you analyze your vocal characteristics and improve your speech delivery.
Be Confident
Building self-confidence in public speaking is essential to maintaining a good posture and controlling your vocal delivery. Many times, new speakers often find their voices sounding shaky on the stage. However, to combat this, you can practice speaking in front of the mirror.
If you want to improve public speaking skills, you must have confidence in your speaking abilities, and the topic you are talking about.
Do Breathing Exercises
You can try multiple breathing exercises at home for better speech delivery. For example, practicing breath control every day can be a great help. You can speak to a voice expert on exercises that improve your speaking abilities.
Practice in Front of Your Family
Constant practice is the only key to improving public speaking skills. You can either try that in front of your family and close friends or with your pets.
Read Books on Communication Skills
Who would have thought that reading books can help improve public speaking skills? Well, the answer is yes, it can help significantly!
There are numerous books that are available that can help you build communication skills. For example, try reading “This Is Marketing” by Seth Godin to learn much about effective communication. Similarly, “DataStory” by Nancy Duarte explains how to turn data into stories.
You can implement the knowledge you acquired from these books in your public speaking training to improve your speech content and engage audiences.
Start Counting Your ‘umms’
Have you counted how often you say “umms” in your speech? We find it interesting, but these filler words often dilute your conversation and disengage audiences. Therefore, the next time you are conversing, count the ‘umms’ and the ‘ahhs’ and try to avoid them sooner.
Also Read: Best Sound Analysis Software to Improve Your Vocal Delivery
Conclusion
Improving public speaking skills can help you be attractive among the crowd and allow you to socialize. Public speaking skills can also help you land top jobs in any industry.
Therefore, not only do you have a personal advantage, but you also ensure career advancements. Besides focusing on your presentation style and body language, analyzing your voice is a must to do. In this process, Voece will help you get unbiased feedback on vocal characteristics and help you improve your speech delivery. We hope this guide can help you to improve public speaking skills and help you accelerate your career growth.
