How To Be A Confident Public Speaker

Having confidence is the key part of being successful in almost any situation. Especially if you want to know how to be a confident public speaker. And it’s especially important when it comes to your professional speaking life. One of the areas where confidence really matters is public speaking.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are afraid of public speaking. And that includes seasoned professionals too. Public speaking remains one of America’s top fears. Public speaking is a difficult process and skill for many people to master so you are not alone.

Speak Slowly

If you’re doing a virtual event from home or speaking in person, you want to talk slowly. If you find your speech is ending way too early, it’s because you’re talking too fast. Now, I know you’re nervous. And our nerves can get the best of us if we don’t learn how to control them. And that can happen to anybody when it comes to public speaking. Take a pause between your talk. Why do you want to take a pause? Taking a pause gives you a chance to scan your audience. Look around at your audience and just see their facial expressions and you will feel less jittery and nervous, Plus you can collect your thoughts and continue with your speech.

Connect With The Audience

• Let your audience know up front that you want engagement from them up front
• Ask open questions to your audience for feedback
• Start a question with How many of you then raise your hand to
• See how many people in the audience can relate to what you are saying
• Never speak when a audience participant is speaking

Use Range When Speaking

• Your speaking range is as important to speaking as music range is to a performance
• Did you know that your voice can be considered an instrument?
• Voice is just like a piano white keys and black keys
• When you are a new speaker your voice might come across as being more monotone.
• You fail to use your speaking range—from loud to soft, from whispering to shouting, from mild to wild.
• When you start to gain confidence, you learn how to project your voice and start look at the audience
• Speaking range is the key to engaging your audience

Develop A Stage Persona

You need to step out of who you are, and develop a character or stage persona. What do I mean by developing stage persona? Find or channel someone else that you admire. Somebody’s style that you can copy until you find your own style. I’m not telling you not to be authentic and be who you are but  you need to step out into another persona to get out of your head. Here’s a person who is great at what she does. She has a persona. I’m talking about Beyonce. Her persona is called Sasha Fierce and we know Beyonce is fierce when she is out there performing as a totally different person Ms. Sasha Fierce.

Make Sure You Dress Comfortably

Dressing comfortably makes you more confident becaus you are less worried about how you look. You want to wear clothes that make you feel beautiful and professional. Don’t go out and buy something new and wear this for the first time. Your clothes may have fit you and looked great in the store. But when you get up there on stage and you’re moving around that can be a whole new experience.Take time to plan out what you are going to wear the night before. Take the stage as the cofident speaker you are and command that stage.