Here's how you can enhance your public speaking skills.

To enhance your public speaking skills: ✔️ Practice frequently to refine your messaging and delivery. ✔️ Study great public speakers and emulate their techniques. ✔️ Engage your audience through storytelling, questions, and visuals. ✔️ Manage your nerves by embracing them and visualizing success. ✔️ Seek feedback from trusted friends to identify areas for improvement.

I once heard a quote about public speaking that I have successfully used as the foundation of my approach for years — be confidently present, not overly prepared. Know your material. Know your audience. Know the context. Once you are able to sit comfortably in your understanding of each and the relationship between them, you can speak with a voice of both authority and humility, and you can focus on connecting with your audience.

Public speaking mastery lies in preparation and practice. Tailor your speech to your audience, craft a clear structure, and rehearse often. Embrace your nerves, project your voice, and make eye contact. Let your personality shine through with stories and humor. Record yourself to identify areas for improvement. Finally, remember strong beginnings and endings leave a lasting impression.

The more you know, the easier it is. Speakers who know just enough to do a one-hour talk struggle because there is no depth to their knowledge. Speakers who could do a multi-day workshop on their topic have no problems speaking for any length of time and answering any question because nothing can phase them. Knowledge is power, in speaking, consulting, sales and many other business settings.

🎤 Record your talk using inspiring background music. The music will provide a temp, background score, just like in a movie. Then listen to your recording, find where you can do better, and re-record it. Just keep going until you’ve mastered the talk. This works best if you have a full transcript of your talk. By the time you deliver your talk you can just have an outline and discard your transcript. (Or keep it on hand under the outline.) The music in your mind will help you with tempo.

The only tested and trusted antidote against fear of public speaking is to practice, practice and do more speaking engagements for free until you can face any crowd.

The importance of regular practice cannot be overstated in public speaking. Consistent rehearsal makes one more familiar with the material and reduces anxiety. Practicing in front of a mirror or recording can provide valuable feedback on body language and vocal delivery. Seeking opportunities to speak in front of small groups before progressing to larger audiences allows for gradual confidence building. This systematic approach allows for the gradual refinement of presentation skills, ensuring each speech has a more substantial impact.

Use the time-tested formula of storytelling up front: 1. Once upon a time there was a... (situation) 2. All was good and people were happy 3. But then something changed and conflict arose 4. People did not know what to do and started to despair 5. But then someone stepped up and fought the villain/problem 6. After a final colossal moment, they won 7. And they lived happily ever after It does not matter if you are presenting a software solution, new corporate strategy, or selling a car. This works, and it has for hundreds of years. THEN, get into the details.

Engaging your audience starts well before you give your talk. I encourage and invite you to not only know your topic, but get to know your audience in advance by asking a series of questions. I have a list that ranges from 10-25 questions to discuss with the client in order to know the group in detail. Questions might be: -What is the outcome you desire from this meeting/my talk? -Who will be in attendance (age, education, roles, etc.) I ask a series of questions about how my content is relevant for this group. With this information, you can then integrate this into your content and create much higher engagement with your audience.

❌ NEVER apologise by saying: ❌ “Oh, I was invited at the last minute.” “Didn’t know I was presenting until yesterday.” “Sorry, I’m a bit nervous.” 🤷🏽♂️ This embarrasses your host & reflects badly on you. 🙈 No matter how confident you are, an apologetic opening line sets your whole talk on a negative tone. NEVER do it. Always open a talk being grateful/thankful for the opportunity. Find the person in the audience that most intimidates you. Make sure you make regular eye contact, smile, “be with them.” The rest of the room will be easy and make sure you cover the whole room: left to right, front to back. 👀 Use pauses, silence as much as you use words. Walk around if you can. Use inflection in your voice with lots of energy. ⚡️

Engagement is paramount for a trainer, particularly when your participants are adult learners, even more so if the cohort is made-up of executive leaders. I deploy C.A.P. for engagement: 1. Contextualise - you need to contextualise differently for different cohorts. Your examples, stories and cases will differ basis this difference. I may use 'Escape to Victory' as an example of teamwork with an international cohort but maybe '83' as an example with an Indian cohort. 2. Agile - different learners in the same cohort may learn differently. Some learn visually - videos; others by reading - hand-outs; still others by doing - exercises. 3. Provoke - nothing works better than provocations that trigger open dialogue.

I have found this to be the bedrock of a good speaking engagement. And I have never given any speak, lecture or seminar without engaging my audience. I always start with an open question, and that also helps me to relax and deliver a nice speech.

I agree. Body language, voice modulation, and facial expressions are all critical for connecting with your audience and conveying your message. And take time to consider your clothes. Be comfortable (whatever that means for you).

Here are some tips to consider. This applies to non-virtual sessions. 1. Stand tall with good posture. 2. Make eye contact. 3. Use purposeful gestures. 4. Smile genuinely. 5. Face your audience. 6. Avoid crossing arms. 7. Stay open. 8. Mirror others. 9. Keep a good distance. 10. Relax your shoulders. For virtual sessions, it’s essential to have a good webcam and lighting to highlight the facial expressions, gestures. Intonation plays a crucial role as well.

The level, volume, and cadence in your speech will guide your audience engagement. Be strategic. Practicing the presentation style as much as you practice the content.

The trainer's voice is one of the most important tools to use in delivering the training session, using this effectively will keep your audience engaged in the session, and this can be achieved through proper practice and training to control monotones and deliver the session with passionate and confident voice

Julian Treasure's TED Talk on 'How to speak so that people want to listen' helped me a immensely. Give it a listen, it's worth the 10 minutes if you're looking to develop!

One trick I learned to manage nervousness on stage, is to give yourself some time to adjust to the stage. Don't rush into the topic as soon as you enter. Try to absorb the surroundings, if possible have small talk with the audience. This will not only help to overcome your nervousness, but also engage the audience.

Early in my speaking career, someone asked why I wasn't nervous despite being so new to public speaking. I told them it was easy because I had practiced in my living room a hundred times. I've found that most people are nervous speaking in front of an audience simply because they didn't put in the work to practice it. Practice in the shower... in your living room... in the car... on the treadmill.

Another way to enhance your public speaking skills is to record yourself while you practice, review your recording and then make note of things you want to improve. Repeat the process until you can identify and work on as many of the areas you believe need improving. Be sure to recognize your strengths as well as areas that need improving and use those strengths to help you develop and maintain confidence throughout your practice sessions.

I was not good in public speaking when I first started working. Recently, I have received feedback that they loom up to me in terms of public speaking. Here are some things, I think will be helpful to remember: 1. Recognize that mastering public speaking is a marathon, not a sprint. Accept that it requires dedication and that your unique style sets you apart from others. 2. Don't be afraid to try something new. 3. Practice in front of a mirror everyday or record yourself so you can also give feedback to yourself. 4. Look for a mentor and take note of their best practices. 5. Lastly, remember, we are all continuously evolving. Stay focused on your objectives, and with time, your skills in Public Speaking will flourish.

Seek out opportunities to speak publicly rather than waiting for people to ask you…this will help you get more practice. Also, ask for feedback after your speaking g opportunities. I like to ask “what did the do well” and “what would help make me even better” Recording your presentations and find your own strengths and opportunities.

Personally, at the beginning of my career, I was not a confident public speaker, for several reasons, but the main one was the lack of experience in practising this, to overcome this I took several steps to face this, such as the proper preparation for the topic, attending training session about public speaking and train of the trainer, practising on a small scale of my colleagues, monitoring my self, ask for feedback, as we go there was improvement, now im delivering professional training sessions to several audience

When I tell people now that I used to be terrified of speaking in public, almost always, people find it unbelievable. It was a long and hard journey getting to where I am today. I've read every list of 'do's & donts', I've tried to emulate several people whose style I admire and I've observed countless speakers in action. At the end of the day, there are only two things I found helpful: 1. Find your style. You will automatically feel more confident and in control. And that's what makes you impactful and memorable. 2. Speak loudly, feel the movement of your lips and jaw. It helps you manage your rate of speech, intonation and clarity.

Speak. Look for every opportunity to tell your story. With friends. At work. With your beer league hockey team. Find your voice - your way to connect with an audience, command attention and motivate action. Be OK with being not great right away. Get better every day, a little at a time. Don't try to be someone else. Explore new storytelling channels as you get more comfortable. Never stop refining your skills and evolving your capability.