Tips for Public Speaking

In this week’s RISE UP meeting, former news reporter Andy Dailey spoke to the group about the importance of public speaking and how we can improve on it.

Public speaking is something that makes many people nervous, but it helps us improve our communication skills, interview for jobs, stand up to bullies, and even increase our self-esteem!

There are three main purposes for public speaking:

1. Informing– In order to inform your audience, you must know the information and be interested in the subject!
2. Persuading– An important aspect of public speaking is the ability to persuade the people that you are presenting to. Convey confidence and convince them of your point!
3. Motivating– If you are trying to encourage your audience, make sure that you speak with excitement! They will not be very motivated if you are speaking monotonously.

Here are our top tips for public speaking that can help settle your nerves and boost your confidence:

• Know the information you are trying to communicate! Make sure that you go over your speech multiple times before presenting. Practice makes perfect!
• Imagine public speaking as having a role in a play; you should use different inflections in your voice to match the situation. If you were speaking about puppies, you would be energetic and positive! But if you were speaking about a grave matter, you would speak with calm concern to express the importance of the situation.
• When you are speaking in front of an audience, in your mind it may seem like you are talking slowly when you are actually speaking too quickly! Remember to speak slowly, even to the point that you think it sounds oddly slow (it actually doesn’t).
• Last but not least, be animated and connect with your audience! Make eye contact with the people you are speaking to. Do not stand in one place and stare at your paper, move around and use hand motions.