Witnessing an effective public speaker work their magic is a captivating experience. Their words flow effortlessly, their movements are calculated, their message – strength, and confidence. Naturally, effective speakers captivate their audience by combining all of the right verbal and non-verbal cues. It makes you wonder – were they born with it, or did they work for it? Even if you’re not the greatest public speaker, learning these public speaking tips can surely make an impact.
Utilize Non-Verbal Cues to Your Advantage
There is a lot more to public speaking than your words alone. Interestingly, verbal communication accounts for just 7% of all communication. Hence, 93% of communication is facilitated by non-verbal cues – your body language. Hence, one of the most important public speaking tips to remember is to master your body language.
For starters, taking inventory and assessing your current level helps to identify what you should be working on. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- First, am I utilizing a confident tone of voice? Am I speaking with conviction?
- Second, how does my posture look? Am I slumping my shoulders? Am I conveying energy and openness?
- How am I doing with taking up space and conveying ownership of my platform?
Improving your non-verbal cues to complement your message starts with an honest assessment of where you’re at now. Furthermore, if you’re having trouble conveying confidence during your public speaking engagements – you simply need to practice more. Truthfully, there are very few naturally-talented public speakers out there. Most effective speakers have been groomed by years of practice and studying public speaking tips.
Use Open Gestures
If you’re not open to your audience, how can they be open to you? Hence, using open gestures conveys that you respect and appreciate your audience. Furthermore, this adds a level of warmth to the interaction that is sure to gain their attention and perhaps empathy.
Avoid defensive postures or actions like folding your arms or putting your hands in your pockets. Subconsciously, these actions convey that you might be hiding something.
Express your openness by taking up space. Feel free to walk back and forth and utilize the real estate set aside for you. Also, learn to use your opens and open them as you’re speaking to put an exclamation point on your sentence. Ultimately, it’s important not to overdo this – but it can be very effective when utilized properly. Finally, be sure to smile and make eye contact. This conveys that you’re speaking directly to the audience and not simply going through the motions. Also, smiling signifies happiness and confidence. As a presenter, you want to communicate that you are happy for the opportunity of presenting to your audience. Furthermore, smiles are contagious – therefore you are encouraging your audience to smile as well. At the very least, this allows you to draw from that positive energy and gain momentum during your speech.
Public Speaking Tips – Use Visual Aids
Great speakers deliver a strong message in combination with meaningful visual aids. When adept speakers utilize powerful images – they make a lasting impression on their audience. Actually, studies show that people can recall up to 2,000 images with about 90% accuracy days after being exposed to the images. Hence, utilizing presentation aids like a PowerPoint template or Google Slides themes help deliver a message to remember.
Furthermore, professionally-designed PowerPoint templates take the guesswork out of creating your presentations. Simply download them and fill in content or utilize drag-and-drop functionality to add high-quality images and assets. In the end, you get a visual aid that complements your speech and drives the point home.
Ultimately, you may not possess presentation skills innately. However, with a little hard work and public speaking tips – you will compete with the greatest. Don’t forget to use tools at your disposal like Google Slides themes to present a beautiful visual aid, and craft a strong message. Good luck, and thanks for reading.