It’s no surprise that people often find public speaking difficult. It can be scary and extremely nerve-wracking! But here are five top tips to show how students can improve their public speaking. After all, it is about to become a lot more commonplace as you reach the latter part of your studies and, ultimately, your career.
Breathe
It’s so easy to forget to take deep breaths but this is the first and most important thing you need to do when delivering a public talk. Count to ten in your head before you have to speak make sure you calm yourself down! Taking deep breaths before and throughout your talk will allow you to focus, remain calm and talk at a good pace.
Think of the reality
While this public talk might be super important to you, nothing is ever as bad as it seems! Bring yourself to reality and focus on the bigger picture. Even the worst case scenario is never that bad.
Have faith in yourself!
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Accept the silence
Don’t be afraid of the silence. It’s totally normal to feel slightly uncomfortable during a silent pause, but that’s what’s supposed to happen when people are properly listening to you. Think of it as a good thing. It just means that people are taking in everything you are sharing!
Top Tip: When giving your public speech, look at the gaps in between the heads of your audience! You’ll find that this makes it less ‘awkward’ and you won’t be staring directly at people.
Have confidence in yourself
Manifest that you can do this because you can! ‘Fake it ’till you make it’ and you will succeed. Confidently walk into the room and try and hold yourself well. It doesn’t matter if you crumble, but try and believe you can do it and you will!
Practice
And lastly, practice. While you can remain confident and strong in your presence it’s important to practice too! Try and recite your script multiple times and read it out loud to someone to practice beforehand.
Top Tip: Try recording yourself and listen back to it while you get on with something else. You’ll naturally be listening to the voiceover and it’ll help you remember it in the longrun.
Try these top tips before your next talk and believe in yourself. It is often a struggle for introverts, wondering how students can improve their public speaking, but you’ve got this. Good Luck!
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