Public speaking isn’t hard, I remind my clients that it is just a conversation with more people. The challenge for many new presenters is that they envision the audience as cruel, rowdy, and a group wishing ill-will on the presenter. However, in the vast majority of cases (if you’re not a politician), your audience is quite hospitable and they want to see you do well. After all, your audience is spending their time watching your presentation, why wouldn’t they be rooting for your success? Knowing these basic presentation techniques will make you a better presenter, and your audience will appreciate it. Mastering these presentation techniques will make you a better presenter, a speaker audiences love and one they will invite to do more presentations. 9 Basic Presentation Techniques Your Audience Appreciate Arrive Early for Your Presentation – Rushing to a presentation increases your adrenaline, and being late is rude, so I suggest
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I’m often asked by audience members, social media followers, and prospective clients about overcoming their fear of public speaking. Other times, the person is not scared, they just don’t know where to start with speaking. They either know presentations are important to their career or hobby (like speaking at church) or they recently received a promotion where they need to speak, so they ask me how to build self-confidence in public speaking. Although building confidence is different than overcoming fear, I regularly see confidence building as the step after overcoming one’s fear. Because once someone’s fear is gone, they want to grow their new found “power” (skill) in speaking. How to Build Self-Confidence in Public Speaking Start Small – You can’t build your confidence sitting on the sidelines, you need to do it. Look for events and associations where you can speak, especially ones with smaller audiences of 8-25 people.
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Today’s workplace has three distinct generations – Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials (and some count the microgeneration “Xennials“). As I’ve mentioned before, public speaking is one of the best ways to portray your expertise and an amazing way to generate new prospective clients, but how is a young professional supposed to speak to older audiences? 9 Keys to Speak to Older Audiences Self-Confidence – First of all, realize that you know things that others do not and you have knowledge to share. You do not need to be near retirement age to be knowledgeable enough for public speaking. For example, TED Talks feature numerous young professionals with strong messages. Speak About What You Know – I always suggest that you should speak about what you know, so you are confident in your message. When you’re younger than most of your audience, this advice is even more crucial because you don’t want
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Although public speaking shares some characteristics with acting, the two are not the same. Let’s start with the similarities between public speaking and acting: a stage (and stage fright), maybe a microphone or voice projection, eye contact, potentially props, and definitely an audience (however, the audience is there for different reasons). Your days in drama club don’t go to waste if you’re practicing to become a good speaker, but you can’t rest on your laurels if your background exclusively involves the theater because public speaking is not acting. 7 Reasons Why Public Speaking is Not Acting No Director & No Stage Cues – One of the biggest differences is that most speakers are self-directed and do not have someone telling them what to do and where to stand. Even if you’re using a presentation coach like myself, my role is to guide you through preparing for your presentation, not do your
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Many new presenters shy away from speaking because they are nervous presenting and it may bore them. You have to learn how to overcome your fears and how to have fun presenting. Luckily, you can overcome the fear of public speaking and actually have fun presenting with the same three steps. 3 Ways to Have Fun Presenting Outline Your Presentation – Many beginner speakers make the mistake of scripting out their presentation and tediously review every word with excruciating detail. When presenting, trying to remember that perfect phrasing and word choice makes speakers more nervous and causes them to make more mistakes. Instead, determine your goals, brainstorm your ideas, and create an outline of your presentation. Know that your word selection will vary and improve each time you practice your presentation. Having an outline will free yourself from worrying about what you plan to say and allow you interact with your audience instead
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When you are inexperienced as a presenter, the thought of presenting can be daunting. However, it doesn’t have to be, even if you’re scared of public speaking. I find that proper preparation will cure up to 80% of stage fright and the remaining anxiety can be a good thing because you can use that adrenaline to add excitement and passion to your presentation. (Most experienced presenters need that rush of adrenaline, otherwise, they feel their speech is left flat.) Beginner speakers (and experienced presenters) need to go through the full presentation preparation process. The most important thing to your presentation is to remain audience-centric, meaning the focus of your presentation is for your audience and not for your benefit. Even if you’re presenting for work as either a bid presentation or thought leadership presentation, you want to create a message that inspires and/or educates your audience, not sell them something. To
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After my post last week (Presentation and Public Speaking Terms to Know), a reader emailed me asking, “What is the difference between public speaking and presenting?” Admittedly, I did not know because, in today’s common language, people use the two words interchangeably, although they have two distinct differences (see below). When it comes to coaching public speaking and presentation skills, there is a big difference, and I luckily and subconsciously nailed it. (Hint: The difference between the two types of coaching is actually my biggest pet peeve with “public speaking consultants”.) Let’s start off with the official definitions. According to Dictionary.com: Public Speaking – noun: 1. the act of delivering speeches in public. 2. the art or skill of addressing an audience effectively. Presenting – verb (used with object) 1. to furnish or endow with a gift or the like, especially by formal act: to present someone with a gold watch. 2. to bring, offer, or give,
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Every industry has jargon (words, phrases, or expressions used by a profession, industry, or group specific to itself; terms which can be difficult for others not familiar with the group to understand), including the presentation world. Instead of giving you a school-like list of definitions from the dictionary that you’d find in a high school public speaking class or speech & debate club, I wanted to define commonly misunderstood presentation and public speaking terms you should know as a speaker. For this list, I will be brief to give you a basic understanding of each term. I’ve added links to blog posts I’ve written about that topic to give you a deeper knowledge. Presentation & Public Speaking Terms to Know Lectern – Technically, a lectern is a skinny desk or stand with a slanted top that a speaker stands behind, commonly used when reading. Many people use it synonymously with a podium, which
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A few months ago I had the pleasure to speak at the local Women in Architecture of AIA New Orleans event. Afterward, two women from the audience approached me about a specific concern, public speaking with an accent. Being in New Orleans I understand their concern. In the city, you will hear a distinctive local accent that many call “Yat”, as in, “Where Y’at?” (Where are you at?) that is different from the stereotypical Southern drawl heard in more rural areas. When traveling, I’ve been mistaken for a New Yorker and a Chicagoan because of my accent, but it is just my New Orleans accent. These two ladies had the same concern about public speaking with an accent but came at it from two different aspects. One of them was from the Midwest and recently moved to New Orleans; she had the classic Minnesota “don’t ya know” accent that I hear from
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The biggest mistake a presenter can make is skipping speech outlines. Without an outline for your presentation, you will go off topic, waste time, and lose your audience in a “spider web presentation” that changes topics widely. These repercussions frustrate your audience and lead to a poor ROI of your presentation. Never start developing a presentation in PowerPoint! Whether you’re new to public speaking or just trying to improve, start every time with speech outlines to ensure your success. Presentation Preparation Process: Brainstorm Speech Ideas – Think of all the potential things you can say about your topic and write them down in a list, or I prefer to use notecards. Don’t worry about silly ideas or thoughts that don’t fit just yet. Flesh out each idea and random tangent your brain has and document them in this process. It is okay, and even a good idea, to grab a
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