4 Tips For Public Speaking

If you haven’t noticed, I do a lot of public speaking. It has become second nature to me. To be totally honest, I would much rather be talking to a crowd of people than having a one-on-one conversation. Is that weird? It is something I should probably look into more.

I like the energy that comes from public speaking. No matter how many times I have done my DIY PR presentation, the second I get up there, I get this exhilarating feeling. It wasn’t always like this. It has definitely developed with time and practice.

Here are a few tips that might help you get more comfortable with public speaking:

Be yourself.

When I create my presentations, I make sure that they match my personality and way of speaking. I feel like a lot of times when people present, they feel like “I have to be an expert on this, so I need to act a certain way or use certain big words”. I feel like the problem with this is that you are adding more pressure on yourself. Not only do you have the stress of public speaking, but now you have to remember to act like this character that you have created.

If you are a serious person, then make a serious presentation. If you are a goofy person, put a little bit of that into the presentation. There are a lot of workshops and webinars out there, and the content in them is probably not all that different. Use your personality or style to set you apart.

Wear comfortable clothes.

I can speak from experience on this. Wear clothes that fit and that you aren’t going to be messing with. I once wore a button down shirt that was probably a little too tight around my chest. The button right over my boobs came undone and you could see my bra. I honestly don’t know how long it was like that before I noticed. Then, once I noticed I wasn’t even sure how to fix it because I was in front of people and it would draw more attention to it. While I was waiting for an opportunity to fix it, I kept placing my arms awkwardly over the gaping hole in my shirt. Finally, I was able to turn away and fix it. I tried to be super subtle, but I don’t know how well that worked.

The point is you should not use this opportunity to wear a new outfit. Wear things that you know you feel comfortable in. Another thing to think about is if you are doing a panel or some kind of presentation where you will be sitting and elevated from the crowd, maybe don’t wear a dress or skirt. Again, you are already going to be nervous, so you don’t want to add another worry to your plate and wonder if you are about to flash everyone.

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Think of things in list format.

This is a rule I live by when creating my presentations and when I am answering questions. I try to break concepts down in my head by numbers. This helps me from rambling. For example, when I was doing the panel at the craftHER Market, someone asked how do you know if you are ready for PR. I immediately responded: “here are 3 things to ask yourself before trying to get media”. By assigning a numerical value, it helped me to keep my thoughts organized because I knew I was going to list 3 different points.

In the spur of the moment, it might seem hard to organize your thoughts in a list. However, you will see that if you present a lot, you will probably be asked the same questions. You will be able to come up with the answers ahead of time.

This might not work for everyone, but it has helped me keep from rambling.

It is okay to say you don’t know.

Since you are up there giving a presentation on something, you are probably good at what you do and know what you are talking about. However, things will come up that you might not know the answer to or have experience with. It is okay to say that. You can’t be expected to know everything. Sometimes someone else in the crowd will jump in with their answer, and then it starts a conversation which can be nice too.

Anyways, public speaking can be extremely scary. Hopefully, these tips can help to make it a little easier. You have to remember that you are your own worst critic. If you mess up or say something you feel like you shouldn’t have, no one will even notice! You just have to remember that.

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