Public Speaking: How To Start

Confident public speaking come with time and experience obviously. Few people are natural born public speakers.

However, there is a way to short-cut the learning curve and appear much more confident that you may feel inside by mastering the starting routine.

Just arriving at the speaker's stand or in front of an audience and immediately breaking into your speech by blurting out the first few sentences catches everyone almost unawares and also reveals your nervousness.

Likewise shuffling your notes as you begin speaking conveys a negative impression.

Instead, follow this simple 5 step routine before you begin any presentation and you immediately appear confident at public speaking engagements and presentations:

Walk slowly to the speaker's stand or in a controlled, measured way stand up in front of the group or audience and place your notes on the lectern

Look at the audience and around the room for just one or two seconds while you discreetly take in a deep breath

Pause

Smile or at least make sure you have a relaxed facial expression

Begin your first sentence with strong volume and a commanding tone

Discipline yourself to follow this procedure and feel your self-confidence soar!

Note: While your presentation should be extemporaneous, learning the first few words or the first two or three sentences off by heart can do much to make sure the launch is positive and confident.

Here are some other suggestions which are invaluable in developing a confident public speaking style:

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm can make up for a number of other failings on the part of a speaker.

Even if a speaker is not highly polished in his/her presentation skills, an audience won't give it undue attention if the speaker is enthusiastic.

Enthusiasm shows how you feel about the subject. If you have a passion for it, if you just love speaking about it, this will rub off on the audience.

Be Natural

Use your natural, everyday voice. A false, overly precise manner of speaking which is not normal for you will be easily detected by the audience as phony. There should be no need to disguise yourself.

Be yourself, use a natural, conversational style and the audience will concentrate on what you are saying, not on the way you are saying it.

Reduce Anxiety

Reduce anxiety by being in the meeting room or hall early as the audience starts to come in. Greet as many as you can and if time permits have a few words with one or two. Just a brief greeting, introducing yourself, asking their name, where they are from, etc. will really break the ice.

When you get on the platform and see the persons you spoke to in the audience you will feel like you are talking to friends rather than strangers.

When The Mind Goes Blank

If you have a sudden lapse of memory and your mind goes blank you might be able to pick up the threads again by simply repeating the last words of your last sentence. It just gives you those precious seconds needed to get back on track.

In conclusion, be realistic with feelings of nervousness. Some persons may be able to overcome audience fear but never be able to completely eradicate nervousness before beginning to speak.

With experience and practice this initial nervousness disappears after a few seconds once you have launched into the presentation using the five step routine outlined above. Mastering this sequence alone will move you well along on the road to confident public speaking.

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