Public Speaking Tips: Your Image

The following public speaking tips cover a wide range of subjects and may even be contested by some public speakers. However, if you want to convey a professional image before an audience, you will do better if you follow these important guidelines:

Public Speaking Tip #1: Pronunciation

Pay attention to pronunciation.

If you don't know how to pronounce a particular word - check it in a dictionary. Few things can destroy your credibility more than making a major pronunciation error. After all, if you don't even know how to pronounce the word, how can your listeners have any confidence you know what you're talking about.

Online dictionaries have the added benefit of attached audio files so you can just click on the word and actually hear it being pronounced. Merriam Webster Online is one of the best resources you can find for checking words, meanings, and pronunciations with sound: rel=nofollow http://www.m-w.com

Public Speaking Tip #2: Speak Extemporaneously

If you are ever tempted to give a speech or presentation from copious notes, almost reading them verbatim, consider these 4 major benefits of speaking extemporaneously:

Your outline can be flexible and adapted at the last minute.

Extemporaneous speaking keeps the speaker mentally alert with a subsequent effect on the delivery.

You are able to have excellent visual contact with your listeners, establishing direct eye contact as you look around the audience.

You can enjoy using a conversational, more informal style of delivery which will develop a rapport between you and the audience.

Public Speaking Tip #3: Visual Aids

If you decide to use visual aids in your presentation make sure their purpose is to instruct rather than entertain so the audience will feel they are really learning something.

Visual aids can hold the attention of an audience and make a deeper impression if they are used well. Be sure everyone in the audience can see the visual aid clearly.

Public Speaking Tip #4: Keep To Time

Keep to time! This is an important one.

If the audience knows you have been scheduled 30 minutes for your presentation, a large section will stop listening after 30 minutes. It doesn't matter how great the material is you are presenting, a proportion of your audience will have their eye on the clock and mentally switch off once your time is up.

Public Speaking Tip #5: No Obscenity

Using any kind of obscenity, even for emphasis, is a NO-NO.

Hollywood movies may be filled with it, but it only serves to cheapen a public speaker.

Yes it may get a few laughs from a section of the audience but the overall effect on you as a speaker is negative. There are other ways of putting emphasis on a subject without running the risk of being offensive to at least a percentage of your audience.

Avoid obscenities like the plague.

Public Speaking Tip #6: Eat Moderately

Eat moderately before you speak.

Don't do anything that might make an impact on your energy level. When making your presentation you want to be alive, full of energy. The audience will respond to your energy and get involved in your subject.

Public Speaking Tip #7: Regroup

If your audience is scattered in the room or hall, regroup them by inviting them to the front in a close knit body.

It is much easier to persuade, influence, and hold the attention of a group.

An individual who might otherwise be passive will applaud and laugh when in the middle of a group of people who are applauding and laughing.

An audience is far more likely to accept and believe what a speaker is saying when he presents himself and his material professionally. Following the 7 public speaking tips above can only enhance your image!

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