Fear of speaking in public can be a huge obstacle if you want to progress your career. Here are several public speaking tricks and a suggestion if you are looking for a public speaking coach. Use Humor, Tell Stories, and Use Effective Language. Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience’s attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that. Don’t Read Unless You Have to. Work from an Outline. Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief outline can serve to jog your memory and keep you on task.

Add some style: If you are using presentation slides, then make the most of them. More than being pretty, the slides should be functional, but adding a bit of fun and colour usually doesn’t hurt. Here are three quick tips to improve slides: Keep the words on each slide to a minimum; Ensure any words or visuals are large enough to be seen at the back of the room; Only include images, videos and animations to help clarify your points. (Don’t add them if they have the opposite effect!); You don’t want to have everything you are going to say in the slides. Just prompts to help remind you what to talk about and audio/visual media to enhance any point you are making. The best way to deal with the (sometimes unfortunate) need to speak publicly is to embrace it, realise how it will help you and your audience, and enjoy the conversation that it sparks. Read more details Public speaking coach.

Mentally prepare. Find time during the hour before your speech for some solitude. Get your mind right. Clear your head. If it’s five minutes before, just relax. The time for making sure you know the material perfectly has passed. Exercise before you go on. It’s almost impossible to feel stress and anxiety after a good workout. If you have the time, exercise. The closer to your speech, the better. It’s also a good time to practice. I like to rehearse while running or swimming.

What people say ? Mike tells us that: If you struggle when you speak, then you are not alone. Public speaking is the #1 fear in America. Millions of people are terrified at the prospect of going up on stage and addressing a crowd even more than they’re afraid of death. And yet, it’s an unavoidable experience if you want to succeed in this world. Maybe it’s a business presentation for your career path, a speech in school, or a toast at your best friend’s wedding. Fear of speaking grips you. But it doesn’t have to. Not anymore.” The Amazon book can be purchased here: Public speaking course book.

All you have to do is admit that you are a bit nervous speaking to your audience. When you do this, the audience will be more forgiving if your nervousness shows up later on. More importantly you will feel more relaxed now that they are not expecting a world-class presentation. Imagine their surprise when you gave them the best presentation ever despite your nervousness. The best way to do this is by joking about it. Here’s an example of a good one. “On the way here, only God and I knew what I will be presenting. (looking a bit nervous) Now, only God knows.”

Mike’s training stretches from private Spanish speaking schools in Mexico, national college debate tournaments, master classes in cultural leadership, certifications in coaching, and his current MBA. Mike has been a professional speaker for 18 years and has spoken to groups of 10 to 10,000. Source: https://thepublicspeaking.school/.