11 Keys to Successful Public Speaking

For many speakers, an annual meeting can be a frightening place. Very often your boss, your boss’s boss, investors, celebrities, and lots of colleagues are listening to your every word. No wonder speakers get nervous.

Here are some tips to try to manage that nervousness. You’ll never get rid of the butterflies, but you can control them better.

1. Start by knowing your opening better than you know your own name. Practice that frequently, and always in front of other people. (Remember, the reason you are nervous in public speaking is because you’re in front of the public, so practice in front of the public.) Recite your opening to everyone and anyone who will listen.
2. If at all possible, start your presentation with a story which (see previous point) you can recite in your sleep. Stories are the easiest thing for most people to tell and audiences like stories.
3. Never start with a joke. It will just get you into trouble, and the audience isn’t ready for it.
4. Mingle with the audience prior to the presentation. When someone asks you what you’re going to speak about, use it as a mini-rehearsal opportunity and give them an elevator speech synopsis of what you are going to say. You might even give part of the opening. Do this to everyone you meet while you are mingling.
5. There are some breathing exercises which require more space to explain than I have here, but practice breathing in slowly through your nose and slowly letting it out. If you can practice that and associate that with calming down, then you can use that technique on stage before you speak.
6. Hold a pen in your hand. For some people this acts like an anchor to calm them a bit.
7. Smile. This will trick your brain into thinking you’re in a happy place.
8. Pick out folks in the audience who you can talk to and who seem friendly and attentive. As you talk move your gaze from one to the other, but don’t forget to also look at the whole room.
9. Try not to read verbatim from notes. If you lose your place all hell will break loose. Better to have key points and speak to them.
10. If you do get lost, stop talking for a second, take a breath and regroup. It will seem like it has taken forever, but the audience won’t even notice.
11. Finally, I know from my workshops that presenters often evaluate their performance as being “very nervous” yet the audience saw calmness. The audience wants you to be great and they are always on your side. Now go wow them.