6 Tips to Help You Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

There comes a point in everyone’s career where you might need to make a speech. Whether it’s a small presentation in front of your peers, a pitch in front of potential investors or as a guest speaker at a big conference, public speaking tips never go a miss. 

We’ve devised a step-by-step guide for people who don’t like public speaking, to conquer their fear, gain some confidence and absolutely smash their next public speaking engagement out of the park. Keep reading to find out how…

1. Know your audience

The first thing you’ll need to know is who your audience is. Who will be attending the speech? It could be a group of colleagues or a large audience of people you’ve never met before. Either way, you want to consider a couple of things.

Try to find out the demographic of the group – this will help you work out how formal you can be and which tone of voice to adopt in your speech. It’s also handy to know what companies they’re from, as well as their job roles. For example, you may speak differently to a room of shareholders at a company update compared to a room of potential employees. Understanding who they are and why they’re there will help you perfect the content and delivery of your speech.

2. Practice makes perfect

As common as the saying is, practice really does make perfect. The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll feel. Make sure you read through your notes both in your head and aloud so that you know them inside and out. Take the time to rehearse so that come the day of the event, you know your main points by heart.

It’s fine to have a copy of the speech in front of you when you’re speaking, but we’d recommend breaking the text into paragraphs (each a few lines long) so it’s easier to read. That way if you glance down at your page, you’ll find it much easier to spot where you are in the text.

You should also rehearse your speech in front of a small audience of colleagues or friends before the event – they can give you some honest feedback which will help when it comes to the big day.

Working your way up from a small audience to a bigger one is a more natural way of conquering your fear so you’re not thrown straight into the deep end.

3. Check out the venue

If possible, it’s a good idea to check out the venue before the event. Rehearse your speech in the venue, as this will give you a good idea of the size of the space, and allow you to adjust your tone of voice accordingly.

You should establish whether you’ll have a microphone and where this will be positioned. Some venues offer handheld microphones and some offer fixed ones. Practise your speech with the equipment before the real thing.

It’s also a good chance to get a feel for the venue and the layout ahead of the event.

You can work out how big your audience will be, and where they’ll be sitting. Having all of this information before the event means there's one less thing you have to worry about.

4. Relax and prepare 

When you wake up on the day of your big presentation try to have a stress-free morning – wake up with plenty of time and make sure you have a good breakfast to keep you fuelled and energised.

On the day of the event, we would recommend a few warm-up exercises to get yourself prepared for the big speech. Make sure you take a few deep breaths, drink plenty of water and try to avoid shouting or talking excessively beforehand. If you have time, try to read through any presentation notes one more time just to refresh yourself. 

5. Consider your environment

This is a common thing that people overthink when going to do a public speech or presentation.

Too many hand gestures during a speech can be very distracting for the audience – any continual motion will attract attention away from what you’re saying. However, too few hand gestures can make you look static, nervous and unengaging. You want to find the perfect medium. Try to make small natural gestures that add to your presentation. 

If you’re standing in front of a microphone, sometimes it’s useful to hold small note cards which you can have in one hand throughout the presentation.

This will stop you from fidgeting or gesturing too much as well as ensuring you have a prompt available if needed. We always recommend purchasing some branded note cards to give you that professional edge.

6. Ask for feedback

As with any event, always ask for feedback to help you learn and develop your skills. 

There’s always room for improvement in everything we do, so don’t worry if there are some areas to work on- constructive criticism is sure to help you with future public speaking engagements. Be patient, and don’t expect to be an expert overnight.

We hope this little six-step guide has been helpful in making you feel more confident about your public speaking skills. Good luck with your next speech.