How to prepare for a public speech?

“There are only two kinds of public speakers: nervous ones and liars,” famous writer Mark Twain once said. With that sentence, he described the psychophysical manifestations of stage fright, or the fear of public speaking, quite well.

For the vast majority of people, standing in front of a packed conference room or a TV camera and speaking is not the most natural thing in the world . Many people find it stressful enough to give a business presentation in front of a few colleagues or a speech at a wedding. The best cure for all these problems is certainly good preparation.

When it comes to public speaking, the Internet is full of instant advice that can often be a trap, because it is not tailored to you and your personality. We all have our strengths and weaknesses in speaking, and we need to choose carefully which advice and principles to apply. We want to remain authentic, not pretend to be someone else.

Public Speaking: 5 Key Tips

Most of the clients who contact me to help them with the preparation of their performances - highlight nervousness as the biggest challenge. However, only during education do they realize that there are still a number of things that they hadn't even thought about before. That's why below I'm giving you 5 key tips that will help you prepare for your first (or hundredth) public appearance.

Determine the goal of your public speaking

You need to know what you want to achieve with the performance. Just to inform people, sell them something, change their attitudes, network with them? Is it a combination of these factors, or something completely different? The answer to that question will determine all further steps. "What is the goal?" is one of the first questions I ask each of my clients who come to me for help in preparing a performance.

Define your audience

Do you know who you are talking to? Younger or older? Experts or laymen? How much do they know about your topic? Are you speaking to a CEO team with a 2-minute attention span, or people who are eagerly absorbing your every word? How much time do you have available?

There are 4 basic types of audiences (friendly, neutral, disinterested and hostile), and each has its own rules. You won't try to be funny all the time, just as you won't have to go into long and complex explanations with every type of audience.

Yes, prepare well about the topic, but... when structuring the content, also consider who you are addressing. Something that sounds understandable and interesting to you (due to prior knowledge of the topic and personal interest), may not be to your audience.

Start preparing on time

It is unrealistic to expect that you will excel in a presentation, a speech at a business conference, or a TV interview if you start preparing for it 24 hours before the performance. Start preparing at least a few days in advance, write down notes, prepare the content and structure, separate the important from the unimportant.

Your content must bring concrete value to your audience. Clearly formulate your main messages, instead of stringing together a forest of information. The more concise your content, the more impactful you will be. The average duration of a broadcast statement in a news TV program is 15 seconds, if we are talking about a two-minute feature for Dnevnik. The same applies to conference appearances. You wouldn't believe how a presentation planned to last 5 minutes can easily turn into 10 minutes in reality.

Practice public speaking!

Here we come to the key problem. Most people practice their prepared speech little or not at all before going on stage or in front of the camera. They only say the words out loud for the first time during the performance. That's a recipe for disaster!

It's only when you start practicing that you'll notice that some lines look good on paper but sound bad when you say them out loud. It's practice that will allow you to successfully refine and adjust the content of your performance. Practice in front of an imaginary audience, in front of your family, or simply record yourself with your smartphone. You'll definitely see clearly in the recording which parts of the content or performance you want to improve.

With my clients, we dedicate a significant amount of time to practicing their performance. After determining the best structure and refining the content, we use specific exercises to strengthen the quality of their voice, pronunciation, and nonverbal communication.

Have a positive attitude towards the audience

In our client training sessions, we also dedicate a lot of time and practice to managing stage fright. We learn to minimize the psychophysical manifestations of stage fright. We learn how to shift the focus of our minds from ourselves to the content, and thus turn the stress reactions of our brain and body to our advantage.

A significant part of your nervousness will be alleviated by changing your attitude towards your audience. In 90% of cases, people did not come to mock you or throw tomatoes at you, but to learn something from you. Unless you are a politician giving a speech in a voter-unfavorable area (in which case different rules apply), the audience is on your side and wants you to succeed. So change your attitude from “why are they looking at me so grimly” to “I am so glad that so many of them came to listen to me”.

The same goes for TV. The camera and microphone are pointed at you not to shoot you, but because the journalist has judged that you and what you have to say are important enough for the TV audience. Think more about that content and focus on that content, and less on yourself. These shifts in focus make a big difference.

Everything I have mentioned forms a solid foundation for a public or media appearance. As I mentioned, adapt the performance itself to your style and personality. Be authentic, and don't try to act like someone else on stage. Rely on your strengths, and think less about your weaknesses. When preparing for your next performance, apply these tips to improve your impression in front of the audience, and thus your own confidence.

Good luck,

John

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