How Does Anyone Excel at Public Speaking?

In short; yes. Some people love public speaking. Lucky them huh?

Some people are blessed with a natural confidence and love being the centre of attention when speaking to a crowd, some people are in such a senior position that there is no reason for them to fear speaking to colleagues or crowds, some are even just so excited and passionate about their subject matter that any nerves melt away. But for people like me giving a presentation or speech is a living nightmare. I stand up; hands shaking, words fumbling, face blushing and back sweating. I forget everything I had planned to say, my stomach drops, my heart pounds and I rush through my content missing out key bits of information just to get the damned thing over as quickly as possible.

It may sound cliche but public speaking is a skill you can learn. And while I am nowhere near a presentation pro, I am going to tell you how to get better at having all the attention on you.

First things first: Prep. KNOW YOUR CONTENT. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you are confident with what you are presenting. Do all your researching and fact-checking well in advance, so that you know you are presenting the correct information. If you are anything like me half of the fear comes from a sudden doubt in the information you are sharing and a worry that it is not interesting, or not 'right'. If you need to email your boss/tutor/colleague to confirm the brief and understand it, do it. It will reaffirm your content, settle your nerves, and may even impress them that you are following up on your own initiative. In a similar vein try to know your audience too. Who is going to be in the room? People you are friendly with and can crack a few jokes with? People who will value straight-shooting facts and figures over a narrative? This will mean you use the right tone, you aren't shocked suddenly walking into the room and seeing a surprise face, and if for example you found out an important member of your audience was obsessed with tudor history maybe you could throw in a tudor reference and get a little personal connection in there too.

Next: are you working with slides? make them beautiful! Peoples minds wander, even if you're saying the most interesting things in the world people need visual stimulation too. It is good to keep the basic layout of your slides the same (e.g. if the title is always in the top right corner, and the body font is always Times new roman in size 11) but if every slide is identical people will just zone out. So here are a few tips to keep it interesting; throw in a bullet pointed list if appropriate so that your points are short and catchy, if you have any data display it in a pretty, colourful graph, make sure they're pretty and impressive from the very start so people are listening and eager from the beginning. A great tip my university tutor told me was to put in what he called a 'relief slide' - by which he meant a slide that was either a big important quote taking up the page or a full bleed image so that interest is re-peaked and viewers get a break from the usual slide templates.

Okay. The presentation is ready. The date is set. Now it's all about practice. Practice your presentation in the mirror, present to your friends and ask for feedback, present to your own phone camera so you can watch it back and figure out your weaknesses - do you 'umm' and 'ahh', do you fidget, do you rush? Just practice and practice and practice until you can do at least the first few slides by heart - this way you will be reciting by memory for the first nerve-wracking sentences, and as the adrenaline drops and you begin to calm down you will be able to start reading and improvising in a little bit more of a relaxed way. I watched myself present once and realised that every time I tried to introduce an idea I devalued my work by saying 'I just thought..', "I Just found that...', 'I just wanted to..." etc. You can also take this 'rehearsal' period to figure out what makes you more comfortable presenting. If you prefer standing or sitting (for me standing makes me feel faint if I am really nervous so I prefer to take a seat by the laptop), holding something or using your hands (some people whose hands visibly shake like to hold a microphone or clasp hands behind their back), etc. Just watch yourself presenting a few times and you will figure out what looks best and what feels best.

Now it's presentation day! here are my final tips:

- dress well, feel comfortable - don't wear something uncomfortable that may distract or annoy you! You know what you're presenting, you know who you're presenting to, you know your weaknesses - you can do this.

- try to show that you are interested in what you are saying and believe that your work is valuable - no one would ask you to present anything if it wasn't!

- if you don't know where to look try alternating between looking to the back of the room, looking up at your slides, looking back to your laptop, and even making brief eye contact with an individual in the room.

- prepare for technical difficulties, they happen way too often and everyone knows it so you can just make a joke about it if it does happen!

- prepare for questions people may ask (you could even plant someone in the audience to ask a pre-decided question!)

- try not to read everything directly off your slides - you can read some notes and add information - but if you have a quote up there do read it out!

- If the mood in the room seems a bit distracted or quiet you can ask a question (real or rhetorical) at a key point, so people snap back to attention and think about your points!

- talk about 3x slower than your nervous brain wants you to. It will sound crazy slow-motion to you in your state of panic, but it won't be.

- just try to relax, embrace it & enjoy the attention; PEOPLE ARE NOT THERE TO WATCH YOU FAIL, as crazy as it may seem you have been invited to talk because your audience wants to watch you succeed! Try to remember that! And good luck, the more you present the easier it will get so take all the opportunities that come your way.