The Public Speaking Tip web site and its instructors are happy to inform you of our new audio public speaking lessons program set to be available online. Those who are involved in speaking publicly for presentation or sales purposes as a beginner or novice will benefit from the lively audio instruction designed to make you more engaging as a speaker. 

We’ve realized that learning from the written page, while useful, can not replace the teaching effect that audio presentations can. 

Each audio presentation series will isolate a unique speaking skill and teach you how to be more adept at connecting with your audience. It is our goal through this program to expand your ability as a speaker.

Currently we are in the stages of developing our lesson plan for this project. However if you’d like to be enrolled in this audio program please sign-up using the below form. 

So we have established what poise is and that it is important. How can we be poised?

First we must realize that poise is difficult to cultivate. Nerves can be the enemy to poise. However it does not have to be that way. Most poised public speakers will tell you they get nervous when they are on stage. However containing our nerves, even though we still have them, is key to gaining the ability of poise. We use the phrase I have butterflies in my stomach. Well what we have to do is get those butterflies to fly in formation.

When cultivating poise remember that it has a bearing not only on how we speak but on how we stand/posture or move. The most important thing to keep in mind here is being natural. If we try and force ourselves into something we do not do naturally we’re not going to have poise on the platform.

Let’s go back to the anxiety public speaking can cause us. In order to reduce that anxiety we need to take steps to aid ourselves in reducing it. Being well-prepared and well rehearsed will help us tremendously to have less anxiety and fear. If we get on the stage and really are not prepared to know where we are going with our discussion poise is going to be far from us. Investing time in preparation is the key here.

The time public speakers are most nervous is usually always at the beginning. Once they get in the flow the nerves settle. So you may want to become very familiar with your introduction. It could be something that you enjoy speaking about. Or you may decide to manuscript your entire introduction to start with. Be careful though with manuscripting. If your entire public speaking session becomes a manuscript it will be less interesting to your audience and your nerves could be elevated having to stick to a script. Free flow is easier and helps to promote poise.

Some speakers may look to ice breakers for help. Perhaps they start by talking about themselves, where they are from or their family. These kind of things can settle our nerves in the most anxious point of a presentation.

Finally remember nobody starts a poised speaker. What speakers need most is live experience. Experience with public speaking will teach you to become poised in public speaking.

Limiting your public speaking time is very important. It plays key to several roles. Respect for your audience and their time. Not beating a subject to death. And for other speakers who may have arrangements to speak after you.

I had the experience several months ago to listen to a public speaking platform for internet marketers. One of the biggest mistakes these marketers were making was going way over time on their presentations. Here’s what happens. Your audience becomes annoyed. Many of them will even end up leaving. That’s a bad thing. If you are trying to sell them something at the end of your presentation do you want to guess how many are going to be interested? Not very many. If you do not limit your time it’s  going to end up hurting your presentation.

Here’s something else to consider. Most of us are not eloquent speakers that are begged for encore performances after we speak. Very few are that good. We can only be tolerated so long. So don’t overstay your welcome with your audience and management.

Here’s how you can practice limiting your public speaking time. One of the greatest inventions in this regard is the stopwatch. Use one. Before your speech do a complete rehearsal and time it. If you are going overtime, then you really need to scale back what you are speaking about. Also keep in mind your abilities. You may be a fast speaker when you are live on the stage or you could have the tendency to slow down. Figure that into your timing for adjustment.

Also it’s not a bad idea at all to bring a stopwatch on stage with you and see how your timing is going. You may need to make adjustments on stage to accommodate your time.

Stick to the time allotted you! It’s for your benefit. If you are selling something at the end of your public speaking engagements your audience will want more and you’ll make more sales. If you wish to be invited back people will be hungry for more of what you have to say.

When is the best time to start learning to speak publicly?  The answer of waiting until your an adult is wrong.  Starting from a young age is the best time to start.  At a young age children’s brains are like a sponge.  They are ready to assimilate information faster than at any other age.

Of course this is not something that you want to force on children.  You want it to be an enjoyable exercise and actually something that they want to do.  And obviously if they are just learning how to speak or learning grammar your children will not need to be fully submerged in public speaking.

These are some of the benefits that your children can achieve if they are involved in learning how to speak publicly.  Being able to converse with peers.  They are able to express themselves in school they’ll be able to advance in their classes.  Later on in life they’ll be benefited on job interviews from their speaking skills.  You probably could spend all day reciting all the areas that children could benefit if they learn the skill of public speaking.

How much public speaking do you introduce to your children? That is a good question and really should be based on each child.  Is the young person actually attracted to speaking publicly?  If so they would actually benefit from a more advanced public speaking course.  However if they are shy and new to public speaking simpler measures would be taken.

It’s time to play public speaking.  Get a podium maybe even a stage and an audience, possibly just the family, and you are ready to get started.  You could start by having the young person just to read something from a book or report.  As they advance you could even have them prepare a five-minute reports on something they enjoy speaking about or feel strongly about. Have them present it to you in our public speaking setting.

If you’d really like to see them advance introduce them to things like gesturing, eye contact and very simple areas where they can improve their public speaking.

Take this word of caution, don’t make this this time of public speaking a chore.  We want to make public speaking something enjoyable and fun.  That probably is the most important thing to encourage your children.  If it becomes work and no longer enjoyable it’s time to pull back.

One suggestion is you could check the school your child is attending for classes on public speaking. They surely would be able to add some training for your young person.

Public speaking is a skill that most people do not embrace at a young age. However later in life can be a vital key to all other endeavors we wish to make. Preparing your children by teaching and learning public speaking can give them the doorway to other opportunities in life that they want to enter.

A part of our interacting with an audience has to do with our body language.  Imagine someone who has something very exciting to say.  Now while they are telling you this exciting piece of news their arms are glued to their sides and their face looks like it is numb.  This picture in our mind no doubt shows us how unnatural it can be if someone does not use body language or expression in speaking publicly.  That is where gestures and facial expressions are important to us as speakers.

What is a gesture?  We can gesture with our hand or hands.  With our gesture we can express a lot.  You can give the emotion of something being good, romantic, bad or offensive with a gesture.  Think of a person or parent who is trying to get their young child to come to them.  What do they do?  Don’t they open their hands with palms facing up to signal to this young child to come to them?  And it works.

Tell me which you think would benefit an audience most.  Someone who says they caught a fish that was big or someone who says they caught a fish that was this big and uses a gesture with their hands to show how big that this was.  It’s clear that the gesture helped because it was more descriptive.  I hope I’m selling you on gestures and facial expressions with your public speaking outings.  Using them will make you appear to be more experienced than most public speakers even if you are not.

Facial expressions are important as well.  The face is something that can communicate without even using the mouth to speak.  Someone who does not enjoy a certain type of food usually will make a face.  That face tells everyone around him that what he’s eating he does not like.  Facial expressions can also note care or love.  We can use facial expressions to help someone accept a statement that we are making.

Using gestures and facial expressions even has an effect on you as a public speaker.  Believe it or not it can stir you and your voice to better speaking.  For instance someone who smiles while they talk angrily will find that very difficult.  If your hands and believe it or not your face are involved in your communication as a public speaker your talk will be enlivened.

The study of gesturing can take some time and remember that it is something that you want to come natural as you speak.  You don’t want to force a gesture and how much better it is to have a gesture on the spot than to try and plan one out.  Gesturing can come naturally if you make an effort to use it in your everyday speaking.

Facial expressions really should not be hard for most of us to do either.  Try to form opinions on certain things especially what you’re going to speak about.  If you really like it your face is going to show your audience and they will be able to read that by your facial expression.  You can also loosen yourself up for good facial expressions by simply smiling at your audience before you begin.

Lastly study others who are good with gesturing and facial expressions.  You can learn a lot from other people by seeing how they communicate without speaking.  Some of the best and most experienced at facial expressions and gesturing can actually come from those who are involved in acting or making movies.  You can also learn a lot from those who are in positions of public office.

We have created a rolodex of various areas someone looking to impove as a public speaker can go to for guidance and help. If one of these methods appeals to you or you find you are educated best by it jump in with it.

• Public Speaking Seminar

One way to get your name out with the public is to think about doing a free seminar. You could do one on a subject that interests you. Possibly you have a sickness like Diabetes and you want to help others with your experience. You know how many medicial support groups are out there. What an excellent start that would be.

• Teaching Public Speaking

They say that the best way to learn something or become a student of it is to actually teach it.  This can be applied to public speaking.  Notice those who teach public speaking.  Most of the time they themselves are the most talented public speakers.

You may not have a classroom to start teaching public speaking but you can always find a small audience in your family or friends.  Study something that you want to teach about public speaking and teach it to someone else.  That element will be ingrained in your public speaking.

• Public Speaking Coach

A public speaking coach can be a very helpful mentor in making you a better speaker.  The one problem that can arise with public speaking coaches is they can cost money for their advising.  However they can offer personalized advice that can help you improve in specific areas that you would not receive coaching on elsewhere.

• Public Speaking Course

There are many public speaking courses to choose from online and offline alike. They will focus on things like elocution, speaking skills guidance and presentation. The companies supply in their sites the way explanation and schedules for improvement. These are excellent workbooks for improvement. Check the internet or local trade schools for courses.

• Public Speaking Videos

We all love to watch videos on TV.  Television can be an excellent educational tool.  So we do recommend checking out the library for instructional videos on public speaking.  We suggest the library because there you can start watching videos and see if it improves your speaking skills without having to pay for those videos.  Or you can check web sites like Amazon or eBay for videos that instruct in public speaking.

• Public Speaking Books

If you are a reader a good public speaking book could be right down your alley.  My only advice on public speaking books is you don’t want to spend your time reading too much.  Instead I rather see taking a few tips on public speaking and practicing them in use.  Try practicing as you read a book on public speaking training. Remember we are not trying to become good readers - we want to become good tellers.

• Public Speaking Workshop

There are a couple companies out there that will offer public speaking workshops.  They’ll fly you out to their exotic campus where you can practice your public speaking skills amongst other public speakers.  These can be costly and probably not the best start for a beginner.  You may be able to find some local workshops in your area offered by public speaking clubs.  Try checking Google for public speaking clubs in your area.

• Public Speaking Resources

The Internet is full of public speaking resources to check out.  Our web site is a public speaking resource; we updated every week with a new guide for public speaking.  Other web sites are just full of tutorials and guides that will help you to improve in areas of public speaking that you feel you need help in.

As you can see there are many areas for you to look for public speaking help, assistance or advice on your quest to become a skilled and polished public speaker.

Public Speaking Training

We use public speaking in everyday life but use it for a selection of reasons. It is done to encourage and to deliver imperative messages in a well-structured and equally measured manner. However knowing how to deliver messages effectively is the key. Public speaking training can help us there.

Public speaking training is vital to make it as a good speaker. The skills you get hold of in communal speaking are definitely helpful in your everyday job, interacting with people and in your social life. In public speaking training you will be trained to say what you indicate and develop confidence.

As a public speaker you want to deliver a message to your audience that appeals to their soul. Maybe it’s a dream of yours to be able to deliver the speech or message you have with precise effectiveness. Public speaking training will polish you to become the type of speaker you want to be.

Listeners anticipate to be instructed with drive, funniness, vitality and poise. This can be in the outward appearance of creating something catchy like an amazing and curious account, an astonishing outline of an experience. Public speaking training can turn your voice and story telling ability into this.

With public speaking training you’ll be lent a hand in organizing your thoughts so that your addressees may fully understand your memorandum the way you fancy them to understand it. You will be trained, in addition, how to tell undoubtedly but entertainingly using vocal and non-verbal expressions. You get hold of successful speaking and delivery techniques. Aside from these skills, you in addition develop sensitivity to the desires of others and the delivery of messages undoubtedly with the support of influence and body. With this cleverness, you can face something - unplanned interviews, speeches and talks.

Too when you are involved with public speaking training you’ll discover your strengths and weaknesses. Training by experience in public speaking is a lesson in self-discovery. With public speaking training, you develop attentiveness of an audiences expectations and boundaries. Your capability to understand people heightens and you in addition develop into a good listener.

Public speaking training is excellent because you are set to stand by your views and opinions, qualified to face bold reactions, accept them with deference but not essentially agreeing to them. Now, you have the capacity to eavesdrop to opinions unlike yours and intelligently express your opinion on the matter.

There are a set of public speaking training courses to choose from online and offline. A good public speaking training course will focus in on elocution and speaking skills guidance, presentation and more.

If you are serious about public speaking and want to improve for hobby or leadership skills seriously consider public speaking training.

Enthusiasm for Public Speaking

The element of enthusiasm will lend a hand to grip the curiosity of your audience. If you are eager about what you say, your audience will be too. Enthusiasm helps present interest to a speech. While it is imperative to have good content, it is a sparkling eager delivery that will light the fire.

Speak with feeling. Be excited to speak to others about your subject. The speakers facial expressions, gestures, and his influence will imitate the way he in truth feels. One way we can improve in this element is by public speaking training. Here is what you would learn about enthusiasm.

Suppose that he is assigned to tell about what he thinks of his favorite vacation destination. When the public speaker delivers his speech, his information is not really what will move the crowd, but the appreciation for what it means both to the presenter himself and to his addressees. He desires to evoke his feelings of appreciation or enthusiasm into that resort for the marvelous experience he has had. Thus you as a public speaker desire to find your heart involved.

Think about your audience. Another imperative factor in manifesting keenness is having the assurance that your addressees desires to listen to what you have to say. This means that when preparing your presentation, you must not just collect worthwhile ideas. Analyze why your addressees desires to listen to the information, how it will help them.

Work on your content in anticipation of having something that you feel thrilled or showing enthusiasm about.

What if your speech requires a manuscript? In order to do that with enthusiasm study the manuscript. Do some research on things you may not understand. Be convinced that you understand its meaning. Consider how it is beneficial to you and to your audience. Build enthusiasm and a longing to convey that to individuals listening to you.

Consider, in addition, what is on the minds of the your audience. What is their background? What problems do they face? When you get the sense that what you have to say is going to cure some real problem they have you feel an excitement to do so, and keenness comes naturally. Your enthusiasm will follow.

Show Enthusiasm by animated delivery. Enthusiasm is most undoubtedly manifested by excitement in your delivery. This must be apparent in your facial expression. You yourself must be obliged to what you are speaking about.

Balance is needed. Some may be inclined to have too much thrill in their delivery. You do not want to become bombastic or overly poignant. On the other hand, individuals who are withdrawn are very boring. Remember by the end we hope to be invited back again. Finding the right balance of enthusiasm requires practice.

So remember to try and have the element of being enthusiastic in your public speaking. Remember enthusiasm comes from your heart. You must love the content you are sharing and even your audience.

 

Illustrations - Mastering a Masters trick

The master teacher or public speaker knows that having a bag full of tricks or elements to engage his audience is vital to the success of the topic he is covering in his presentation. One element of public speaking that we are going to cover now is using illustrations.

What is an illustration? An illustration can be a story, a likeness or even a physical object. The important element of an illustration is that it creates some kind of response whether it be emotional or intellectually in your audience. And the goal of your illustration is to move away from just speaking words to creating mental images in the minds of your listeners that can be associated with your topic. We are engaging the mind by using illustrations.

An illustration or illustrations in your presentation will create something in the minds of your listeners. What is that? Pictures. Let me give you an illustration of illustrations.

Here’s our exercise: I’m going to say a couple of different words and I want you to take note of what you see in your mind.

Dog
Elephant
Moose
Apple

Now when you read each of those words what came into your mind? Pictures come into your mind. A picture of a dog, elephant, moose or an apple was flashed in your mind. I doubt that in your mind you just saw a picture of the word dog, elephant, moose or apple. The reason for this is because that is how the human brain works. We memorize and see things in our head by pictures. So then we can use this in our public speaking. And the key to that is by illustrations.

In planning out an illustration with enthusiasm to use in our presentation what are some key factors to keep in mind? This is an important part for our illustration to be effective. Consider your audience. Ask yourself these questions. What kind of an illustration would appeal to the audience I will be speaking to? What are the demographics of this audience that might clue me in to what is on the mind of this audience? For instance if you were speaking to an audience in a third world country and the illustrations that you picked had to do with the US stock market I doubt it would have an impact on those listeners. However if you spoke to them with illustrations that surrounded things like growing food or living in mud huts then you would be onto something.

You might also take into account the kind of employment or profession that your audience is probably very familiar with. Maybe even one they are directly linked to. Usually the kind of employment they are involved in plays a key role in what they open their minds to. So if you have an audience of surgeons and you’re talking to them about their financial futures maybe you cross how you’d plan their financial future with planning the incision that would be made on a patient. Illustrations that relate to the type of person you’re speaking to and can be connected to your discussion is your goal.

Some of the greatest speakers in human history were adept at using illustrations. I’ll give you an example of one person who has made a huge impact on the lives of people even though he has not been on earth for a very long time. What he said though still influences people today. The man’s name, Jesus Christ. If you study the things he said and the way he talked you’ll find he taught largely with illustrations. In fact the Bible itself says that Jesus would not speak without the use of an illustration. And many times when those that he was speaking to did not fully grasp what he was saying he would employ illustrations and after he did this his audience would grasp what he was telling them. So there you have a testimony of just how powerful illustrations can be in your public speaking.

Illustrations need not be long lengthy or difficult. If they are it’s just going to be harder on you and harder on your audience to get the point of what you are saying. Instead simple illustrations not filled with too many details but that get right to the point is where you want to be with your illustrations. If you have too many details your audience is going to get exhausted listening to an illustration that has turned into a full blown story.

The transition is also an important element of your illustration telling. You want to find an area in your illustration that parallels the most with the point you are really trying to get across to your audience. When you find that plan to end your illustration there and transition into the point of your presentation.

Illustrations also work well at the very beginning of your presentation. Usually you want something to attract attention to your whole discussion. Illustrations attract attention and can bring the ears of your audience to your speech. That’s why starting out with a simple illustration can benefit you. It also will benefit you because usually telling illustrations are fun and easier than having to explain the main points of your presentation. So by doing that in the beginning you are building your own confidence in your public speaking for the rest of your public speaking outing.

If you’re looking for ideas of illustrations you can check the Internet for various stories to pick from. However the greatest key I have found to finding good illustrations is just by good reading. Usually I’ll pickup illustrations for my public discussions from things I’ve read in the past from magazines, books, news items, facts or internet web sites. So maybe you have something in your memory to use for your illustrations.

Remember that giving illustrations are fun for the speaker. When you think back to your discussion you may find that the most fun came when you talked about the illustration. If you have fun with your illustrations your audience will have fun listening to them. So don’t be afraid to be lively even a little emotional and energetic when telling your illustration.

I hope all goes well for you and the best of success to you with illustrations!

Public Speaking Anxiety - How to overcome it

Public speaking anxiety is similar to the fear of public speaking. There are some differences though between the two. And in most cases the two are connected to each other.

Here is the definition of the word fear from the dictionary:

“An unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger (1) : an instance of this emotion (2) : a state marked by this emotion”

And here is a definition of the word anxiety from the dictionary:

“An abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physiological signs (as sweating, tension, and increased pulse), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one’s capacity to cope with it”

An analysis of these two definitions show that anxiety can cause quirks in the delivery of our speech.

Usually those who have public speaking anxiety experience certain side effects. They sweat profusely while they are speaking publicly and need the assistance of a handkerchief. Others may have trouble with stuttering when they are speaking publicly this despite not having trouble with stuttering at any other time.

So as these demonstrations show us anxiety of public speaking is more like an extension of fear of public speaking. Finding the switch to calm down those fears and anxieties need not be difficult.

Here’s what you have to do, and it falls somewhere in the lines of overcoming fear of public speaking as well. You have to find something anything whatever it may be that you enjoy about public speaking. Is it the fact that what you have to say is going to benefit someone? Think about one person in your audience that your information is going to change their life. If you don’t get up on that stage and tell that audience what you have to say someone is going to seriously miss out in their life. Pump yourself up like an athlete does before a professional game.

Here’s another public speaking tip to help your anxiety. It’s time no longer to think of yourself inwardly but think of the others out there in your audience. If you can think more about your audience than you do about yourself you’re going to cut down on that anxiety. You’ll see true purpose and good that will come from your public speaking. And that anxiety of public speaking will start tumbling down.

You may even need to find an activity, play a sport, watch a movie, play a video game, work a puzzle, go shopping, take a walk anything that will get your mind off the anxiety of public speaking. Do something you have fun with. Otherwise you’re going to drive yourself to an insanity constantly putting yourself in that nervous anticipation.

Mark on your calendar when it is that you need to start preparing for your public speaking and the time beforehand do what ever it takes not to be anxious or concerned over your public speaking.

View your public speaking as a challenge or project that you’re up to the task to master. Your mindset will change from public speaking anxiety to public speaking achievement.