Toastmasters 10 Tips for Public Speaking

10 Quick Public Speaking Tips from Toastmasters International"

Feeling some nervousness before giving a speech is natural and even beneficial, but too much nervousness can be detrimental. Here are some proven tips on how to control your butterflies and give better presentations:



Know your material. Pick a topic you are interested in. Know more about it than you include in your speech. Use humor, personal stories and conversational language – that way you won’t easily forget what to say.

Practice. Practice. Practice! Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected.

Know the audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.

Know the room. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.

Relax. Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile and count to three before saying anything. ("One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.

Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping – it will boost your confidence.

Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

Don’t apologize for any nervousness or problem – the audience probably never noticed it.

Concentrate on the message – not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.

Gain experience. Mainly, your speech should represent you — as an authority and as a person. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. A Toastmasters club can provide the experience you need in a safe and friendly environment.

 

Advanced Media Solutions - Specializing in CD and DVD Replications

Speak Up! A Guide to Voice Projection

Six Minutes has a great article about voice projections for the public speaker.


The key components of a powerful sound are:

1. personality,
2. passion, and
3. strong vocal physique.

The first two components are achieved by being yourself and by being clear about your intention. The third, through awareness and practice.

Click Here to view the full Article by Six Minutes 

Book Recommendation: In The SpotLight, Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking and Performing

In The SpotLight: Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking and Performing is a perfect book for those who are afraid of speaking or performing in front of others. This book provides many different methods and strategies to help you get beyond stage fright and learn to speak or perform with ease and confidence. This book will also help anyone who is self-conscious and uncomfortable in any social situation. You will discover how to:

* Dramatically decrease your feelings of fear, discomfort, and loss of control associated with speaking or performing in front of others
* Minimize your uncomfortable physical symptoms associated with fear
* Significantly reduce the dread of anticipating a speaking or performing event
* Eliminate your need to avoid situations of speaking or performing because of fear
* Create a relaxed and confident state of mind and body in preparing to speak or perform
* Break through your fear and create an inner peace around speaking and performing that you never imagined possible!

Does Practice Make Perfect when it Comes to Public Speaking?

Practice can make perfect when it comes to public speaking. However, it is critical when practicing that you don't loose the ability to remain open with your audience. Consider some of the points below, while practicing to improve your presentation.

1. Practice for timing purposes. If you have a time frame to fill practicing your presentation can give you an average estimated time so that you know whether to add more material before hand, or dramatically reduce material. 

2.  Practice to gauge interest. If you are bored with your speech after a couple of practice runs, consider that you audience will feel the same way. However, if you remain passionate and fired up after practicing, you are more likely to maintain that passion with your audience.

3. Get rid of any awkward sentences. Awkward sentences can be distracting to your audience. Change up anything that might trip you up when presenting.

4. Practice to help build confidence in the material that you are presenting. A confident speaker is bound to make a deeper impression than a timid one.

How to Improve Your PowerPoint Slides with the Rule of Thirds

When putting together a Power Point presentation for your next speaking engagement, we recommend following the Rule of Thirds.  "The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would."

How Can AMS Help With Your Public Speaking Presentation?

You’re driven. You’ve got a fire in your gut that keeps you moving forward, keeps you working hard, and an idea in your brain that keeps you working smart. And your goal is to share that with everyone, and teach them how to make a better life along side of you.

How Do You Do It?

First of all, you’ve got your program worked out. It’s a plan, a system to keep yourself focused and organized. You’ve learned how to keep your thoughts clear and your eyes on the goal. It’s all worked out in your program.

In order to be able to share it, to teach it, you’ve worked out the presentation, and the manuals and the instructional materials. You’re ready to take it on the road, to do the seminars and the engagements. All you need is the full package.

Audio CD Duplication And Replication, DVD Duplication And Replication, Printed Materials And Packaging.AMS is here to help. With your program, AMS can create your full package. Whether it’s short run CD or DVD duplication, or a full-blown, market-ready set, complete with CD or DVD replication, printing your workbooks and manuals, and assembling them into the binders or vinyl “clAMShell” cases you’ve chosen, AMS is ready. Custom packaging is also available.

With designers at the ready, AMS can give your product a powerful, professional, and dignified look, matching the power of the instruction inside. If you need help producing the content, AMS has contacts with video and audio producers in your area who can make it look and sound sharp. Then, when it’s done, they’ll bring it back to AMS for the full manufacturing and packaging treatment.

When you hit the stage, you want to know that everything is in place. The information is ready, the CD’s are duplicated or replicated with clear, offset or screen printing, the manuals are bound and ready. You can speak with confidence, knowing that your customers will take home the materials to help them change their lives for the better.

Public Speakers Worst Nightmare

Whether you are new to public speaking, or have been doing it for years, hecklers can be an intimidating presence during a presentation. We've put together some steps you can take the next time you deal with a heckler. Confidently turn the tables on them while showing your audience that you are a comfortable and competent public speaker.

When Dealing with a Heckler Always Keep your Emotions in Check

You're in the middle of a presentation, things are going smoothly and the audience is hanging onto your every word...then it happens somebody in the audience stands up and starts shouting out their comments. This is not the time to panic. Take a deep breath and control your emotions. The minute you let the audience see that you are rattled is the minute you loose the presentation to your heckler. Make sure your body posture and stance reflects your relaxed thoughts. If you believe this heckler is going to ruin your presentation, your audience will sense this right away.

Make sure before your presentation that you have practiced responses in place so that your relaxed state of mind comes off as truly genuine. Believe that a different point of view from the one you are presenting maybe be true or acceptable and there is no need to feel defensive or aggressive.

Allow Them Interrupt

This is going to feel completely counter-intuitive. Most likely you will want to shut them down as soon as possible. However, shutting down a heckler right away when they believe they have something important to share can have the opposite effect. Instinctively they will continue to heckle until they feel that they have been heard. So let them.

Listen

This is the best time to practice your reflective listening skills. Repeat what the heckler is saying in your own words. Let them feel that they are being heard and that what they have to say is important to you.

Respond to What They are Saying Without Being Defensive

If it is appropriate, address your response to the entire audience instead of directly to the heckler, although do not avoid eye contact with your heckler. That indicates that you are not panicked and most important that you are prepared. Do not end your response by looking at your heckler. This opens up he opportunity to continue heckling. Look at the opposite side of the room as you finish your response and find the opportunity to smoothly transition back to your presentation.

Continued Interruptions

If you heckler still continues with interruptions then it is appropriate to let them know that you have heard their concerns, but continued interruptions makes it difficult to continue with your entire presentation. Also state that all comments and questions will be answered at the end of the presentation.

Let the Audience Choose

If you have responded appropriately then most likely your audience will want the heckler to stop as well. After all they did come to hear your presentation, and a heckler can be just as bothersome to your audience as they are to you. If the heckler continues, then let the audience decide who they would prefer to listen too. The heckler most likely will not go against the wishes of the entire audience. However, if the audience chooses the heckler, don't make a big fuss, step down, and let them continue. It is all part of the experience.