By guest blogger Christina Battons [See Biography]
[June 23, 2017] Stage fright will prevent you from successful speaking on public and may become a source of problems in your student life and further career. If you have ever noticed that public speaking is too difficult for you, you need to work out this skill to eventually you will feel that this kind of interacting with people was made for you.
The main secret of speaking brilliantly on public is to enjoy this process. When you get concentrated on people who surround you, your thoughts start to twist and you forget what you told a couple of sentences ago. Your speech loses coherence and the audience is no longer interested in what you are telling. People start to pay attention to how you get nervous, to your facial expression, and even your outfit. Unfortunately, you are the one who made them do that.
How can you manage your stage fear and become a good speaker? We have outlined several strategies that will definitely help you to feel more confident with speaking.
Good memory, do you actually need it?
Many think that a good memory is a key to good speaking. It seems that if you learn your speech by heart, you will never have problems with reproducing it. However, if you forget one single word, the results may be a pure disaster. You won’t be capable of replacing this word with a synonym as it requires a one-millisecond reaction from you. If you start to think of the synonym, you will forget what to tell next. Thus, learning your speech is not the best way to become a speaker.
However, you still need to implement memorization into the process of preparing your speech but in a slightly different way. We are talking about remembering the concepts, not the words. If you have a long speech, it’s better to develop a certain kind of a plan featuring the key takeaways of your speech.
The power of jokes
You have probably heard that a good joke can save any presentation. If you notice that your audience is no longer interested in your performance, you need to attract their attention. The best way to do that is to tell some joke. Of course, it requires from you at least basic preparation. Thus, it will always be better to learn a couple of jokes in advance, but it’s better to choose those that are connected with the subject of your speech.
Create an environment where you feel safe
Frequently, the success of the speech depends not on the oratory skills of the speaker, but on the environment. Of course, it is hardly possible that you will be given a chance to choose the auditory or the audience, but you at least can choose the outfit in which you feel more confident.
Write down your speech
If you have no experience in speech writing, this point may be rather challenging for you. However, if you are aimed to create good and interesting speech and make a perfect performance, writing down the text is vital. In this way, you will be able to determine the weak points of your speech and fix them immediately. Additionally, when you write something, you remember things better, so you at least will not mix the main ideas of your speech.
Pay more attention to the opening line and conclusion
The whole speech should be strong indeed, but the first and the last sentences must be mind-blowing. Remember that when you start speaking, you need to catch the attention of the audience and tell something that will make them keep listening to you. Your conclusion must contain everything that you’ve told in your speech so that even those who were not attentive could understand what you were talking about.
Be emotional
Never be shy to demonstrate your emotions while speaking in public! People love to listen to people who are passionate about what they’re talking about and who share their energy with the audience. Emotions are your secret power in public speaking, and if you use it properly, you may expect a huge success. However, here you need to control yourself not to become too emotional and to preserve a clear and logical speaking to the public.
The latest thing we would like to mention in this list that the more you speak in public, the better you become with this skill. So leave your comfort zone and start to speak more to get rid of all your fears and master a new skill.
How do you work on stage fright and develop your public speaking skills? Leave your comments and we will gladly discuss with your different approaches to speak to the audience, and perhaps, we will find some more secrets of successful and painless public speaking together!
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Biography: Christina Battons is a web content writer and blogger from LA. I am a graduate of the University of Southern California. Currently, I write for various sites as ProWritersCenter or similar. I am interested in topics about education, motivation, writing, etc. My writing I use as a tool to further the education of others. You can connect with me on Facebook. I’ll be happy to hear you, just drop me a line! You can also see my profiles on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.