Public speaking is one phobia that almost all of us share. No matter how brave you are, or how eloquent you are in social settings, almost all of us will find ourselves sweating before going up on stage to give a speech in front of our peers. This often leads us to forget our words, rush our lines, stutter over sentences or just generally appear like a nervous wreck – ironically realising our worst fears. This is unfortunate as public speaking is actually one of the most useful skills you can learn, and if you’re working in a business or even just a school kid it’s one you can hardly avoid. Whether you’re giving a presentation to a small board of executives, teaching a class, toasting the groom, or presenting a prestigious award – if you can speak confidently and clearly and make a few people laugh you’ll make a positive impression and leave people walking away impressed and more likely to agree with your points. Even if you’re recording a video or a voice recording, similar principles apply and you can seize up if you don’t know how to properly give a speech. Fortunately there are several techniques, methods and tips to remember that can help improve your ability to do just this.

Firstly, you need to calm yourself down. See it as a bit of a challenge and a bit of fun. Make sure you’ve rehearsed before the event so that you’re as prepared as can be and try and distract yourself from panicking by talking to people or watching TV. Prepare yourself some cue cards or a power point display that you can use to jolt your memory – don’t write the complete script out however or even try to memorise one as you’ll end up reading from a sheet or from memory and it won’t be engaging or entertaining. If you leave yourself free to elaborate on points or throw in jokes as you think of them it’ll make it seem a lot more natural and human and be more interesting and entertaining as a result. This also enables you to adapt to the reactions of the audience – adding in parts if they look confused or moving on quickly if one point isn’t going down that well. You can’t prepare for every eventuality so don’t try to – rely on your ability to think on your feet and speak coherently from the top of your head – it’s what you do successfully every other day of your life!

A tiny sip of alcohol could work to relax you but at the same time drinking even slightly too much will have the complete opposite effect causing you to stumble over your words more and forget your lines. For this reason I’d only recommend alcohol if you’re really over-panicking and can’t calm down any other way. Similarly, make sure you avoid caffeine as this raises you metabolism and heart rate so making you even more jittery and nervous. Make sure you’ve had a good night’s sleep previously and eat lots of carbs beforehand to make yourself feel energetic and awake without needing caffeine (plus hot drinks can also tickle your throat). If you happen to have a sore throat (it’s sod’s law that you will) then try sucking a cough sweet or having some honey and hot water.

You can also improve your confidence by what you wear – so dress smartly and like you mean business and you should feel more as though you do. Your audience will also pick up on this and you’ll look more confident as you feel it. It’s a sad fact that people pay more attention to those of us who look good – and even those of us who are taller. So make sure you look your best and don’t be shy of wearing shoes with slightly higher heals. And whatever you do don’t wear a ‘fun’ tie, it’ll only distract your audience from the point you’re making.

At the same time in preparation for your speech make sure you avoid bananas or cigarettes. The reason for this, as any good singer knows, is that they leave a thin layer on your vocal chords and so affect your speech and clarity. Yogurt can have a similar effect. To cause the opposite and give your vocal chords a good rest the day before try rubbing Vics’ VapoRub on your chest before bed. A good sleep will also relax the chords giving you a clearer and deeper voice for speaking.

Once you’re actually on the stage there are more things you can practice while you’re up there to improve your performance. Firstly, make sure you speak slowly – when we’re nervous we automatically talk faster so even if you think you sound like an old cassette tape or like you’re in comedy-slow-motion-mode, you’re probably speaking no slower than normal. Additionally, speaking slowly has been shown to make people think you’re more intelligent and more confident and it’ll also make your words sound clearer and randomly deeper. If you speak at a slow pace it will also mean you give yourself more time to think between words making it easier to ad lib or make up for mistakes.

At the same time, to improve the quality of your voice, tilt your head just slightly downwards. You should be on a raised platform so that’ll be the correct position for the audience anyway, but at the same time it’ll relax your vocal chords making them reverberate at a lower pitch.

The final thing you need to consider is what you do with your hands and feet. Baring in mind you’re further away than you normally would be in conversation, you should be able to gesticulate much more flamboyantly with much larger more sweeping gestures to get your point across and involve your audience. Gesticulating like this will also prevent you from fidgeting (which will be distracting and make you look nervous) and from putting them in your pockets or dangling them limply by your sides.

You can also move about the stage with your feet making sure to make use of the space you’ve been given and to involve both sides of the audience (you should also do this by making eye contact – look for those who have their arms crossed or who aren’t paying attention). At the same time though however make sure you don’t pace or tap your foot. And finally, thank your audience for listening and say adieu. Adieu!

Mack LeMouse

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