How to Be a Good Public Speaker

Photo by Christine von Raesfeld on Unsplash

Did your last presentation suck more than your Grandma’s brand new vacuum? Did you feel so terrible you binged not one, not two, but three seasons of your favorite show? Instead of wondering how you can suppress the video views on YouTube, learn from the 5 tips below on how you can be the speaker of your dreams.

In Advance

Ask the event organizers who they expect to be in the audience. The best speakers customize their content based on who will be listening to it. If you are speaking at a school assembly, don’t just write what you think is useful for the students. Tell a story that can resonate with the teachers and parents too!

Just Before

There’s a reason Dr. Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on body language has more than 20 million views. Her well-researched advice on pumping yourself up and standing out with confident flare shakes you up every time you think of it. Some of my favorite actions to do before I speak to a 200+ person audience are 1) jumping jacks, 2) hands on hips like SuperWoman, and 3) silly faces in the mirror.

During

Choose your favorites. I began my public speaking career at a string of Baptist church services across the Bible Belt. At first, I thought I should connect with every single person in those pious church pews, but after a few rounds, I realized that not everyone in the crowd is on your team. Some people are there because of social pressure, others are there because attending your type of event benefits their self-image. Either way, I have found that when I look across a crowd - whether in-person or over Zoom - usually ~11% of the people look genuinely happy at the very beginning. Those are my peeps; they are the folks I’ll call on during call-and-response, they are the people I will compliment for having a great hat on, and they are the ones I will look to for encouragement when I have forgotten my next couple of words. They are my day ones, even if it only lasts one day.

Much Later

After your speech is over and the audience is stomping their feet, clapping their hands, singing Hallelujah…. whoops, I just had a flashback. Seriously though, once it’s all said and done, make sure to ask the event organizer for a recording of your talk. Listening to your own voice can be one of the cringiest experiences of all time, but picture yourself as an NFL player in the locker room re-watching their plays or an American Idol candidate watching their audition tape. The only way to more efficiently get to your next touchdown or close-up is too learn from the past and create a better future.

If you’re wondering how to improve your public speaking even more using the power of data, check out next week’s article!