e all hate the feeling, you find out you have to speak at your brother's wedding or at your job, and all of a sudden your stomach feels like it’s filled with a bunch of knots.
I guess you hate public speaking too?
Speaking in public could be daunting, that’s why I’d like to share the one thing I learned that has changed my life. In 2016 I joined an organization called toastmasters. But it wasn’t just toastmasters that helped me, it was their overall philosophy.
They view public speaking like a muscle, the more opportunities you have to speak the better you’ll get at it. In the same way that you wouldn’t go to the gym once and expect to be hulk hogan, you shouldn’t avoid public speaking and expect to be Barack Obama.
I guess what I’m trying to say is it just takes practice, find small opportunities as often as you can to practice speaking in public. This will initially feel very uncomfortable but each time you do it, you’ll get a little more better at it.
There isn’t one central thing you can do that will solve this problem for you, but it’s the culmination of all of the different times you volunteer to speak in public that will gradually improve your public speaking.
With that said, we now know that practice is what will help you take your public communication to the next level. I’d like to share 3 ways you can practice your public speaking.
Point 1 - Never Say No
Most of us have opportunities to speak, our ability to take advantage of those opportunities is entirely up to us. It may be at your job, your church or even just community events. Regardless of how short our time speaking may be, all of these decisions to speak make a difference.
I used to think I needed to practice 15 minute speeches to improve my communication, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I now know that volunteering to speak for even just 1 minute is going to make me a better speaker.
So think about it, what are the opportunities in your life. What are the places that you can go to practice your public speaking. While I do want to practice your public speaking in public, I think it goes without saying that you need to wait until your local government allows you to meet in person, and even then you need to exercise extreme caution.
Point 2 - Write it down
There’s nothing more frightening than having to talk in front of people and think about what to say. It’s already hard enough to try and sound good why make that worse. You want to mitigate as much as you can meaning anything you can do to prepare before you go in to give your talk you want to take advantage of.
You may be wondering how to write a speech, you certainly don’t want to over complicate it. I normally use this simple format
Intro
- What the heck is this talk about.
- Why should the audience care?
Body
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3
Closing
- How do these points make the lives of the listeners better
- Call to action
So as often as you can, use this outline to write your speeches in advance.
Point 3 - Read Out Loud
I know this may come as a surprise, you may be wondering "how can reading alone possibly help me become a better speaker". Truth is, I’ve wondered the same thing.
In my life, I’ve found that speaking in public is about being able to control your nerves which determines how you come across. Have you ever started talking in public and all of a sudden you get nervous so you start talking fast, which makes you more nervous so now you’re skipping over words…etc - you Get the point.
Reading allows me to practice managing my tone and cadence. So I’m able to practice how I say certain words but also my ability to keep my cadence. The flow in which I communicate. President Barack Obama does an incredible job of this. It’s almost as if he’s talking to a specific rhythm.
As you start reading out loud, pretend you’re reading to an audience of people. Pretend like your reading something you wrote, try your best to make it your own. Add your personality to it. The goal of this is to help you remain more composed while getting better at managing your nervous.
Point 4 - Join toastmasters
If you told me you wanted to increase core fitness, I would probably tell you to join a gym like Cross Fit. Think of toastmasters like a gym for your public speaking. It creates a safe space where you can practice. At the beginning of this video I spoke about how important it is to get those reps in.
When I joined I didn’t have a job or a local community that would give me an opportunity to practice my public speaking which is what lead me to join toastmasters. I was initially able to start giving short 1-2 minute speeches. As I got comfortable I then started giving 4-6 minutes talks. I can now comfortably give a 20 minute talk.
It's Your turn!
In summary, I think everyone becomes more comfortable at their own pace. Don’t feel pressured to start this journey quicker than you need to. The only thing that matters is that your moving forward, some people do that in baby steps other people sprint.
I hope this speech will give you the encouragement you need to keep going, as long as you
- Never say no, take advantage of every opportunity to speak.
- Write your talks down as far in advance as possible so you have more time to practice
- Practice reading books out loud
- Join an organization like toastmasters.
You are well on your way to being a rockstar speaker. That’s it for this video, please subscribe and I will see you soon.
