Public Speaking Skills A Practical Guide To Destroy Social Anxiety, Communicate Without Fear, Boost Self Confidence And Improve Your Dialogue & Persuasion Skills

By Mike Proctor

We all can agree that being a good public speaker is an attribute. Great leaders, prominent business people and others we admire, are known for their ability to communicate.

 

Public speaking is a key skill whether you want to stand up as a leader, become more competent at work, or just improve your day-to-day communication. Some are born with the natural gift of being an excellent public speaker. Others have developed it over the years. Regardless of where you are on your public speaking journey, you can always improve and hone this ability.

 

Our communication is one way people size us up or judge us. Whether you agree with it or not, It is used as a gauge at work and in social settings to determine where we stand. Being a better communicator will help you climb both the work and social ladders.

 

Sometimes being a good communicator is mistaken with being knowledgeable. We all know of countless examples of good communicators being successful despite their lack of knowledge or hard work. I will admit, as I improved my public speaking and communication skills, I was the beneficiary of being seen as more competent in a management role than I actually was. Just imagine if you were able to be a better public speaker or communicator. By pairing this communication skill with your knowledge and hard work ethic, there is no limit to where you will end up both professionally and personally.

 

I can't even count how many successful presentations, speeches, sales pitches and social engagements I have been a part of. More importantly, I have taught and helped numerous students and clients become better public speakers. These speakers have gone on to be better salespeople, move up their corporate ladder and become more likeable in their social circles. Some have even made it so far down the path, that they are now true masters of public speaking. This book is a collection of the strategies and tactics that I share with them. This is your opportunity to take a crash course on becoming a master public speaker.

 

Just think of the impact that we could have. Good public speakers can empower, encourage and persuade entire crowds with just one speech. At work, you can motivate your team, land that big sale or project as well as talk your way into a promotion. Have you ever overheard someone having a conversation at a restaurant or other public setting and their simple conversation sounded like an authentic yet well rehearsed speech? Look at how others admire orators like that. There is no reason that you can't excel in the same way.

 

I am sure we agree that the above points are important, but why do we really need to improve our public speaking skills?  The possible benefits are powerful and endless. Imagine having an improved sense of self-esteem. Picture yourself having better communication and leadership skills. You can have more friends and a larger professional network. Your personal satisfaction will go through the roof. This isn't a scam. It's a promise. Just work on the skills in this book, get out there and get exposure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Proctor
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393600008

Book preview

Introduction

Public speaking is a skill that can be learned. With practice, you'll learn to feel more confident in your voice and improve the way you stand, talk, and breathe. Here are several techniques that will help you feel more confident with your public speaking skills.

When learning how to become a better public speaker, many people want as much information on the topic as they can get their hands on. While this may seem like a good idea, it's actually not very helpful. Instead of trying to learn everything about public speaking, you should focus on learning the basics.

While public speaking is important to everyone in some area of their life, it's not a skill that you should master overnight. Public speaking is a process that takes time and practice to develop. If you're not sure that you want to spend your time becoming a great public speaker, start with smaller goals such as only presenting at department meetings or getting used to talking at various events. A great way to learn how to become a public speaker is to join a club. You will soon have an audience that is familiar with you and your speech. This will allow you to rehearse in front of people and get feedback as you go.

The more techniques you try when practicing public speaking, the better off you'll be in the long run. Record yourself when giving a speech so that you can edit your presentation later on for better quality. You should also videotape yourself to get an idea of how you look when giving a presentation. While this is basic, it's an important part of learning how to become a better public speaker.

When trying to learn how to become a better public speaker, it's important to practice as much as possible. One way to practice is by finding someone who will listen while you give your speech or presentation. Listeners are an invaluable tool in helping you find out what works and what doesn't work in your speech. If you can't find a live listener, many people will record themselves giving presentations these days. This will give you the opportunity to play back your presentation and listen to how your speech sounds.

Editing is an essential part of any speech, whether it's public or private. When you edit, you're able to improve on your skills and become a better public speaker in general. You can organize your ideas more effectively when looking at everything from the big picture down to the details of your speech.

The Fear Behind Public Speaking

We all have been there. You planned out your presentation perfectly, spent weeks practicing the material and felt truly confident. Then the time arrives, you go out on the stage, your mouth is dry, you stumble over your words and you start to sweat. You start to feel inadequate, like you don’t belong. Where did that confidence go? This is the fear behind public speaking that makes some people cringe.

Everyone has gone through some degree of public speaking fear throughout their lives. Research shows that around 40% of the American population has had a serious fear of public speaking at one point in their lives. The size of the crowd doesn’t always affect the level of fear. One day you could speak comfortably in front of 50 people that you know and trust without being nervous or scared. A few weeks later you are in front of 3 important people, they could be your teachers, bosses or lucrative clients you are trying to land and then the fear drops on you like a boulder! An important aspect of this is our frame of mind. We will talk about that at length later. The big takeaway for now is to know that you are not alone. Even the most skilled public speakers have or will deal with the anxiety and the fear behind public speaking.

This fear materializes differently for all of us. Some speakers describe it as feeling off. The inability to start or even remember that next line in the speech. Others may have no issues in delivering the speech, yet they have this sense of dread and feelings of incompetence. These are just a few of the mental symptoms of public speaking fear.

Some of the physical symptoms include:

-  Shaky or sweaty hands

-  Increased heart rate

-  Dizziness or nausea

-  Shortness of breath

-  Chills

Regardless of which one of these symptoms you feel, whether it is a mental or a physical symptom, you can overcome these fears and mitigate the symptoms. Public speaking is a skill you can develop and master.

Just think of another skill that you already have. Something that seems simple now, yet the first time you attempted it, it was quite nerve wracking. Learning how to drive is a good example. Let’s remove youthful recklessness from this example. Most new drivers feel the same mental and physical symptoms outlined earlier. Maybe it’s not the first time they get behind the wheel, but when it is time to take a driver’s test, they have shaky hands, they start to sweat profusely and all of a sudden, they forget the rules of the road. Was that you? Was that someone you know? Now think of how you are able to drive almost automatically now. Completely comfortable, without issues. We will build this confidence in your public speaking as well, step by step.

Fear is a natural, powerful, and primitive human emotion. It involves a universal biochemical response as well as a high individual emotional response. Fear alerts us to the presence or perceived presence of danger, or threat of harm. We can take steps though to combat this fear of public speaking. We need to take action with tactics before, during and after our speech to help us desensitize the fear. Sure it will always be there in some form, but as long as we stick to our plan, the fear will subside as we get more exposure.

Before Your Speech Tactic #1

Embrace your flaws

We all put serious pressure on and set high expectations of ourselves. Many of us have family, friends and co-workers that also put pressure on us by setting the same high expectations. They don’t mean to cause us harm or stress. They truly want us to exceed, yet the weight on our shoulders is quite heavy. This is why tactic #1 is to embrace our flaws. Yes, we will make an error every now and then during a speech. Most of the time, our audience doesn’t even realize it was an error. We often build the error up bigger than it actually was and believe that we gave a flawed speech. Embrace your flaws! That error was actually a gift. An opportunity to learn from the error and improve yourself for nextime. Change your outlook regarding errors and mistakes. Frame your mind to use this as feedback or an opportunity to improve and become a master at public speaking!

Before Your Speech Tactic #2

The power of positive thinking

Yes, I know. We have all heard this cliche. The reason why so many gurus and experts talk about positive thinking is because it works. It works for many different aspects of our life. We are only going to cover the power of positive thinking in regards to helping subside the fear behind public speaking. We have a couple of options on how to tackle this. Certain speakers find visualizing themselves performing a speech well works. Some believe speaking positively to others about how the speech will go is enough to help them squash the