What methods can you use to refine your public speaking skills?

To refine your public speaking skills, practicing regularly is key. One method is to rehearse your speech multiple times in front of a mirror or record yourself to analyze areas for improvement. Additionally, seeking opportunities to speak in various settings, such as Toastmasters meetings or local community events, allows for real-time feedback and helps build confidence. For example, if you're preparing for a TED-style talk, rehearsing in front of trusted friends or colleagues can provide valuable insights into your delivery, pacing, and overall impact. Regular practice not only hones your speaking abilities but also helps alleviate anxiety and enhances your ability to connect with diverse audiences.

You need to have a series of topics you can speak on, with credibility. Work on your material, and refine your draft speeches. Keep sentences succinct, and fact check. You need to work on your delivery. Practise, practise, practise. Have your speeches recorded, and evaluated by accomplished speakers. Master the use of vocal variety, and use the stage. You need to test your speeches with a series of larger audiences. Know your audience, and use that knowledge. You refine both, based on feedback, and work on your stage persona. This is the person the audience relates with. He needs to be funny, witty, vulnerable, whatever is required. Every nuance, every pause, every act, is measured, but appears normal.

I can't stress enough the importance of practice. While it won't make your presentation perfect, it will help tremendously. Repeated practice builds your presentation skills and boosts your confidence, which can make or break your talk. Whether in-person or virtual, heading into a presentation with the confidence that comes from thorough preparation is a game changer. If you doubt yourself, your audience might sense it, but knowing you've prepared and practiced is a powerful way to combat that doubt. Now, get out there and nail it! You've got this!

Over decades of public speaking, I’ve had the pleasure of receiving and providing feedback to incredible speakers. One saying that always resonates with me is, "Feedback is a gift!" While this might not always be a popular idea, especially when you’re on the receiving end, I’ve found that once the initial sting of feedback wears off and it has a chance to sink in, it becomes extremely beneficial. In the world of public speaking, we need confidence to present to groups of often unfamiliar faces. However, it’s the feedback from our past performances that truly helps us rise to the challenge. This feedback is our chance to be the best we can be and to deliver the most value to our audience.

To refine your public speaking skills, it is important to be receptive to constructive feedback, analyse it and use it to improve your public speaking skills. When receiving feedback, pay attention to both the areas that went well, in your speech, and areas for improvement. The feedback could be in regard to pacing, clarity and vocal delivery. It is important to internalise the feedback and evaluate it. Having a growth mindset is also important when receiving feedback. One way of instilling a growth mindset is seeing constructive feedback as an opportunity for growth and self-improvement in your public speaking skills. Once you have evaluated the feedback, turn the feedback points into actionable goals that you can apply to your practice.

If facts are the ingredients, then storytelling is the recipe that brings them to life. My mom's chicken parm was legendary. It was crafted from simple grocery store ingredients: a processed chicken patty, basic Prego tomato sauce, and American cheese. Despite what Chef Ramsey might say, to me, it was the best dish on the planet. She showed her love by transforming these humble elements into something extraordinary. Similarly, you can make the facts you share more delicious by weaving them into stories. They don’t need to be elaborate - just genuine enough to transport your audience away from the proverbial dinner table.

Stories can significantly enhance any presentation, and I love watching a skilled presenter incorporate stories into their talk. A powerful story is relevant to the topic and relatable to the audience. Great stories can elevate the impact of your presentation, but it can be tempting to overuse them. Maintaining a balanced approach and combining stories with other aids helps keep the audience engaged on the journey you're taking them. I encourage you to incorporate relevant and interesting stories to add depth and impact to your talk. Keep it going. You've got this!

Feeling a little nervous is normal and even beneficial. Even the most seasoned speakers experience nerves. What helps me is connecting with the audience right from the start. One way to do this is by engaging with people before the presentation begins. Building rapport early can help calm your nerves. If this isn't possible and you're starting cold, a genuine smile can make a huge difference. Smiling is contagious, and it helps me relax. If you can see your audience smiling back, it boosts your confidence and reduces nervousness. If the house lights are down and it's dark and you can't see them, imagine they are smiling back at you. Also, using appropriate humor to elicit laughter quickly eases my nerves. Keep it going. You've got this!

Reframe/Rename the feeling. Turn "nervous" into "excited." Turn "anxious" into "anticipating." If you're not feeling something you may not be taking the opportunity seriously.

Visual aids are precisely that, aids, not the main event. You are the main event. When using supporting aids to enhance your message, simplicity is key. Remember the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words if you use slides." A powerful image is often more effective than a list of bullet points, which can distract from your speech. Overly wordy slides risk losing the audience's interest and impact. While your detailed information may be valuable, consider providing it as a handout or follow-up resource. Each audience member has their own preferences, so striking a balance is important to me. I prefer listening and learning from speakers rather than reading paragraphs or bullet points on a screen. Keep it up! You've got this!

It's helpful to know the difference and the different uses for visuals (slides, etc.), handouts, and your speaking/facilitation. DON'T use the PowerPoint Handout view as your handout. That doesn't add anything. Spreadsheets and data work well as handouts not as slides.

I am deeply passionate about keeping the audience engaged at all times. We've all experienced both engaging and boring speakers, and being engaged is far more impactful. The adage "reading the room" holds true. If you can see the audience, their faces are a good indicator of engagement. Even if the house lights are down, you might be able to see the front rows. If that's not possible, remember past experiences where you could gauge the room. I like to inject humor periodically, and the amount of laughter, or lack thereof, tells me a lot, even if I can't see the crowd. Having various strategies to maintain audience engagement is crucial. Keep it up. You've got this!

You may have heard the saying "Connection Before Content." It's true, and connection must be maintained if content is going to be "caught."

Before anything else, know yourself and know your content. Don't try to be anyone or anything you are not. Authenticity is more important than polish. (not that polish is bad). Know what you know and what you don't know. Staying within the limits of your expertise increases your authority and trustworthiness.