Public speaking is a vital skill for any teacher leader, whether you want to inspire your colleagues, present your ideas, or advocate for change. However, many people struggle with anxiety, confidence, or clarity when speaking in front of an audience. How can you improve your public speaking skills as a teacher leader? Here are some tips to help you.
Before you prepare your speech, ask yourself: what is the main message you want to convey? What is the goal of your presentation? What do you want your listeners to feel, think, or do after hearing you? Having a clear purpose will help you structure your speech, choose your words, and focus your delivery.
From my short experience as a teacher and a research scholar, reading more and more increases the confidence and skills of a student to perform himself in front of a crowd. Reading increases knowledge, and knowledge increases confidence, leading to good communication as well as presentation skills. It's always about learning, changing, and growing,? in that order.
I have discovered from my decades of exposure as a teacher, a facilitator, guest speaker, and more, that each occasion presents its own challenges. No two situations are the same. I try to look for "ice breaker". My approach is to see myself, not as the expert, but as a lead facilitator. To be effective, the issue of the main message to convey is foundational, and critical. The assessment of the expectations of my listeners, and their level of exposure help greatly to determine the content as well as the style of delivery.
Always keep in perspective what the audience is going to gain from your speech. Why are they there? Not why you are there. Empathy with the listeners is the key to make the speech well received.
1. Develop your understanding about the topic. 2. Prepare for the FAQs relevant to your topic of the session. Do a little extra homework. 3. For the confidence, make yourself believe that you know the topic best among the crowd. 4. Don't prepare a formal artificial speech for the presentation. Just go with the flow and be natural. This is how you can connect with your audience easily having long lasting impact on their minds.
Here's my advice - Don't think about it as "Public Speaking". Think of it as "Public Talking". It's not a performance. It's a conversation. I learned this hard way my first time in front of a classroom. I gave a 1 hour speech and lost every person in the room. After a mentor gave me the advice above, I went in the following week and talked the students for an hour and it went much better. I've approached it that way every since. To do this successfully though, you absolutely need to prepare and know your purpose, material, and audience.
The journey to evolve is constant. Teachers speak to share subject matter, informations, they motivate and various other conversations. It is not only about How you speak? It is also about to whom are speaking. Remain a learner and enjoy the journey
Teaching involves giving knowledge to your students, and this can be effectively achieved if the students clearly comprehend you. At the end of your teaching, you want the recipients to apply what you've given them to impact their lives. But how do they apply the information if they don't understand it? That's why, in my opinion, it's critical to know your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to know the kind of words, sentences, illustrations, and examples to use to make your communication clear and easy to understand.
Don’t consider yourself a teacher. There is an opportunity to learn something new in every situation. Be part of the crowd and make sure you speak to everyone. Be aware of the audience needs and interests and be familiar with their backgrounds. Speak WITH not TO the audience.
Unless you know your audience, speaking will be just a noise to the listeners. Prior understanding of the attendees is critical for the Brain-Tongue connection/coordination/comprehension. Do keep in mind that not everyone listening to you will understand the same way as you want, but with repeated exercises and feedbacks. So, next time when you are out there delivering a lecture, do your homework first before giving away assignments/tasks to the innocent students ??
A little research can go a long way when speaking. Ask a couple of good questions when the invite is accepted (average age, interests, purpose/ goal of presentation, etc). Then as a crowd breaker take a couple of quick surveys and have them move around a bit in the middle of the speech. Take queues from verbal and non verbal responses.
Nothing can ruin your public speaking more than being unprepared or unfamiliar with your topic. Make sure you know your material well and practice it beforehand. Use notes, cue cards, or slides to support your speech, but don't rely on them too much. Try to speak naturally and confidently, and avoid reading from a script or memorizing every word.
As a teacher, I've always held the opinion that everyone needs to practice, regardless of their knowledge capacity. Even today, I rehearse my concepts before speaking on them because it helps me hone my skills and strengthen my delivery.
You can never impart what you don’t know so it is important to have mastery over your subject matter. When you know this, you are able to identify the most appropriate way to impact your students lives positively.
Not enough to know material. To inspire action, the speaker must possess wisdom....must have lived it! Speaking from wisdom rather than knowledge establishes immediate connection with listener's hot button!
I’ve always loved delivering a message, and I’d like to think that my former students or audiences would agree that it shows. It’s a combination of passion for the topic, preparation, and performance. Have back-ups in case Murphy’s Law holds true: printouts of slides, notes, a second laptop. Do whatever it takes so you may confidently walk in front of your audience knowing you can focus on the content, and pivot quickly if something goes south. You never know who may be in the room or the next room listening to you. Your next great opportunity may be just a few feet away.
Your confidence shows when you know your material. Being prepared walking into a lecture works in two ways. You are knowing and glowing. Those that are hearing are believing and there is a comfort in the room. That comfort allows the audience to learn.
Everyone has their own style and personality when it comes to public speaking. Some people are more humorous, others are more serious. Some people are more expressive, others are more calm. Don't try to imitate someone else or be someone you're not. Instead, identify and embrace your strengths, and use them to enhance your speech.
Discovering what you are best at and using it as an educator is one lesson I have learned over my teaching career. One of my strengths as a teacher is that I have a particular style of communication with students. I think learning needs to be interesting in addition to being informative, and I try to make it that way. To help the students feel less confined, I ask them to share their insights with me, and I also use real-life examples and personal anecdotes.
I like this! For me, I share stories as a teacher leader and this is a strength in several ways. First, it humanizes my message, making it relatable and memorable for my audience. Stories and real-life experiences create a connection, helping to convey complex concepts in a more accessible manner. Moreover, storytelling engages emotions, making my message impactful and fostering a deeper understanding. It allows me to share practical insights gained from my experiences, providing valuable context and illustrating the relevance of my teachings.
Every individual is uniquely gifted, the only thing is to timely realize your own potential. Be it a Conference, Workshop or Guest Speaker session, a right mix of your own artistry and aura with the content you deliver would go a long way in reaping personal and professional benefits to the fullest.
I think recognizing and embracing your unique strengths in public speaking is crucial. Whether it's a natural sense of humor, a calm demeanor, or expressive communication, these qualities can engage and resonate with your students. Tailoring your delivery to align with your strengths creates an authentic connection, making the learning experience more impactful. Encouraging students to discover and leverage their own strengths in communication can also foster a supportive and diverse learning environment.
One aspect I can say is that everyone has their own strength it might be fluency, the knowledge of the topic , the way of presentation .You may be a oratorical genius who can speak for hours together or a good story teller or a person of few words. Identify your strengths,build on it and project it more.
No one is perfect, and everyone can improve their public speaking skills. Be honest and humble about your weaknesses, and seek feedback from others. Maybe you need to work on your voice, your body language, your eye contact, or your timing. Maybe you need to overcome your fear, your nerves, or your habits. Whatever it is, don't be afraid to challenge yourself and learn from your mistakes.
Eu sempre fui muito tímido e tinha medo de falar em público, mas para seguir com a minha paix?o por Educa??o, eu fiz curso de oratória, retórica, teatro, improviso, didática, técnicas de ensino e aprendizagem, e fiz até tratamento fonoaudiológico! Hoje sou professor de professores e apresentador profissional. N?o é dom. é treinamento e prática.
Being aware of your vulnerabilities is not a bad thing; avoiding them is. No matter how much of experience, teachers should actively seek for other people's opinions. This approach fosters a sense of self-confidence, which is necessary for a teacher to interact with the students.
Knowing your weaknesses is as important as knowing your strengths. This helps you to work on them and get better each day. The most dangerous thing a teacher will do is to refuse to acknowledge his or her weaknesses. They will always find a way to disrupt the teaching process.
One time while teaching, at the end of the session. I saw a lot of confused faces, I tried to engage in conversation, asked questions, and was genuinely curious to know why the engagement was low as compared to other sessions. The feedback was that the content was delivered too briskly. Too many ideas were shared in quick succession, which resulted in an overlap of ideas that the class found hard to digest. It taught me that there is always room for improvement. I term weaknesses as "an area of improvement". We need to constantly improve, for me it is speaking in more digestible chunks with limited ideas at a given moment in time.
KEY - Keep educating yourself. Knowledge is infinite, so there must be an equal amount of wanting to learn as there is to teach, simply it's a give and take process. Feedback, suggestions and comments from your audience or students is crucial in developing an "open personality" to information. One must always bear in mind that no matter how well structured his or her topic is, there is something that they skipped, didn't notice or simply didn't know or think about. Data comes from everywhere, right from wrong derives from trial and error, always be prepared to have space for new information, the old saying goes "life is a journey and learn along the way"
Finally, remember that you are not alone in your public speaking journey. There are many resources available to help you improve your skills, such as books, podcasts, videos, courses, or coaches. You can also join a club, a group, or a network of other teacher leaders who share your passion and goals. By accessing these resources, you can gain more knowledge, inspiration, and support.
I personally love to read; hence, I keep reading some book or another whenever I get time. As a teacher, I feel like it's important that I’m aware of the things around me, and reading helps me accomplish that. The more I am inspired by the learning around me, the more I will be able to enlighten my students.
How ever great a orator you may be without the right resources you might be a failure as a speaker at the same time persons with mediocre oratorical skills can present facts and connect with the audience in much better way.So read , constantly update yourself and interact with people thereby enrich your knowledge.
Due to my experience in teaching, I found that using Interactive Learning side by side a gamification technique taking the class to the next level. So, encourage active participation through brainstorming , discussions, competitions, group activities, and polls. These keeps students engaged, reinforces learning, and allows you to gauge their understanding. Also, it achieves higher rates of diversity and inclusion in your class.
Every successful TED Talk(that I saw) had a coach. They may be the best in their particular field, but speaking in public is generally not a skill they have worked on, even though they are an expert in their field.
Some things that have worked for me. 1) Know your subject well - Speaking content is 1 page, but prep material should have at least 5 pages of refined content. 2) Practice it in front of the Mirror, in a closed room, or in front of a few. 3) Repeat 1 and 2, until confidence levels are up to the brim. Excitement to deliver will overtake fear.
Don’t be afraid of silence and taking time to pause to form thoughts. Often we try to just jump right in to try to show expertise, but we end up doing the opposite.
In my experience and routine I follow below steps: 1. Know your audience - It really matters on your speech and content you prepare 2. Presentation style - add visual aids in between to keep audience engaged 3. Content - one should clear distinct between a skill oriented talk & an academic talk 4. Delivery style - be interactive and adapt your speech based on audience’s reaction 5. Time management- be aware of time Not putting in bullet points but one of the major point is to be “prepared” for speech, practice before you deliver and be confident. Confidence will come from practice and owning the content of speech.
My experience of a teacher leader is to MAP my course. I would start with P: People - Who have influenced you? your thoughts, your ways of communicating, your ways of operating? What did you learn from them and what could you imbibe A: Assets? what are your best strengths - your capabilities, what are you know for....strengthen those even further and find ways to get your unique niche, that people will seek you out for Materials: What resources you have-books, videos, to improve your assets and increase your network of people to be the best for the students. Remebber "teach not to pass exams but for life" Enjoy a wonderful journey of influencing. Remember "You influence one among the class, he/she will touch another 20...ripple effect"
I learnt from the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, that I cannot teach anyone anything but I can only make them think. The art of educating students meaningfully is centered on imparting in them critical thinking skills.
Number 1: know your storyline. Whoever your audience may be, connect by telling stories. Make things specific, tangible. My first sentence was enough, but I need to meet the minimum character requirements.