5 Important Steps To Become A Confident Speaker

When you hear someone say, "I have a dream" or "Tryst with destiny", you instantly know what those phrases mean. They stand for the power of words that world leaders used at critical times in history to lead and galvanise nations to motivation and action. Impactful speaking not just changed the course of world history - many times - but can also transform our lives in the present. Whether you need to speak at an interview, make your point with your team, convince your seniors, present at team or project meetings, persuade your client, motivate your managers, speak at the PTA meetings or become a professional speaker - being good at speaking can only take you forward in your personal and professional life.

Funnily enough people are more scared of public speaking than death itself although speaking is one of the top things that makes us humans. It is a need in today's times to be a good speaker. And it's worth it to invest time and effort to get better at this skill, no matter how much you fear it.

It is hard to put down all the little details that go into being a master of speaking skills. But I have tried to divide them into 5 important steps. Each step can be studied in as much depth as you'd like to!

Step 1: How to get started on becoming a confident speaker

Unless you are a virtuoso with 10,000 hours of speaking under your belt, there is always something you'd like to improve about your speaking skills. It could be coming up with ideas or not be fidgety while delivering. There are so many aspects to a good talk or presentation. Some of the things that might get you started are figuring out your speaking goals, your current competence levels and what is it that you'd like to improve upon. You could record yourself and play it back. Think of what scares you about standing up in public and what might help you deal with it.

Step 2: How to prepare for an impressive speech

Every TED talk that is perfectly delivered has hours of practice behind it. From the content of the talk to the way it is going to be delivered - every aspect is worked upon in great detail. And we all are witness to the billions of views these talks get every year. The content you choose to share, the kind of audience and how much you practice are all a part of a successfully delivered speech.

Step 3: Master speaking tools to keep your audience interested

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a seminar of a presentation at office? And how different would it be if one of the speakers started with a riveting story? Our attention spans are decreasing at an alarming pace. And it is all the more important to have tricks up your sleeve which will keep the audience engaged and interested in what you are going to tell them. Yes, even during mundane office meetings.

Step 4: Deliver with impact

The memorable presentations of Steve Jobs are etched in our minds for some good reasons. Not only were they unique, they also kept us interested till the end. He did practice for hours to make sure that it got translated into perfect execution. You are as good as the punch your delivery packs in it. All the above steps, when practiced, go into a perfect delivery.

Step 5: Work on different kinds of speeches

An office presentation is not the same as your introduction at a networking meeting. Similarly, trying to convince your investors is not the same as talking to a team member who is late to office everyday. Some of the skills are specific to certain kinds of speaking activities. Figure out what your speaking goals are and master skills relevant to them.

Although, it'll be useful to point out that there is no one form of successful speaking. It is different for different cultures and situations. All your speeches or presentations need not be a TED talk but the basic principles behind successful speaking are the same. So, it's a good idea to work on skills sets rather than listing out situations. For instance, cricketers practice certain skills - batting strokes, bowling - which they can use to win matches. Similarly, being able to put together ideas quickly, structure them, confident body language are some of the things that'll help you present well in any situation.

I am doing a series on speaking skills where I am going to talk about each step in detail. This is also in line with the launch of India's first personalised and customised course on speaking skills. You get to work with a coach and decide to work only on areas that you need to improve on. Step one of the series is already out. You can read about how to get started on your improving your speaking skills on my blog. You can also watch videos on them here. There's a new video and a new post on my blog every week.

You can read more such content on building skills on our training blog, Soft Skills Studio. Soft Skills Studio was put together as a resource of information for people who want to improve their skills. And now it is also a training and coaching outfit passionate about skills training to make more employees more effective. We think that when work becomes play, success is not by the way and our programs reflect this philosophy. 

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