There is a definite link between public speaking and self confidence. You need enough self confidence to be able to get up on stage and deliver a speech. And once you get there and discover that you can actually do it, your self confidence soars. Speaking in public is a powerful way to boost your self confidence.

Public speaking can be used for motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, teaching or simply entertaining. Speaking to a group is a rewarding experience as it allows you to showcase your knowledge or expertise in a public forum. Sharing your thoughts from the podium helps enrich the lives of those in the audience who gain the benefit of your unique experience and insight.

But most of us fear public speaking only because it’s not familiar. Speaking to a group forces you to break out of your comfort zone. When the opportunity to speak is thrust upon you, it takes bravery to conquer the initial sense of fear. But for those who can do it, the rewards are plentiful. Public speaking helps you discover that you’re stronger and more capable than you ever thought you were. Deliver a stellar performance and your confidence surges forward.

When it comes to expressing your thoughts and ideas on stage, self confidence is essential. But for those who suffer extreme shyness or nervousness at the thought of public speaking, it takes some effort. If you’re one who dreads public speaking, try to understand where that fear is coming from. Chances are you’ve never had a bad public speaking experience.

You’ve got to be able to imagine yourself delivering capably and comfortably. Visualization is a huge help in overcoming fear. If you can visualize it, you can do it.

Another confidence builder is preparation. The more you prepare and practice in advance, the more natural it will feel when it’s time to perform. If you find your self confidence low or nonexistent, the best way to boost it is to — practice, practice, practice. When you’re confident about something you can do like drive a car, make dinner, or even speak in public, there’s a feeling of certainty in your capability to perform.

Most fear and anxiety about public speaking is has no basis in reality. It’s just old programming that’s controlling you. Break through the fear and you can change your life as you impact their lives of countless others. All you have to do is break the barrier one time. Learn how to be a better speaker through practice and your self confidence will increase dramatically.

For more information speaking with confidence visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com

Technorati Tags: confident public speaking, Public Speaking, Speak With Confidence

To input your speech all you need to do is sit down in a quiet room, free from disturbances, and read your notes to yourself. This aides in memorizing your speech so you can make eye contact with your audience as opposed to just reading from your notes. You may also spot small mistakes at this stage that you can correct before moving to the outputting process. There are no real keys or tricks to this method, only constant repetition.

There any many different tricks you can use to improve your outputting your speech. To perform at your best on the day of your speech you should aim to replicate the conditions you will be giving your speech in during practice.

Variables you need to consider when outputting your speech include whether you’ll be stood up or sat down, if you’ll have a microphone to speak into, if you have technology such as a laptop and projector at your disposal and what type of clothes you’ll be wearing. The more accurately you can simulate the conditions in which you are giving your speech the better prepared you will be.

With practice you can perfect your delivery and timing and really get to grips with what it is you are saying. However even after much practise you will probably want to write down some key notes on a piece of paper or a number of small cards. Well written notes/bullet points will help keep you on track and provide a reminder of the details you want to get across.

As one last little tip I would recommend practising your speech in front of a mirror. This will help you get used to making eye contact with an audience and quell any nerves you have about speaking in public. Just remember practice makes perfect! Jake Rhodes is the author of many self-help articles and currently runs top hypnosis site http://www.hypnobusters.com along with professional hypnotherapist, Jon Rhodes.

Technorati Tags: confident public speaking, Speak With Confidence

Whether you just have one speech to deliver as a best man or matron of honour, or you’re a businessperson who wants to make confident presentations to enhance your position in the company then ask yourself the following questions to fully prepare for your speaking duties.

Who Will The Audience Be?

Before you give a presentation or a speech you should carefully consider exactly who the audience will comprise of. This includes how many people you will be speaking to and the relationship between yourself and the audience. The more you learn about your prospective audience the easier it will be to prepare your speech.

What Do Your Audience Want To Hear?

If you’ve been asked to give a presentation to upper management types then they’ll want to hear a lot of stats, facts and ideas for the future. On the other hand a best man’s speech will be a lot more humour based with a couple of stories and is generally best kept to a short length of time so that the festivities can continue.

How Long Do You Need To Speak For?

Always ask how long you need to speak for. “Just get up and say a few words” isn’t specific enough, push for an exact length of time. The vast majority of public speaking doesn’t last much more than five or ten minutes.

What Should The Tone Be?

Depending on who the audience are and the purpose of the speech you should be able to grasp what the tone should be. If you’re making a short speech at a close friend’s birthday party then you can afford to be a little more risqué than you could giving a eulogy at a funeral. Similarly when you’re giving a business presentation there are circumstances where you can be more informal than usual depending on who the audience are.

Where Will You Be Speaking?

Always consider where it is you’ll be speaking as it makes a big difference. If you have access to a laptop and a projector then you have the option to use visual aids which makes public speaking easier as you no longer have to worry about the audience visually focusing on you. If you’re making a wedding/party speech then there’s a good chance you’ll have a lot of background noise to contend with. Will you have a microphone or will you just have the power of your voice?

The more information you have the better. With clear guidelines you are much more likely to make a speech that stays on point and serves the purpose it was intended Jake Rhodes is the author of many self-help articles and currently runs top hypnosis site http://www.hypnobusters.com along with professional hypnotherapist, Jon Rhodes.

Technorati Tags: confident public speaking, Speak With Confidence

Confidence does play a big part in effective public speaking and that is why I have posted on this many times in the past. Being thoroughly prepared and well practiced contribute greatly to developing self confidence to being able to present confidently.

 Further to these 2 areas, are 3 factors that support confidence in yourself and in your ability to deliver your speech effectively;-

1.       Appearance. When you are dressed for the occasion you feel better about yourself. And this is the same in public speaking.  Usually if you are smartly dressed and neatly groomed you will be appropriately dressed. You, not only feel better and your audience will appreciate you more. This contributes to your sense of well-being and confidence.

2.       Well rested. Tiredness can make cowards of us all. It takes away our resolve and reduces our energy levels. We can come across ill prepared and not caring when too tired. So getting enough sleep and being relaxed increases our courage and helps us to be calm. We appear more in control and confident to our audience.

3.       Fitness. When we are fit and healthy we generally feel better about ourselves and look better also. It also helps us to handle stressful situations.  The better we feel about ourselves and the easier we can handle stress the more we can speak with ease and confidence to groups of people.

These factors do not replace preparation and practice in developing self confidence but will help in improving how we feel about ourselves and make it easier to speak up with confidence in public speaking or presenting.

A resource that I have found useful in improving my health and fitness is called Truth About Abs. It covers many aspects of health and fitness.  Click here to find out more information on Truth About Abs.

I am looking for some resources to recommend on relaxation and appearance but have not yet found any I like enough.     In the meantime check out Truth About Abs and let me know what you think. 

Technorati Tags: confident public speaking, public speaking fear, Speak With Confidence

After they have researched the audience and their subject they  consider the type of speech they are going to make. Are they going to:

(a)    impart information;
(b)    persuade;
(c)    inspire;
(d)    make an after-dinner speech which might well incorporate all three, or perhaps just be something in a lighter vein ?

The above, in the main, covers the majority of speeches.

Impart information
This comes very close to a lecture. However, many speakers do have to impart information so that listeners can form their own judgments. For example, a shop steward talking to the men in his union about the new rates is imparting information. A sales mana¬ger at a conference imparts information. A technician, talking about the technical aspects of his work, imparts information . . .
In a speech of this kind, some important points must be remembered.

(a) Don’t try to cram years of experience into twenty minutes. Preferably, take one aspect of your subject and deal with that thoroughly.
(b) You must be ruthless, and cut and cut. We often elaborate merely to show how able we are. Keep to your time-table, and leave the audience wanting more information. Better that than that the speech should fail because the audience has heard everything and under¬stood nothing.
(c)    Don’t talk over the heads of the audience to prove your ability. Only deal with intricate technicalities if the audience understands
them.
I once heard a speaker talking in public on aero¬dynamics and not half a dozen people in the audience knew what he was talking about. He could have sim¬plified matters considerably and cut out many words which only experts understand, or he could have re¬fused to speak to an audience not made up of aero¬dynamic engineers.
(d)    An effective speaker makes every point clear. If you feel that you have not done so, you can repeat a part of your speech, but word it differently.
(e)    However involved their subject may be, an effective speaker is not as dry as dust. They make their speech interesting. Anecdotes can be told to liven up the most difficult of subjects.
(ƒ) An effect speaker will summarize their main points both during the speech and at the end of the speech.

An effective speaker is able to speak with confidence when imparting information because they are delivering the speech for the benefit of the audience, not to impress them with their knowledge. They are providing worthwhile content.

In my next posts I will cover further the next 3 types of speeches.

Technorati Tags: self confidence, Speech Writing

1.From your own experiences

2. Researching other sources such as newspapers, the internet etc.

3. Asking questtions

Audiences like to hear stories about themselves. They also like to hear their own names mentioned.

In the new building for a golf club example introduced in part 1 you could;-

Ask the members about their experiences in raising money to support the club’s activities. Ask the grounds­man to tell you some stories about how the ground was developed. Try to find stories of determination which have resulted in the building being built in spite of difficulties.

After this work has been completed you will have dozens of facts around which you can build your speech.

Now prune. Discard all those facts which you find you can do without — duplicate stories — historical facts which are of little interest to the audience; these must be abandoned to enhance the value of the one histori­cal fact that is worth talking about. Remember now, you are planning your speech step by step, and if you keep to the steps you can’t go wrong.

So far, therefore, you have learned that a speech is an accumulation of facts, either thought out for your­self or found out from others. Having obtained this information, you have the framework of your speech.

You now have a good foundation to build your speech on. One of the keys to enable a speaker to speak with confidence is having this knowledge of the audience. The confidence to prepare and deliver an effective speech is based upon understanding the topic and the wants of your audience.

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, self confidence

Another source of material is the written word. The effective public speaker broadens his understanding by extensive reading. He keeps his storehouse from becoming lopsided by digesting editorials, news columns, sports pages, and even the comic strips. By reading, he can mull over the material and what he reads has more time to register than the things he hears. A further source of material covers the broad field of luncheon meetings, dinners, banquets, the theatre, concerts, lectures, and regular radio and TV pro¬grams covering current events.

The outcome of any or all of these is your own analytical and imaginative thinking in reviewing the experiences you have had and the things you have read, heard and seen.

In my previous post on effective speech building I gave the example of the golf club= to follow on that example your research phrase for the golf club could cover:

Can you dig up some little-known historical fact about the club? It isn’t always a good thing to give past history, but on this occasion all the listeners will want to hear how the club achieved success. When was the old clubhouse first built? How was it built? Did the members of the club put it up with their own hands?
Visit the offices of the local newspaper. Ask to be allowed to look through the back files. You may well be able to impart some information to the audience which may not be known even by the oldest inhabitant.

My next post will cover the asking questions step.

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, self confidence, Speech Writing

1.    Think about it for several days.
2.    Research.
3.    Ask questions.

Think about it for several days (but not too many days)

Your personal experiences primarily are your foremost source of speech material; those things that happened to you and around you in the course of your lifetime furnish a storehouse of material. You have talked about these in¬cidents and now you can extend those conversations to a larger audience.

By simply thinking around a subject for several days, ideas will come to you which you will never find in a book. Let us take a simple example:

Although you have only lived in your district for a few years, you have won respect during that time, and have been invited to give the first speech at the open¬ing of the golf club’s new building.

First you have to think about it. What was the first tournament you saw? Did anything happen then which might be of interest to anyone? Can you call to mind some unexpected event which took place while the building was being built? Who has played the largest part in the success of the venture? Can you tell about his drive and energy?

Don’t think about what other people have told you at this stage. Just use your own knowledge of the club, the players, and how the clubhouse was built. Keep your notebook handy, and jot down all the interesting points as you think of them.

It is important to effective public speaking that you can speak confidently about your subject. Your personal experiences help immensely in this area because you know these and will have spoken about them previously in private conversation. You are merely expanding the conversation to a larger audience.

Steps 2 and 3 will be covered in my next posts on building a speech step by step

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, Speech Writing

Eric Dana Hansen in a comment to my post on how preparation and practice build confidence made a great suggestion on how meeting the audience before you speak can help with overcoming the nerves.
Nerves, jitters or fear felt about speaking in public probably never goes completely away. This is a good thing! As many experienced speakers mention the feeling before they start to speak. However, the feeling is usually not as strong and they use it s a motivation to deliver their best.
Speaking with confidence comes from doing, practicing, preparing and learning the techniques of confident and effective speaking. Most people have the ability within them to become confident public speakers and in conversation. It starts with the decision to get started.

For further information on speaking with confidence please visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com to recieve a free preview of The Art Of Great Conversation

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, self confidence

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, self confidence