Whether you have to address your company shareholders or maybe you local PTA, knowing some hidden tips on public speaking is really going to help you out. Starting with preparation is the key. Knowing where you are going to speak, to whom you will be speaking, and the time you have allotted to address your messages is information you will need to know. This article will offer tips on public speaking that you may not have considered before.
Your audience and the speaking engagement location are very important. Get all the information possible about who will be attending your presentation. Find out if these people be experts in the matter you will be discussing, will they have little information about your subject or are they a mixed group. This information will determine how you will prepare your speech. It will help you decide if your presentation it to teach, train or to provide your view point on the subject matter. If you have the opportunity, visit the location before the time of the talk. It will help you visualize as you prepare your outline and will ensure you are not caught off guard by any peculiarities of the space.
Once you are sure what your main message will be, get it down on paper as an outline. Write down the main sections and subsections on what you are going to talk about. There is no need to go into detail on the outline, as you do not want end up reading your speech from your outline. If you end up reading your presentation you will bore your audience to death. Keep in mind the time you have been allotted for your presentation. Knowing what you are going to say, when you are standing in front of your audience will be the most important of the secret tips on public speaking.
People will rarely want to listen to you for longer that the time you have been allotted. Do not assume you are one of those speakers that the audience cannot get enough of. Remember, rap up your presentation on time. If you notice you are loosing your audience's attention, you probably have gone overtime, end your presentation quickly.
You have been chosen to speak because you are an expert on the topic you are presenting. Make sure your confidence and enthusiasm reflects this. Never apologize for what you do not have with you or what you do not know, instead, focus on what you do know and do it with confidence. If you portray yourself as being an expert on the topic you are presenting, your audience will assume you are, and will pay more attention to you. People like hearing from people that portray confidence.
So, knowing your audience, preparing an outline, keeping on time, and portraying confidence are the secret tips on public speaking. You will learn many more secrets as you grow in your abilities in speaking in public. The most important thing know is to concentrate on theses four tips on public speaking, and implement them in your next speaking engagement and you will see tremendous personal growth.
Hidden Tips on Public Speaking Revealed
A Public Speaking Nightmare
Recently, I attended a keynote presentation by a major radio executive in Toronto. Which, may sound interesting enough but, what happened at this event may make you think twice about how fine tuned your public speaking skills really are!
It all started innocently enough when a representative from the hosting organization got up to introduce the keynote speaker. What happened next can only be described as a complete public speaking meltdown and a humiliating nightmare.
After taking the stage and nervously placing herself behind the podium, she immediately launched into a twenty minute litany about herself, her quirky mother, nine rooms in her house, her alcoholic father, her trip to Boston, her move to New York etc. And, as she rested her elbows on the podium she held tightly to her face two goose-neck microphones. (I know you can picture this in your head!) And, while this looked obviously inappropriate she also never got around to mentioning anything about the keynote speaker.
With growing frustration, chairs around the room started to shift, people started to moan, and people began to give hand signals to hurry up and get off the stage. Yet, despite all the warning signs, she just kept going. Then, it happened. She got heckled by the audience! "Get off the stage for crying out loud, let the speaker speak!" said one. "That's enough!" said the other. And, this was not just any audience! This was a prominent well-to-do money making business audience.
Not only did she never even get to the point but, but she failed completely in her duty to introduce and honour the keynote speaker. After realizing her professional blunder (due to the loud heckling from the audience) she politely said "well it looks like I've run out of time". Though she tried to regain her composure, she sheepishly began reading the guest speaker's credentials off a page in a monotone voice like she was reading names from a phonebook.
I can honestly tell you that it was truly painful to be in that audience and watch such a complete and utter self-destruction! The whole room was not only uncomfortable but some audience members were clearly angry! This is just one example of the many potential public speaking mishaps that I witness on a regular basis.
Other common public speaking mistakes include...
When the speaker fails to build trust with his/her audience
When the speaker tries gimmicks or jokes that interfere with their message
When the speaker fails to effectively communicate their message and/or product/service benefits
When a speaker puts the audience to sleep
When a speaker manages to exclude their entire audience by focusing all of their attention on one member (or target members) of the audience
Have you ever heard ineffective speeches or pitches by politicians or by business leaders and colleagues? Did it garner your trust or lose your trust? Have you ever heard sorry speeches at weddings that made you say "yikes"? Have you ever attended a seminar where you were filled with so many statistics that you were bored after ten minutes? Have you ever witnessed an amazing seminar and wished you could do the same?
You may be interested to know that public speaking is an art that can be taught. In fact, everyone can learn the basic template for a winning and successful presentation. Learning public speaking can be a fun and stimulating experience that will empower you in any boardroom or public presentation. It can give you the confidence you need to achieve the higher success that you want! Simply by learning the secrets of powerful speakers you can make affect great change in both your professional and personal life! Avoid the professional pitfalls and public blunders altogether. Public speaking training is not only a great investment in your professional career; it's a great life investment that will reward you again and again.
Can Public Speaking Hypnosis Help You?
It seems that at some point almost everyone experiences some anxiety about public speaking. Hypnosis can be a useful tool to help many people overcome this fear of speaking in front of an audience, and become relaxed, confident speakers.
Although there are several ways to treat a fear of public speaking, hypnosis is often one of the most successful. Hypnosis deals with the "programming" in your subconscious mind, and can affect changes on a deeper level than we are counsciously aware of. Why is this important?
Your subconscious is trying to protect you by maintaining everything in your life the way it currently is -- both the good and the bad! Your subconscious doesn't really concern itself with concepts like happiness or unhappiness. It deals with basic survival, and the way it sees it, you have survived up to now the way you are, so you shouldn't change anything and put yourself at risk.
You can see a therapist that uses hypnosis to overcome your anxiety, or you can use a public speaking hypnosis recording. Self hypnosis, like using a pre-recorded mp3 session, can in some cases be just as useful as seeing a therapist, and you can do it in the privacy of your own home. Public speaking hypnosis mp3s are available to use over and over until you feel that you have completely overcome your fear. They are also usually a cheaper option than seeing a hypnotherapist.
As with most other types of treatment, hypnosis works best when you are able to repeat it over and over. Owning a self hypnosis session allows you to use it every day, until you have successfully "brainwashed" yourself to the point where you have overcome your mental obstacles and re-programmed your mind.
Undergoing hypnosis, whether with a therapist or using a recording, usually begins by getting really relaxed and calm, and entering a pre-hypnotic state. Once hypnotized, you are usually still both awake and alert, but your mind is more receptive to suggestions. The hypnotherapist will guide you by giving you suggestions that will help your subconscious mind to change its habitual responses and replace them with new, more beneficial ones.
You subconscious does not understand negatives, so a suggestion should not be "I am not afraid of speaking in public," but rather something like "I feel calm and relaxed when I speak in public," or "I enjoy speaking in public."
Using hypnosis to treat phobias has been proven effective in many research studies, and this includes treating fear of flying, fear of spiders, social phobias as well as fear of public speaking.
The concept of ypnosis has been around for a long time, but there are many misconceptions about this technique. For one, a lot of people think you are unconscious and not aware of what goes on around you when you are hypnotized. This is not correct; under hypnosis, you might feel like you are in an altered state of mind, but you are still aware of what is going on and nothing can be done to you that you do not allow.
You can not be hypnotized against your will, and you are still in control when you are under hypnosis. If you feel insecure about what the public speaking hypnosis tape will "do to you", listen through it without focusing on following the suggestions, or read the script before you start your self hypnosis session, just for your own peace of mind.
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