Improving as a Public Speaker

[dtownreppin214]

Did the big walk yesterday. Now its time to enter the real world. I have a job that I start in a few months which will require me to give presentations (powerpoint) on a weekly basis. Now I did my share of presentations in college, so i'm not a scrub but I could use some improvement to become more natural at it. I want to become an elite public speaker bc I know that will help me signficantly in my future. Any advice, tips, tricks on how yall improved other than just doing it more often?

 

[BrothaZay]

You're probably better than you think you are.

In my speech class they made us take senior year, I was in a class full of hoodrats, ghetto mexicans, and just nikkas who aitn give a fucc. Me, ima quiet reserved nikka who stays to myself and I stutter n shyt sometimes.
One day we had to do a 'How To' speech. After i went the whole class have a standin ovation and was dyin laughing at the shyt i was saying.


That had nothing to do with the thread I jus wanted to brag about that.

But the most important thing is knowing WHO you are speaking to first and foremost.
After that, you gotta find a way to keep them entertained, be slightly funny but at the same time never talk about a different subject.

 

[FaTaL]

talk slow and use big words

make you look smarter

 

[Grizzly]

toastmasters...find a local group in your area and find out what times they meet up

 

[PUT IN WORK]

Be confident and competent (the way you stand up and speak). Loud clear voice. The mirror test is always the best for me. Practice in front the mirror and just make eye contact with yourself. Have the key points mapped out in your head and make sure you communicate the message clearly.When presenting make sure to make eye contact with everybody throughout the presentation and not just one person. If asked a question that you don't know the answer to, answer confidently, "Me and department will look into that." Try to avoid straight up "I don't know". It's not as hard as college IMO.

 

[YEAHitsHER]

aww congrats..my bro is graduating today..im sure you will prosper

 

[resurrection]

Simplify. You know what you're talking about because you're presenting, but your audience might not. Make it as easily digestible for them as possible and be as visual as you can (diagrams, charts, etc) so everybody understands.

 

[Sharp]

Knowing your material makes it easier

Be confident in what you're saying

Try not to be boring. Keep people engaged by being entertaining but still professional.

I'm a college professor and I speak publicly all the time.

Rehearse your material, but not verbatim. Learning how to speak off cuff will be your best friend.

Make eye contact and try to read from the powerpoint as little as possible

 

[villain]

practice practice practice

You gotta get up in front of your mirror and practice speaking
You get a friend(s) and practice in front of them and let them critique

If you're not used to it, you're not gonna be that great starting out but practice makes perfect. Also, as far as projecting your voice, learn how to speak "from the diaphragm": Speak from the Diaphragm*? - Articles - Message Masters Toastmasters Club Ottawa - Public Speaking Training

And I don't know if you get nervous looking into the crowd and making eye contact, but a good trick a professor told me for this was: "look into the crowd and try to see who had sex last night"

 

[you're NOT "n!ggas"]

engage the audience? capture their imagination? i couldn't tell you exactly how to do that, but just try to study up on what intrigues people during a discussion. they'll relate more to that and in turn, the message should resonate.

 

[Still Benefited]

Congratulations....and preperation id say is key....just to give you my impressive resume....a few easter plays under my belt....4th or 5th grade I did a speech in front of the whole school and parents and got a thunderous apllause....and in highschool had creative writing and speech and had to speak in front of the class week after week.....now it wuz plenty of weeks I wuznt prepared but as a msaster bullshytter I at least sounded good up there.....on those weeks I wuz prepared though I had em....I made them laugh,I made them cry,took them nikkas on a rollercoaster ride,bytches lovin the passion comin off me.


At work u obviously can't just bullshyt ur way through anything,but its always gon be more comfortable if u get to know the people a little bit u will be speaking too....and if you know you KNoW your shyt you will look more comfortable and won't be timid hoping they don't ask you a hard question....if you funny and generallly entertaining you'll be fine though,when people don't like you they just waiting on u to fuk up....when they like u they pullin for you.

 

[ugksam]

the true way to improve is to record yourself (on audio or video) and watch yourself and see what you did wrong or see if there is anything you could improve on.

lmao at these narcissistic attention whores "I gave a speech and the whole class was like and gave a standing ovation and then the hottest girl in class dragged me into the stairwell and gave me a blow job :dustoff:" thats the coli for ya

 

[fact]

toastmasters...find a local group in your area and find out what times they meet up

this

 

[Emperor Sol]

You have to know who you're talking to, what you're talking about and keep the presentations and simple and as conversational (very important) as possible (if your information isn't at least mostly formal, there's no need for it to be dry and monotonous).

What I like to do is rehearse what I'll be going over in my head before I do the presentation. This DOES NOT mean I go over line for line what I want to say. I go over each point I want to make and just go off of what I know.

For example, if I have to talk furthering the development of Africa's rail infrastructure, I would obviously have to cover:

- Financing
- Potential issues with corruption
- What wouild be done about infrastructure that's already in place
- etc

Each point needs to be thoroughly went over in your head before you say it so that nothing important can be missed out on. Besides, if you remember what your points are and know what information encapsulates said point, you can easily make as many variations during your speech as you want to. You'd be surprised.

I also can't stress this enough: keep your presentations as conversational as possible. Your audience needs to be engaged throughout the presentation, even if you're not actually having a conversation. They'll be more receptive to your ideas if they feel as though they're being included in the discussion. What works really well too is being inquisitive and trying to get their opinion on any specific matter to make it seem like you know what you're talking about. Saying "how many of you have ever......" works very well to keep the flow conversational.

Just take this simple advice to heart and I'm sure you'll do well.

 

[dtownreppin214]

toastmasters...find a local group in your area and find out what times they meet up

this

Thanks. I just found one 5 minutes from me. I'll probably go in 2 weeks as a guest. Are u a part of one?