Many people find it difficult to speak in public even after researching and preparing for their presentation. They feel nervous at the idea of addressing a large audience. In order to feel confident while speaking to a large audience, try the following tips -
a. While making the presentation
i. Practice the presentation by standing straight. Your feet should be directly under your hips. It is most stable and best looking posture while giving a speech. Try to rehearse in this posture and maintain it all throughout the speech. You can do this in front of a friend or a mirror.
ii. Keep your shoulder relax as the shoulder muscles support the larynx which affects our voice. Hence, don’t put pressure on your shoulders. Your shoulders should be relaxed. The muscles in the shoulders support directly your larynx, so it has a fast effect on your voice. Shoulders should be rolled out.
iii. Rehearse a lot and think of the presentation as a performance. Every performance needs preparation and rehearsal. Warm up your voice by taking a deep breath. You should feel expansion in the rib cage and then exhale. Do these exercises three times. This will not only warm up your voice but will also relax you. Make a sound like a siren in which you start from a high note and then gradually go to the lowest note your voice has. Practice this exercise many times to hit the low note which will come from the navel. This note is the natural pitch of your voice.
b. Managing meeting skills
i. While rehearing your speech, imagine your voice to be a laser beam that should reach the farthest of your audience. Direct your voice to be clear and outreaching. Your every word must reach your every audience. They should understand whatever you are speaking.
ii. Direct your thoughts. You must keep your thoughts in control while giving the speech. Don’t let your thoughts wander, especially during the start and conclusion of your speech. Your speech should deliver the complete message and must fulfill its object
iii. Your diction and pronunciation should be perfect. You must make sure that the message you are trying to convey is clear to your audience.
c. During questions round
i. You must relax and give yourself some breathing space.
ii. While answering a question, stay relaxed and don’t sound nervous. Take a deep breath as when we are nervous, we tend to hyperventilate. Hence to stop yourself from panicking, you must breathe before starting to answer a question. This will give you at moment to gather your thoughts and you will be able to give a more logical answer to the questions.
