Tips to help a novice public speaker sound like a veteran at the podium

I recently asked ChatGPT what the No. 1 personal fear in the world is. My AI friend responded with, “public speaking.”

Like many things in life, experience and practice is the best way to become good at presenting. However, even those who are new to public speaking can still do a great job if they know what to focus on.

This month, I will break down nine essential tips that, if followed, can help brand new speakers come across as polished presenters.

Understand the purpose of the speech

The first step in delivering a great speech is understanding the purpose or overall goal of your speech. The purpose of delivering a business presentation is much different than what you hope to accomplish by delivering a best man or maid of honour speech. Before you start the planning process, you should ask yourself what you hope your audience takes away from your speech.

Build the structure

Once you understand the purpose of your speech, you’re going to want to work on structure. I personally find business presentations with numbered lists work very well. Examples of business presentation titles could be “Top five findings from the Q1 earnings call,” or “Seven ways to elevate your social media presence.” By having numbered lists, it makes it easy for the audience to remember the information you’re presenting. When it comes to a wedding speech, personal stories work well, especially if they include an element of humour.

Limit your notes

No matter what type of speech you’re giving, I want you to limit your notes. Most new speakers begin their process by writing out every single word they plan to say on stage. Speakers who read their notes in front of a crowd often come across as monotone and their body language is limited because they’re holding the piece of paper. Instead of writing out each word, your notes should be subtle bullet points that trigger your memory of what you’re going to speak about next. My embedded YouTube video at the top of this column breaks this down in detail at the 2:19 mark.

Practice, practice, practice

If you go back through my library of Castanet columns over the past couple of years, you’ll find a common theme: Pactice! Practicing is incredibly important because when you stand in front of an audience for the first time, it can be a terrifying experience. Many people will notice their mouth goes dry, their palms sweat and it’s difficult to think straight. If you’re winging it, you increase the likelihood of freezing on stage, or at least forgetting to mention important elements. If you’ve practiced and are confident with your delivery, you’ll be able to overcome the nerves that may come your way on the day of the speech.

Have a strong opening

I’ve seen many wedding speeches that start the exact same way: “Hi everyone, my name is _____ and for those who don’t know me, I am the best man at this wedding.” In my opinion, this introduction is missing a major opportunity to capture the audience’s attention. We need to remember people have very short attention spans. If we can dive straight into a captivating story or make our audience laugh early on, we’re far more likely to keep their attention throughout the rest of the speech.

Deal with nerves

Stress and anxiety are normal and should be expected, whether you are delivering your first speech or your 100th. The first way to deal with nerves, as mentioned before, is by practicing and becoming comfortable with your material. Another way to deal with nerves is to inject humour into your speech. When you hear the audience laugh, instantly you’ll relax because you’ll know they’re enjoying themselves and it will help build your confidence. One way I like to reduce my speaking-related anxiety is to get to the venue early and stand on stage prior to anyone arriving. By becoming familiar with the setting and surroundings, it helps me visualize a successful speech. Finally, make sure you bring water on stage with you. If your mouth goes dry mid speech, it can be difficult to deal with, but water will help eliminate this issue.

Use body language and vocal variety

There are three important numbers based on research by Albert Mehrabian that identify how a message is communicated—55%, 38% and 7%. Fifty-five per cent relates to body language, 38% relates to vocal tone and variety and 7% relates to the actual words we speak. What that means is the majority of communication goes beyond the words we speak. If you are standing in front of an audience, looking down and reading your notes verbatim, you aren’t leveraging 93% of effective communication. The best speakers move around the stage and use purposeful body language. They increase their voice and soften their voice to capture and keep their audience’s attention.

Keep slides simple

A common mistake for new speakers is to build slide decks with way too many words on them. If you’re building a Powerpoint presentation, aim to use fewer than five words per slide. Large images or videos are a better way to supplement your speech than writing down too many words in a small font that the audience may struggle to read. Do your best to not constantly look back at your slides while presenting.

Close on a memorable note

The best way to leave a lasting impression with an audience is to conclude your speech with a memorable ending. I personally find the best speeches come full circle. Therefore, if you can reference whatever you began your speech with at the beginning as part of your conclusion, the audience will feel as though everything has come together perfectly.

Even if you’re about to deliver your first speech, if you can incorporate elements from these nine tips as part of your presentation, your audience will assume you’ve been speaking for years.

If you’re thinking about joining Toastmasters to improve your public speaking skills, our Kelowna AM Toastmasters Club is always looking for new members.

If you’re interested in learning more about Impactful Communication, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.