A Few Ways to Up Your Public Speaking Skills (part 1)

part 1 | part 2

KISS

Yes, please give me a kiss! I kid… no I mean “Keep it Simple Silly.” Public speaking isn’t about getting into every little detail; it’s about painting a beautiful and simple picture for your audience. I’ve given enough speeches to learn that trying to be overly complex and coming off as this sophisticated scholar is definitely the wrong move. You want to be to-the-point, concise, and succinct and possible. Don’t go off on tangents and or add unnecessary facts that add no value to your message.

Throw away your notes

Seriously, you shouldn’t be using notes at all. Don’t be one of those speakers with a handful of index cards who is constantly shuffling them around and reading off of them while you give a speech. Public speaking is about sharing your passions and when you are truly passionate about the topic that you are speaking about you’ll find that the words will just flow out of your mouth and your memory of what you are to discuss will be solid. Of course there are exceptions when you’ll need to use notes, but for the most part, you should never use them. The key is to be “passionate” and “knowledgeable” about what you are speaking about. If you aren’t, the audience will see right through you. It won’t be hard to tell when you are reading — word for word — from your cards.

Tell a story

The best public speakers always know to tell a good story. Everyone likes to hear a story. When preparing for your speech think of an applicable story that would add value and better explain your topic. When you tell a story, you are taking your audience on a journey with you — you are taking them outside of the room. This technique really livens up your speech and allows your listeners to image. This, of course, is fun and it’ll help engaged your audience and they’ll also retain more of your speech.

As an entrepreneur you should strive to become a powerful public speaker. Getting up in front of an audience and sharing your ideas, experiences, and knowledge is an experience like no other. Spoken word is so, so powerful. Public speaking is an art and working to perfect this art will make you a much stronger entrepreneur. Stay turned for part two when I get into more detailed techniques.

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