LEARN PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS : GUIDELINES FOR BEGINNERS


LEARN PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS GUIDELINES FOR BEGINNERS


Yes, I believe…

I believe that you should be the best version of you.

You must be bold enough to challenge yourself and explore new and exciting things in life.

What better way to do it than learning new skills?

One skill you definitely need to acquire is the public speaking skills.

And to those who wish to learn this skill, I must congratulate you for having such courage and initiative.

You shall never regret it. Because I never regret it. I decided to learn public speaking some time ago and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Looking back to my past experience, I have come up with some tips (Well, I prefer to call it as guidelines) that may be useful for beginners in learning public speaking and I want to share them with you.

So here are the Guidelines that might help you in your public speaking journey.

1)Take One Step at A Time

I know you can get really excited about learning how to speak for the first time. You just cannot wait to be great at it. You are eager to learn everything straight away and be as good as the professional speakers out there as soon as possible.

Well, I hate to break it to you but it does not work that way. At least not that fast. To learn public speaking, you need to take one step at a time especially if you are a beginner. Please remember it takes time to master any skill.


“Every Master was once a disaster”
-T Harv Eker -

So, if you need to take one step at the time, what is the first step?

The first step you need to take is taking the first step.

You are still not sure what to do?

Read any book about public speaking. Listen to people giving a speech. And start speaking.

2)Build Up Your Confidence Slowly.

Being confidence is important when it comes to public speaking. In order to speak in front of an audience, you must have the confidence. As a beginner, it will take some time for you to get used to standing in front of people and speak. It can be scary and intimidating in the beginning. 

Therefore, build your confidence to speak slowly. Start speaking and do it as frequent as you can. Go out there and grab any opportunities you can find to gain the experience.

You can join a public speaking club like the Toastmasters for regular practice, volunteer yourself to give a talk for an organization or take up certain role in delivering presentation at work. If you are a student, be the first one to raise your hand to offer yourself to do a presentation for your group work.

3)Improve as You Go

Nothing is perfect. Do not worry about getting it right, right away. There is always room for improvement but give it some time. Just continue giving speeches and improve as you go. Observe, learn and get better at it as you go along.

‘Strive for continuous improvement,
instead of perfection’
-Kim Collins-

It is like riding a bicycle. If you do it every day, you can ride your bicycle even if you close one eye. (well just saying…please do not try this at home. It is pretty dangerous)

4)Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

As you embark on your wonderful new journey, you will make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Allow yourself to make mistakes as this will help you to grow. You will learn the do’s and the don’ts. You will know what to do and what not to do.

‘The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way’
-Dale Carnegie-

The best way to learn public speaking is to make mistakes (the more the better) and learn from these mistakes. Trust me, most probably you will not repeat those mistakes anymore.

5)Get Feedback

When you learn public speaking skills, do not forget to get feedback. This is how you learn. This is how you improve. Ask for other people’s views and suggestions. Ask them what they think about your speech delivery. 

Find out what are lacking. What do you need to improve? Have an open mind and be ready for positive or negative views. The key is to choose what is best for you. Ask those people who you trust to give you their honest opinions.

‘Feedback is the breakfast of champions’
-Ken Blanchard-

6)Be Patient and Persistent

The final thing you must remember. You must always be patient and persistent if you want to be good at public speaking. Everything takes time. And to master a skill, sometimes you need more time than you think. 

Do not give up easily if you find it a bit difficult for you. One thing for sure. When you are determined, your effort will eventually pay off.

The truth…

When I first started learning how to give a speech, nobody ever told me about all this. I did not know what to expect. These guidelines are the things I have discovered along the way and by sharing this, I hope you will be ready for it.

Oh, one last piece of advice. Always be positive. Never doubt yourself, relax and enjoy the ride. You will be just fine. :-)

All the Best!



Written by: Intan Salwana Anis
@2019 Public Speaking Is Cool. All Rights Reserved

Popular posts from this blog

THE POWER OF EMOTIONS IN A SPEECH

Image
Emotions... Emotions make humans different from the rest. Having emotions distinguish us from robots. Having emotions is what makes us humans. Feelings make us feel alive. Having emotions helps us to understand each other. The feeling of happiness for example, gives us the sense of satisfaction, blissfulness and joy. Anger protects us from other human beings despite the negative perceptions of anger. Sadness helps us to heal and teaches us how to deal with the facts of life. Being scared at times leads us to safety. It all depends on how you see it; positively or negatively. Either way, you can’t live without your emotions . You can feel emotions around you every day. You feel love when you kiss your adorable little boy in the morning. You feel angry when someone took your favourite pen without asking. You feel sad when your best friend forgot your birthday. You feel excited when you go out for your first date. Or any date. Emotions are everywhere. Even the film write...
Read more

THE POWER OF SPEECH

Image
When we talk about giving a speech, the first thing we imagine is someone talking. The fact is; public speaking is more than just the act of speaking in front of an audience. It goes way beyond that. “Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson- There are many reasons why giving a speech is important. Do not underestimate the power of speech because a great speech can change the world. Believe it or not, a speech can make a difference. So, what makes a speech so powerful? 1)We can present ideas by giving a speech Ideas are meant to be heard. Ideas lead to creativity and innovations. The right ideas will solve many problems and can bring good to the human kind. Thus, it provides a better world for us to live in. One way to present your ideas is by delivering a speech. The act of speaking and using words are needed to present these ideas. A creative speech can h...
Read more

WHAT MAKES GOOD SPEECH CONTENT?

Image
Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Why do you listen to speeches? Are you bored and you have nothing else to do? Do you have this weird habit of listening to people talking? Or maybe you are being forced to listen to these presentations by your bosses? My guess is; you listen to speeches because you want to learn something from these speakers. You want to get valuable information. In other words, you are looking for great speech content. Of course, listening to a speaker with good sense of humour may lighten up your day. However, if the speech does not give you what you seek, why do you listen to the speech? Am I right? Now, another question, let say you are the speaker, do you know which one is more important? Is it the way you deliver your speech? Or is it the content of your speech? Well, you know the saying, ‘content is king’. No matter how good you are at delivering a speech, it all comes down to what you can do for your audience. So the real ...
Read more