Does the thought of speaking in public make you nervous? Do your hands start to shake and your voice shiver when you start speaking in front of people, especially when speaking in English? Good spoken English skills are important for public speaking and presentations.

Here are some tips that can help you overcome your nervousness and become a confident speaker.

Structure Your Presentation

One of the benefits of a business presentation or a business related public speech is that the topic is generally well defined. It allows you to structure your thoughts and present them in a crisp, logical manner. Use your presentation to aid what you have to say, as a guide.

Every presentation has a beginning, a main portion, and an end. Use the beginning to grab the audience’s attention. Some people use quotes, statistics, others use a cartoon strip, or a relevant video clip. If using humor, be politically correct. It is important to structure your presentation logically with a few main points and supporting sub-points. Try not to cram too many points or too much information into one presentation as it will be difficult for your audience to retain. How you end your presentation is also important – that is what the audience will remember the most. Usually, summarizing is a safe way to ensure recall. Relevant quotes and clips also help. Remember to thank your audience for their time.

Don’t Let Them See You Are Nervous!

If you are afraid of your hands shaking, rest them on the podium or table. For the legs, stand flat on two feet or walk around a little while you talk. Before your speech, warm up your voice with vocal exercises so you don’t sound feeble in front of your audience. It is a good idea to rehearse a couple of times in front of a full length mirror just to check out the possible weak areas you might want to overcome, or at worst, hide.

Use your facial expressions – make eye contact, smile, walk a little on the stage if your legs feel steady. Ask a friend to give you feedback on your expressions. You should avoid exaggerated or inappropriate mannerisms. So if you have a particular habit, say chewing your nails, you are warned before an interview panel sees you!

Refine Your Spoken English Skills

It is important to be fluent in English while giving a presentation or speaking in public. Good spoken English skills will help reduce your nervousness. Practise English daily to improve your English language skills.

Engage Your Audience

There are people who can be successfully funny in a presentation or while speaking in public. Unless you are supremely confident and relaxed, stay away from humor. It can be used very well, only once you know that the bulk of your speech has gone well, you are feeling relaxed, and there is a genuine opportunity. Do not crack more than one or two jokes in a business presentation. You are an executive, not a clown.

The Presentation Should Only Contain Bullet Points

Avoid putting too much information on the slide. The audience is here to listen to you, not stare at the screen. Your speech should contain the bulk of what you have to say, with the bullet points supporting you as a guide to stay on track. If you have a lot of information to give your audience, prepare detailed hand-out notes from your speech, have printouts ready, and assure your audience that these will be available even after your speech. Make your text clearly visible. Do not read out your bullet points to the audience.

Format Your Presentation

When you have to get your message across in a presentation, make sure that you use a standardized font and bullet point structure. Do not vary the look and feel of your presentation as it looks amateurish. While special effect transitions might seem really impressive when you first encounter them, either avoid them or use them only once, perhaps before the slide that presents your concluding points. Nothing is as annoying as a time-consuming transition that repeats every time.

If you have a smaller audience, consider a flip chart as back up. Pre-prepare your flip chart, using fresh markers that do not bleed. Have your markers handy for any impromptu writing. Once again, visibility is important.

Prepare well for your speech or presentation. The better prepared you are, the more relaxed you will be. If you are still nervous, channel that nervousness into enthusiasm. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

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