- Career development
- 18 Strategies To Improve Your Public Speaking Skills
By Indeed Editorial Team
Updated May 6, 2022 | Published October 9, 2020
Updated May 6, 2022
Published October 9, 2020
Related: How to Overcome a Fear of Public Speaking
In this video, Jenn, a certified Career Coach, explains the common causes of a fear of public speaking.
Learning how to improve your performance skills is important in almost any career. Most industries need clear, effective speakers who communicate confidently and know how to engage an audience on any kind of topic, whether serious or entertaining. In this article, we list 18 strategies for you to try out in your next presentation.
Why are public speaking skills important?
Words have the power to inform, persuade and educate others. Skilled public speakers can motivate team members and sway opinions. Public speaking skills are also beneficial for:
Career advancement
Boosted confidence
Personal development
Enhanced communication skills
Evolved persuasion skills
Improved leadership skills
Vocabulary development
Related: 12 Jobs in Public Speaking
How to be better at public speaking
This list offers many basic strategies for developing your overall public speaking and presentation skill set:
1. Study
Look up articles online and discover new trends in writing and delivering speeches. Find out which methods are the most effective and blend them into your address. You can also research a famous speaker you admire and attempt to emulate them. Listen to how they speak and watch how they move. Take notes and practice what they do.
2. Research the topic
Before presenting to an audience, you must have a deep understanding of your topic. Thoroughly research it and try your best to develop expertise in the subject area. Aside from enabling you to craft a better speech, this approach also helps grow your confidence, increase your knowledge and enhance your ability to recall information.
3. Use metaphors and analogies
When used appropriately, a metaphor becomes a great method to express your idea or concept. Such figurative language is often one of the best tools to use to help explain yourself to your audience simply yet effectively.
4. Break information into digestible parts
When speaking in public, consider your audience's capacity to absorb and retain vital information. This consideration is especially true for long speeches, which require the speaker to use special strategies to present information. A common way to do this is to break an important part of your message down into three primary parts. Ensure that each part offers an actionable takeaway, and title them appropriately within your slideshow or other presentation materials.
Consolidating the information of your speech into a brief outline is also useful. An organized outline makes it easier to find your place and refreshes your memory without having to rely upon looking down and reading from a piece of paper for an extended amount of time.
5. Ask rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions create a dramatic effect and restate your topic in a thought-provoking manner. Rhetorical questions encourage the audience to linger on an idea and thereby help them further their understanding of it.
Related: The Rhetorical Triangle: Ethos, Pathos and Logos
6. Develop a strong beginning and ending
Though your entire speech should be memorable and engaging, it's especially important to grab the audience's attention at the beginning and again at the end. It can be effective to include a hook, a topic sentence that fully explains the problem your speech addresses and the solution it offers. It clearly defines the point of your speech and grabs the attention of the audience right away. Instead of simply stating what your speech is about in your introduction, you can try incorporating an interesting quote, an entertaining anecdote or a relevant statistic. In your conclusion, use a strong statement or summary that will leave the audience contemplating your message.
7. Consider your audience
How you explain a topic is often more important than the topic itself. Explaining a topic clearly and appropriately requires a thorough understanding of your audience. Consider whether you're talking to parents or children, presenting a new idea in a meeting, speaking with prospective clients or talking with friends. With your audience determined, you can optimize your terminology and speaking habits to create greater impact and results.
Customize your speech toward a common problem most likely faced by members of the audience. Relate to and sympathize with them while also addressing how your solution can help solve the problem.
8. Practice before speaking
Even experienced public speakers get some degree of anxiety before their presentations. For both new and veteran speakers, rehearsing a speech prepares you for the live presentation. Consider engaging in a practice exercise before your presentation. For example, you could loosen up your body by stretching and conducting vocal exercises, such as producing different sounds and humming to loosen your vocal cords.
For easier memorization, consider dividing your speech into separate parts. Practice each section separately and give yourself time to master each one rather than attempting to remember the full speech.
Recording yourself practicing your speech is a great way to assess both your verbal and nonverbal communication styles. Look for aspects that you can improve, such as eliminating the verbal stalls "like" or "um."
Related: How To Memorize a Speech (Plus Tips)
9. Make eye contact
You can certainly look at your notes occasionally, but try to maintain eye contact with your audience throughout your presentation. This helps them stay engaged and communicates a certain level of confidence that will give you and your message credibility.
10. Speak with confidence
Once you're in place, strike a confident pose. Hold your head high, stand up straight and deliver your speech. Have a thorough understanding of your speech so you speak clearly and effectively with an organized presentation of ideas. Exuding confidence instills confidence in your expertise within your audience.
11. Take a deep breath
If you feel nervous, consider loosening up before you present, taking a deep breath and letting your body relax. Let your arms hang naturally or rest on an available surface and prevent locking your knees by keeping them slightly bent. If you tend to cross your arms while giving speeches, find ways to keep your hands and arms engaged to avoid temptation.
Related: How To Overcome a Fear of Public Speaking
12. Consider your hands
Anchoring your hands with a clicker, a microphone or deliberate hand gestures prevents nonverbal cues of nervousness. Keeping your hands occupied reduces the chances of wringing them or cracking your knuckles while giving presentations.
If having nervous hands is a greater issue for you than anchoring can solve, try giving them purposeful movement. Channel your nervousness or excitement into power gestures such as:
Using your fingers to count through a list
Utilizing your hands to gauge various sizes
Arching your shoulders into a shrug to emphasize rhetorical questions
Sweeping both arms in front of you for emphasis
Making a solid fist to show determination
13. Walk the stage
Instead of standing in place, make use of all the space available to you. Your speech becomes more personal when you pace before the audience and make eye contact with people throughout the room. It creates the perception that you're speaking with each section of the audience or an individual within the sections.
14. Engage the audience with yes or no questions and call-outs
Asking questions that provoke a simple nod or shake of the head keeps the audience engaged and attentive. It also creates the perception that you're speaking to them individually, asking each person a direct question they can answer nonverbally.
You can further engage with the audience by calling out individuals. For example, if you ask a yes or no question and you spot one person in the front row voting opposite everyone else, push for more information politely. Ask a follow-up question for them to explain the reasoning behind their choice. Doing so engages the audience on a more personal level and often presents the opportunity for humor and entertainment.
Related: 14 Rules for Public Speaking
15. Deliver a relevant joke
Some public speakers take inspiration from stand-up comedians, especially regarding creating a joke they refer to throughout their presentation. For example, some speakers begin their presentation by sharing an amusing story. Toward the midpoint of their speech, they either tell another amusing story or refer back to the original. By the end, they culminate their story or series of stories into an impactful one-line joke that makes the audience laugh.
16. Act out the humor and smile
Aside from sharing a joke or humorous story, you can express humor through nonverbal communication. Anything from raising an eyebrow to a dramatic or exaggerated sigh could incite laughter. If you share stories in your speech, consider ways in which you can act them out. If you pull the audience in with comedic gestures, they often stay engaged throughout your speech.
Smiling often encourages the audience to smile at you. Consider the moment in which you smile and its significance to what you're saying. For example, a joke with a well-timed smile can further grab the audience’s attention and incite laughter. Smiles also add a lighthearted touch to your speech, especially if you are addressing a sensitive topic.
17. Use emotion and dramatic pauses for emphasis
Even if the topic is highly logical, emotion can add personality and charm to your speech and engage members of the audience even more. Focus on evoking emotions that relate to your speech. For example, if the topic of your speech is learning to be the best manager you can be, energize the audience with excitement.
Speakers often use dramatic pauses to heighten tension before delivering an impactful statement. This adds power and emphasis to the thought, ensuring that the audience remembers it.
18. Adapt to feedback
Having a speech planned is imperative, but you should also remain flexible. By keeping your attention on the audience, you can evaluate their reactions and adjust your message accordingly. For example, if members of the audience seemed confused by a point you just made, spend a little extra time clarifying before moving on.
Related: 11 Attention Getters For Giving Captivating Speeches