Public Speaking Made Easy
Ceddy on Sep 06 2007 at 3:24 am
Scared to talk? Being shy? Feeling stressed up when everyone’s attention is on you?
And you think all those made you a loser forever? Come on, we are all humans, we face this kind of situation ALL THE TIME! In fact, fear of public speaking is relatively common among us but we can’t be too shy and afraid all the time, it’s time to SPEAK UP! When I say SPEAK UP! I mean open your mouth and start talking and start letting your audience hear you! Good boy gone bad now present to you, the guide to speak up with confidence! You can read about this kind of guide somewhere else but I’m trying to make things look really simple. ;)
Before You Face The Audience!
- Watch and Imitate: Actors are dealing with millions of audience and if they can act, why can’t you? Call them professional? What makes you think you’re not human too? Imitate the way they talk, of course, not the mute or retarded character.
- Read Out Loud: Fear of pronouncing the wrong word? Then practice by reading out loud, have dictionary to help you, act like a newscaster.
- Learn To Rap, Not To Crap: Lil Kim, Missy Elliott, Jay Z don’t rap when they are babies, it’s a form of habit. I’m asking you to learn how to talk fast and fluent, you’re giving speech not dropping an album.
- Talk To Your Friends: Theories suck! Learn to be practical, talk to your friends, if they are not willing to help then get your lecturers and when you can finally speak well, diss them. :P
- Learn From Public Speaking Guides: Example? This site.
And other boring books
- Preparation: Prepare before you speak, don’t end up talking about what you ate yesterday evening when you’re supposed to talk about global warming. If you don’t have any points to support your speech, please, get down from the stage.
- “I Can Do It”: Be fair to yourself, if you can’t even motivate yourself, you’re gonna be a loser, for real! Cut and paste “I Can Do It” into your head.
When You Face The Audience
- Eye Contact: Unless your eyes can only look to the right hand side, otherwise try to look at everyone in the crowd! You want people’s attention, no doubt! But people want your attention too!
- Body Language: Nobody wanna see you tap your foot, nobody wanna see you rubbing your sweaty palm on your shirt, nobody wanna hear you making sounds like “ssssss” followed by, “God I’m so nervous!”. They want you to go straight to the point.
- Straight To The Point: Elaboration is necessary but start off with your point first, don’t go twisting and turning and swinging and spinning, by the time you reach your main point, your audience are already asleep!
- Focus: Jokes are allowed, but not being carried away. Always drive on the road and avoid driving into the grass when you shouldn’t do it, know what you’re talking!
- Interaction: You’re not a dictator and hence try to encourage interaction, ask them questions, make them raise their hands, they are your puppets! Make good use of them before they start to sleep.
- Respect: DO NOT EVER USE THE “N” word. Don’t make yourself look like one racist idiot.
I’m not a pro but I certainly stand corrected and I hope my article do help out a lot! If you have any extra ideas, don’t mind dropping some lines.
*Special update*
Eric from http://blog.ericfeng.com/ provided a very useful tip, and it’s my honor to have him commenting in my blog because he’s way too pro and having him to enlighten us a little is definitely priceless! He added this.
Deliver value!
Regardless of your purpose (be it to persuade, to inform, to inspire or to entertain), the speaker must always deliver value. Value is what makes an audience’s business and personal life better if they act on it. It could come in the form of a three-step strategy, a recommended book to read or tips to solve a particular problem. If there is no value in your speech, then there is really no point wasting your audience’s time delivering it.
I.Am quoted this,
NEVER apologize…. even if you’re not ready or whatever problem… Just go ahead with the speech.
Coz it seems very common nowadays. Don’t say sorry when giving a speech. The audience will automatically have a low judgment towards the speaker.
Saewei suggested this, which I think would answer Nicholas’ question:
if you are not too sure about yourself –> practice practice and more practice on the speech in front of some good friends before the real deal..
Thank you so much! Guys, if you have any other tips, don’t mind sharing with us!
lol… so “ngam” today my entire class got public speaking and i told my mates to read this blog entry of yours. lol…
Thanks for your entry into the “How-to” Group Writing Project!
is it a type of gaining experience and confident too?
many ppl are shy to talk,
shudnt be like that.
or else hard to communicate with frenz.
JJ: Not just to friends, but to the public, and what if you have to work?
Sarah: No problemo! I love this project!!!
Erlynda: *Flattered*, then tell me how do they think of this entry ya.
hahaha… Im sucks in public speaking.. the pronounciation will go wrong, nervousness will take control of me… keke.. then the sweat will bath me.. cham cham
Cedric, good job with the writing. I thought some of your tips were right on, especially the part about “going straight to the point”. I will like to add one to the list.
Deliver value!
Regardless of your purpose (be it to persuade, to inform, to inspire or to entertain), the speaker must always deliver value. Value is what makes an audience’s business and personal life better if they act on it. It could come in the form of a three-step strategy, a recommended book to read or tips to solve a particular problem. If there is no value in your speech, then there is really no point wasting your audience’s time delivering it.
cool. like this guide. when i talk, i get shaky. how?
you sure look good, and this post is informative, i should have read this when i was in college, (LOL) all the best in blogging, cheers^^
lordmanilastone: First of all, thanks for dropping by in my blog.
And I hope you will stick around all the time or subscribe to my rss! 
All the best in blogging to you too!!!
Nicholas: I have answered your question in msn.
Eric: It’s definitely my honor to have you commented in my blog, I’ve been to your blog and you’re truly a PRO man!
There’s just so much to learn in public speaking and thanks for providing such awesome tips! I personally love talking so this is my guide to everyone. 
Tip: NEVER apologize…. even if you’re not ready or whatever problem… Just go ahead with the speech.
Coz it seems very common nowadays. Don’t say sorry when giving a speech. The audience will automatically have a low judgment towards the speaker.
> Learned this from Public Speaking class at coll.. xD
Thanks I.Am, this is also one of the good points. Will add this up to the entry!
Another point is.. if you are not too sure about yourself –> practice practice and more practice on the speech in front of some good friends before the real deal..
Cedric.. thanks for the tips yah.. very useful man.. TWO THUMBS UP
Hey Cedric, I have a proposition. How about you write another article on public speaking for eg, what’s the best advice you have received so far on speaking, and how has that impacted you? Or what’s your most memorable public speaking experience and what lessons have you extracted from there. It would be fun to have a fresh perspective from a young chap like yourself. As a thank you, I will link back to your site
Eric: Oh I have loads of stories to share if I were to talk about my public speaking experience! Haha, thanks for linking me back!
Saewei: Thanks a lot girl, I’ve put your comment in the entry.
cedric,i am a public speaker myself,i won 2nd runner up in the recent SPCA ELOCUTION contest. anyway, always start off a speech with an attention getter. make sure the audiences listen to you.
like you said,body language and eye contact,they are bloody important!
i noticed,usually those people who managed to pull of a speech in a humorous tone always wins the champion prize! so i think it will be easy for those people who has a sense of humor!
“Learn to rap, not to crap.”
I like that. I think I’m going to have to steal that phrase.
Whoa, since when you’re so into public speaking? So many posts on public speaking all of a sudden. Lolx!
aDeLiNe: What I have done in class is part of the public speaking thing okay. :P
Bob: LOL My friends taught me this. So u’re not stealing. :P
Great points Cedric . I am definately going to follow them and make use of them during my presentations .
When I was at uni, my way was just a bottle of beer. But as I got older I grew to like them and realize that it was more like a conversation, but just with a big group of people.
Go to the following link to read an article on overcoming your fear of public speaking and other tools for becoming an outstanding speaker:
http://www.thesykesgrp.com/PresentationSkillsPublicSpeakingArticle02.htm
Ed