What a terror if I am asked to speak publicly!! This is what most of us go through, when we are asked to address an audience. Isn’t’ it?
Public speaking consists of various pointers which we need to keep in mind in order to ensure we are on track if not perfect! Below are a few pointers which helps is to better our game each time –
- Introduction – This is very important as First Impression is the Last Impression! Share a brief introduction of yourself which speaks about your current profile and a bit of your background. This will help the audience to relate well with you and connect better with your topic.
- Topic – Understand the topic well. This means you should know your subject and its related latest topics well and in detail. The idea is to share information which is new and keep the audience engaged.
- Duration – Always keep in mind, the time duration for the topic. This helps us to frame or pointers accordingly and leave enough room for a healthy discussion too with the audience without crunching on time or leaving the audience disengaged.
- Target Audience – Know your audience well, with whom you would be interacting. This would help to focus on their interest areas, to clear their doubts if any, provide and gain maximum inputs during the session.
- Interaction – It is important to keep the session interactive. It’s a bore to listen to 1 person at a stretch without any combined interactions. This helps in exchange of ideas for everybody present and thus keeps the session alive and engaging.
- Dressing – You must be mindful of the way you dress up for the event. If it’s a casual meet, then you may go slightly easy on your clothing thus opting for semi-formals. And for a formal meet-up, obviously you follow a proper formal attire. This creates a lasting impression on the audience.
- Body language – Your body language speaks volume of you! Thus make sure you carry yourself well and in a presentable manner. This includes your body movements, hand gestures, facial expressions and voice modulation. Keep practicing as Practice makes a Man Perfect!!
- Active Listening – It is very important for a speaker to listen actively to people’s queries and inputs. This gives them a chance to express themselves and thus build an instant connect with the speaker. It also allows for information flow from both the side which is very important to keep the session going. Post listening, you must address their concerns accordingly, so that they feel satisfied with your answers and inputs.
- Open Forum – Post session, always allow a decent time to wrap up the session and keep the forum open for public discussion. This allows the audience to participate actively as they ask queries, clear their doubts, share their inputs or feedbacks. This is a welcoming gesture to keep everyone engaged during an event.
- Leave a Contact – It’s a wise idea to leave your basic contact details with your audience like your mail id, contact number or social media handle. This allows them to connect with you in future for any related ideas or discussions. This is also a major change to build your networking!
- Feedbacks/Suggestions – Proactively ask for feedback /suggestions from the audience so that they feel heard. This is the best chance for you to know your worth. Be open to all types of concerns be it good or bad and work on yourself accordingly.
Always remember, no speaker is perfect and it’s just fair to keep practicing with each session. An open mindset allows you to be an engaging speaker, so that ideas are flown in two-way direction. Nothing beats a “Happy Audience” and you will instantly know whether your audience is happy with you and your delivery. Their engagement with you and their come-backs will tell you if they like you or no. Some would express openly in words and some through their actions like body language and facial expressions. It is important to study these verbal and non-verbal inputs from your audience and work on it continuously.
Also remember, you will always have some odd-one-out from the expected audience, wherein they may have “SOMETHING” to say and It-Wont-Be-In-Your-Favor and this is perfectly OK. Acceptance is the only solution and your readiness to deal with that person with a happy closure to his concern.
Keep practicing not to be a Pro but to be a better version each time.