Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking 

Have you ever wished you could improve your public speaking?

I’ve had a lot of people say to me over the years that they find public speaking really nerve-wracking and it’s something that comes up so often in business. So if you haven’t had a lot of practice at it – don’t worry. So many people find it challenging, too.

If you can relate to the terror of getting onstage to speak, I wanted to share a few tips to improve your public speaking skills. They’ve really helped me so much over the years and I hope they help you improve your public speaking too.

Public Speaking Tip #1: Use a Camera

Although practice makes perfect, not everyone has the opportunity to practice in real life. So my first tip is to record yourself delivering your talk and then watch it back. Tell yourself: “Okay, I’m going to answer five questions.” Hit record, and answer the five questions. Then stop, and watch it back. This is a step above practicing in the mirror.

This might feel a little excruciating at first, but trust me, nothing else will help you improve faster than this method (plus you’ll get used to watching yourself back pretty quickly).

When I started doing this, I was struck by the difference between what I meant to say and what I actually said. So one of my biggest learning curves in say – the first 50 videos – was aligning what I wanted to say with what I actually was saying.

I always think when something is out of alignment, there comes into play a nervousness; a sense that things aren’t right. But when the message you want to get across and what you’re actually saying are in alignment, there comes a real sense of strength and confidence that continues to grow over time.

 Looking back over footage and seeing where you can improve will give you something to work on. Ready?

Get recording. 

Public Speaking Tip #2: Ask for Help 

I got this tip off the brilliant Sean Connelly while talking to him for my University of Life podcast.

While talking about mental resilience, he discussed a practice he does while training people and I thought it was a fantastic way to improve your public speaking. It goes as follows:

• Step 1: Ask a friend to interview you. Set up a mock interview with questions and practice answering them.

• Step 2: Ask another 2 friends to talk in the background during the mock interview.

• Step 3: Ask the 2 friends to try and distract or pull you away from the interview.

• Step 4: Record, and repeat it a few times.

 So, why is this method so effective?

We all know that being interviewed is challenging, and being interviewed with people talking around you is even more challenging.

And being interviewed with people actively trying to distract you? Well, that’s about as challenging an interview situation as you can find yourself in.

It might sound odd, but if you make that level of distraction your norm, it helps you level up in terms of what you’re used to. As a result, your ability to relax in certain circumstances will grow. In other words, if you become used to noise and stress, being interviewed quietly will be a whole lot easier.

Trust me, it works. 

Public Speaking Tip #3: Practice Makes Perfect

Practice until you’re less nervous. Keep taking up new opportunities and push yourself. Put yourself out there to do as many talks as possible.

I spoke with Pat Divilly, a strong wellness leader here in Ireland. He spoke about being nervous on stage and how felt he wasn’t representing himself as best he could. His answer to this was?

He rang up a bunch of venues around the country and offered to do 100 talks for free.

And as terrifying as that seems, after the 100 talks, he was rock solid on stage. What speaking opportunities have you passed up? What would happen if you started saying ‘yes’ to the opportunities coming your way?

There’s only one thing that can happen with practice: you improve your public speaking.

Take a deep breath. Offer to do as many talks as you can. Practice, challenge yourself and you’ll see your public speaking improve in ways you’d never imagined. 

Public Speaking Tip #4: Slow Everything Down 

Instinctively, there’s a tendency to want to answer questions quickly. And when we answer too quickly for ourselves, sometimes it becomes difficult to do ourselves justice.

If you’re asked a question, don’t be afraid to say: “That’s a good question,” or “I’m not sure I understand the question, could you perhaps rephrase it or give me an idea of the sort of answer you’re looking for?”

This allows you to process the question that someone has just asked you.

Your head will go to work on that and you’re then slowing things down to give yourself a little more time, too. The tendency is to ramble in the hopes of stumbling across an answer, but you’ll look far more professional if you can pause to think about your answers first and give a really brilliant response. Quality over quantity.

In asking someone to repeat a question or a guideline for an answer, this helps you really focus on what the person is actually looking for. Give yourself that time. 

Don’t be afraid to slow the process down – you do not have to jump to an answer right away and the truth is, no one expects you to. Just as you’d pause in natural conversation with a friend, create more of a conversation with the audience and you’ll not only give a better answer, but you’ll also foster a better sense of connection. 

The end result in doing all these things above? You’re much more relaxed. You get to actually do yourself justice when you’re being interviewed or given the opportunity to speak in public.

But this will serve you in so many more ways than just your public speaking opportunities. Working on your confidence and communication skills can also help your everyday life – whether you’re with friends, colleagues or striking up a conversation with a stranger.

This is about more than just doing a great speech. It’s about giving you the clarity, confidence and communication skills to help you stand out in all aspects of your life, not just your business.

So I hope that’s of value to you.

And if there are any other things you did that you found useful, please share them with me as I’m always keen to learn and share. Follow me @jamiewhite.