It is often said that the second greatest fear that most people have is dying, topped only by public speaking. That would mean that, given the choice of where to be at a funeral, a person would rather be in the coffin than the one doing the eulogy. That might seem rather unbelievable, but public speaking can cause even individuals with ample knowledge about their subject, to choke on their words when confronted with an audience of any age or size.
The great thing about public speaking is that, once you get the hang of it, it becomes the most natural thing in the world. The problem, of course, is getting the hang of it in the first place. Like anything practice is important but improvement is something that happens over time. Here are three quick suggestions to help you get in the groove for a speech to a large group.
Be prepared. If you want to make things easy for yourself, you will take the time ahead of time to prepare everything you could possibly need for your speech. That means writing the speech out in a way that will be easy for you to follow along. For some, that would be note cards, and for others, writing it out longhand. Whatever works for you, and allows you to focus as little as possible on deciphering what you have written down, or finding your place.
Eat well beforehand. Nerves are not helped at all by an empty stomach. The last thing you want is to have your stomach growl while your are trying to give a speech. While you might think that you’re too nervous to eat prior to your big presentation, take a few deep breaths, and try to calm yourself over a few bites of food. Your nerves are going to be doing a number on your body to being with why make it worse by heading to the starting gate with no fuel in your tank?
Finally, be sure not to make the speech to the group too long. A critical mistake people make is assuming that their audience can endure a very long-winded speech. If you concentrate on how many people are listening, you are more likely to freak yourself out. Instead, find a friendly warm face in the audience, and talk to them. Don’t make a presentation just say what you need to, and say it to that one person. You’ll find it a lot less stressful.
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