TIPS TO HELP YOU OVERCOME YOUR FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 9 Survival Tips For Public Speaking

9 Survival Tips for Public Speaking Dress for the Occasion Preparation Know the Room and the Technology Engage your Audience Purpose and Knowing Your Audience Be Confident…Own the Floor Avoid “Ums and Uhs” Timing Humor your Audience

Dress for the Occasion Always Dress Slightly Better than the Audience Dress Consistent with your Brand Dress in Something that Allows you to move

Prepare Practice, Practice, Practice Memorize the opening of your speech to reduce anxiety and help with the flow Have a 3 x 5 card with bullet points Prepare for tough questions Imagine yourself succeeding

Know the Room and Technology Be familiar with the room settings Have a backup USB Drive with presentation loaded on it Arrive early to set up and check equipment Make the room comfortable for your audience Have visual aids ready incase technology isn’t working

Engage your Audience Open Strong Ask Questions Use Personal Experiences Add Humor Powerful Visuals Use Storytelling Have Handouts Solicit Feedback

Purpose and Knowing Your Audience Know what your audience likes. Why are they here? Mandatory? Are they here to learn? What keeps them up at night? How can you solve their problems? What do you want them to do? How can you best reach them? How might they resist? What will keep them from adopting your message

Be Confident…Own the Floor Don’t be afraid to make a mistake Believe in your capacity to improve Think Positively "Confidence is a habit that can be developed by acting as if you already had the confidence you desire to have." Brian Tracy

Avoid “Ums and Uhs” Ums and Uhs can be a cry for help They can kill your credibility The make your audience lose focus Use other filler words Instead of using Um and Uh, use pauses when presenting. It allows you to collect your thoughts. Leave yourself a voic or record your previous speech

Timing Strictly adhere to your allotted time Leave time for Q&A Respect you audiences time (Especially Lunch breaks) Practice with a timer Have a plan to cut material Double Down (Create one short presentation and one long presentation) Wear a watch (Phones can be distracting)

Humor your Audience If appropriate, open with a joke Add humor when necessary Identify things that make you laugh Humor will help you relax Humor helps unite an audience Humor often helps the audience retain information Humor helps you have fun too