How To Give A Good Speech

Want to learn how to give a speech without getting nervous? There is only so much you can learn about how to give a good speech online. Giving a great speech doesn’t come from reading, but buy doing. So why don’t people practice giving speeches until they get good them? Fear, of course! Fear of public speaking affects almost everyone.

The folks that already know how to give a good speech very naturally like to say that its not that big a deal to get over the initial fear. Those people don’t know what true fear is. The insomnia that occurs days before the speech is due. The nausea. The sweaty palms, pits, and everything else.

Unless your job requires giving speeches on a regular basis, you’ll never learn to love it. But learning how to make a good speech is a skill that can serve you your entire life. You can overcome fear of public speaking.

Tips For Reducing Speech-Related Anxiety

Preparation

Preparation is first and foremost. If you are trying to improvise your way through a speech and you are not a natural speaker, you’ll be disastrously nervous. Having a well written, well researched speech ensures that you will have good content to talk about. For many people, that’s half the battle.

Avoid Jargon

This has to do with knowing your audience. Using lots of industry specific jargon may put off people that are not familiar with your terms. If you must use abbreviations or jargon, at least define it first.

Practice Your Speech In Private

This may sound silly but ounce you’ve written your speech, stand in front of a mirror (even if its the bathroom), and give your speech from start to finish. Then do it again. And again. Get the picture? You need to start by just being comfortable standing and saying the words out loud. Do it in front of a friend or your spouse. Don’t rush it. Just speak naturally. Time it to see how long it is, too.

Join A Club

If your job is to give speeches, then you need lots of practice. Join Toastmasters or another similar local organization. They’ll give you feedback to help refine your ability to give speeches.

Make A Cheat Sheet

It is never acceptable to simply read your speech to your audience. You have to be familiar enough with the topic that a few notes will suffice. They can be fairly detailed so long as you can tell at a glance where you are and what’s next.

Dress To Impress

If you look good, you’ll feel good. No sense adding your wardrobe to the list of things to be worried about. Look sharp.

Meet The Audience

As your audience arrives, take the time to meet and chat with each of them. Giving a good speech to strangers is tougher than giving a speech to friends.

Take A Deep Breath

Breathing exercises can help to alleviate anxiety.

Enjoy It

Ok, ok. I know this is not exactly the easiest thing in the world, but audiences know when someone is nervous with all the “ums”, and “uhs”. If you can keep it light and joke around with the audience a little, it will go a long ways towards easing your anxiety. There are no perfect speeches, but when speakers are having a good time, so do audiences.

Ultimately, learning how to give a good speech comes down to practice, but these tips should help to make your first speech a winner.