What are your favorite Public Speaking tips?

#discuss

Next month at Virtual Coffee, we're doing a monthly challenge for public speaking. What are your favorite tips or resources?

Top comments (9)

Ben Halpern • Mar 21

Introducing topics as a list and then following up on it is a good approach to conveying info.

Basically "There are three key concepts, and here they are" instead of just jumping in without that bit of early context.

It helps people know they are in the early, middle or end of this part of the presentation so they can more easily follow along.

BekahHW • Mar 21

I love that! It's super helpful to have a "roadmap" at the beginning.

Ben Halpern • Mar 21

Yeah, and not just the beginning of the whole presentation, but any part can have a micro roadmap to keep people engaged.

Jake Lundberg • Mar 21 • Edited

Practice practice practice!

Public speaking is like doing push ups...you only get better by doing it. So practicing public speaking as much as you can is the best way to get better. Not only will it make you better at it, but it will also make you more comfortable while doing (at least a little bit).

Unfortunately, when people think of "public speaking" they often think it's about getting up on stage, or standing and giving a toast. With this idea in mind, it can be hard to find opportunities to practice, but can also make it seem way more intimidating! So I always try to remind people that "public speaking" doesn't have to be such a huge endeavor. A great way to practice frequently is to do small training sessions or demos of things for your work team. A little 5-10 minute walkthrough of the latest thing you made, or the way you do something is a great way to practice! (Plus it helps your team and company in the process!)