In the last article, we talk about four ways to cast your fear aside. So today we will discuss a top prioritized skill that can immediately take you to the next level in public speaking.
People who frequently give public speaking are always looking for a way to be confident in front of the crowd. A fact to admit for those who do this kind of job in relation to public speaking is that many times in their lives they may experience anxiety. This happens to anyone, including veteran speakers.
This helps you realize that, in fact, the feeling of nervous and tension happens when you speak in front of a crowd is something very ordinary. If you know that you are worried, you should affirm that this is the feeling that many people encounter. You learn to accept and to consider it as a natural emotional response of your body.
Of course, what each of us needs is a practical solution more than a sentiment which only brings temporary change. A truly efficient solution is when you apply, it gives you the confidence not only in a speech, but it is also proved to be effective whenever you stand on the stage.
So, in this article, I mention some tips for you to regain confidence that help you become a better speaker.
The first thing you should pay attention to is your voice. The voice here includes speed, intonation, resounding, volume. This is seen as a decisive factor if you want to become a brilliant speaker. Maybe your body language is not really standardized, your message is not quite new to the listener, but your voice must be attractive if you want to give an amazing talk.
If you do not believe, you could put the same content for two people with different voices, you will see the difference in a message read by the two people.
Moreover, a nice voice will help you love your own one. This gives you more confidence and more desire to speak!
How to practise your voice?
Consider your voice as a musical instrument. I have a question for you. If you want to play guitar better then what would you do?
Practice is the best way. Whatever musical instrument you want to be proficient at, the most important thing is practice. Always look for opportunities to practice. That is the way.
Likewise, let your “voice instrument” becomes better. You need to spend time and work hard.
- Practise breathing correctly by the diaphragm. The method is for having a sonorous voice and not losing steam when speaking long sentences. You need to inhale so as not to hear the noise. Inhale as fast and hard but keep your shoulders still. When exhaling, the air is pushed slowly through the mouth.
- Practise blowing candles in a closed room. You place a candle about half a meter away in front. You then take a deep breath and blow out the candles so that the flame inclined at an angle. And keep blowing until being out of breath.
- Every day just sing a song. Especially those have lyrical sound. You will train your voice in all tones from highest to lowest.
Those are the ways to practice speaking. But owning a good voice is not sufficient. Like a musical instrument can emit a good sound but not sure for a good melody. This requires you to master your voice.
How to know when to stop talking
There is one of the most difficult techniques to practise especially for a professional speaker. It is to know when to stop for a moment.
In a speech, the silence moment proved to be extremely efficient to generate power for the speaker, help listeners have a few seconds needed to absorb the information at the same time. Normally, when audiences are listening, they will constantly think about ideas presented by a speaker. If they encounter a confusing idea, they are forced to think more carefully about that and they may not continue to focus on listening to the next idea. This thing will make a blockage in acquiring information on the audience.
For a professional speaker, he/she always stops after every long sentence, or after the end of a flow of an idea.
If you regularly watch the talks at the US presidential election, they are culmination talks to persuade the public, those presidential candidates always have to speak with a moderate pace for listeners to really hear what they say, and after every sentence, they always pause for the audience to understand what they talk over.
And that’s when the silence makes a highest compelling message, creates the effect that the audience claps hands or express their support in a shout.
To sum up, in order to make a speech better and for you to feel more confident when giving a speech, you need to pay attention to your voice and do not underestimate the level of its efficiency. I witnessed many speakers talking about their not-so-spectacular messages but still win the heart of audience because their voice is very attractive. In addition, what you need to do after practising your voice is learn how to pause for listeners to really absorb your ideas. Instead of speaking all the time, cut into the short and timely interval. I’m sure you will be successful.