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For many, the idea of speaking in public is daunting. While a little nervous energy is healthy, excessive public speaking anxiety can be crippling. Being charismatic and engaging doesn’t necessarily come naturally, even to successful business people and world leaders. Whether it’s a keynote speech for hundreds of people or a simple team meeting, it takes a lot of effort to be a great speaker, starting with controlling your nerves.
Learn how to manage your nerves and boost your confidence so you can confidently conquer public speaking.
1. Get into the Zone
Focusing mentally before a public speaking event will allow you to give your best quality output. Make sure you’re comfortable with the venue by arriving a little early to get a feel for the set up. If possible, do a brief run through with the microphone. Whether it’s a small breakaway room or even the parking lot, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and take a moment to focus. Different people need different things, so you’ll need to learn what works best for you.
2. Warm Up
Public speaking can feel like a workout. Get yourself physically ready by doing some vocal exercises, which will help you project your voice and come across more confident in your delivery. Now, strike a power pose. Amy Cuddy, a body language researcher at Harvard Business School, suggests power posing to ease nerves before a presentation or public speaking engagement. According to Cuddy’s research, simply putting your hands on your hips or striking the CEO or Superman pose for two minutes will reduce your levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This will give you a boost and make you look and feel powerful.
3. Work on Your Body Language
Public speaking isn’t just about what you’re saying, it’s also about how you’re saying it. The way you convey yourself—your body language, your facial expressions, and even your gestures—can affect the impact of your delivery. It’s important to be mindful of these nonverbal cues. Simple things like keeping your posture upright and expanding your chest helps. Smiling and making eye contact will put your audience at ease even if you’re speaking about a more serious topic.
You can read more body language dos and don’ts in our blog, 8 Common Professional Body Language Mistakes to Avoid.
4. Memorize Your Content
Memorizing the sequence of your slides or your note cards—whatever you’re using to prepare or presenting visually—will help you to feel in control and allow you to anticipate which slide comes next, making you look more professional. Start by memorizing key points and you’ll slowly begin to weave a story line. It will also reduce the likelihood of you getting off track should you feel overcome with your public speaking anxiety.
5. Tell a Story
The more data-driven your content, the harder it is to keep your audience engaged. Telling a story with your content is a good way to connect with your audience. It will help them understand where the concept comes from and what it means. The key is making sure you have a thread that links the different ideas and concepts throughout your presentation.
Structure your material so you start and end strong. Don’t waste time with a longwinded introduction, especially if you have a time limit. You may even consider starting with a personal anecdote or provocative question—something that will make the audience feel they can relate to and connect with you.
6. Rehearse
The best way to boost your confidence is to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. This will also help you memorize the material. Ideally, rehearse in front of someone. If that’s not possible, you can use a mirror. Always time yourself while rehearsing to ensure you don’t exceed the time you’ve been allocated. If your presentation includes a question-and-answer session, you can prepare some model questions and answers ahead of time to help ease your public speaking anxiety.
7. Pace Yourself
Be mindful not to lose your audience. There’s a fine line between speaking too fast and too slow. Speaking too fast can make you come across as nervous. You can manage the pace of your public speaking by including pauses before or after key statements. This will make them stand out and have the added benefit of giving you a breather.
8. Stay Hydrated
Drinking warm drinks before your engagement will soothe your throat. Nerves can make your mouth go dry, so keep a bottle of water nearby to keep hydrated.
Like most things in life, practice makes perfect when it comes to combating public speaking anxiety. The best way to build your confidence is to take up every opportunity you can to speak, no matter how small the audience. The more experience you have, the more confident you’ll be and the better you’ll become at managing your nerves.
The crowd falls silent as you walk out to the podium, and with hundreds of eyes fixed on you, you try to speak, only to realize you can’t remember a single word of your speech! This is the nightmare scenario so many of us play in our heads in the hours before we know we’ll need to speak in front of a crowd. The fear of public speaking, glossophobia, is one of the most common phobias, and many people avoid public speaking in order to escape their anxiety. But dodging the microphone or avoiding speaking in front of others can have career consequences that are worse than that temporary feeling of dread.
Public speaking is a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership, draw positive attention to yourself, and share your point of view. Avoiding public speaking invitations, simply because you’re afraid, is doing yourself a disservice that could stifle your career growth. You can overcome your fear of public speaking by approaching it with the right attitude and by calling on a few helpful tips and tricks.
1) Focus on Them, Not You: Public speaking anxiety often centers around feelings of insecurity about how you look and sound. By focusing on what the audience is getting out of your speech, you can take your mind off those worries about being judged. Remember that you’re speaking in front of a crowd to communicate something important. Are they absorbing your message? Are they connected? The more energy you put into conveying your main point, the less you’ll have available for self-criticism.
2) Speak from the Heart: Public speaking can feel awkward because we may think we have to pretend to be someone else – someone smarter – more knowledgeable. Instead of playing a role, just be sincere. Use examples you know well, relate to, and about which you feel strongly. The audience will pick up on your passion for the subject. When you speak in front of a crowd about your own perspective, you’re more likely to remember your speech, remain calm, and be convincing and compelling.
3) Breathe: It may seem obvious, but breathing properly is a proven technique for overcoming anxiety. Being deliberate about your breathing during a public speaking engagement can have multiple benefits. It reminds you to stay in the moment and get out of your head, and it slows you down, which prevents rushing through your speech and allows you to build confidence as you go. Breathing deeply also helps you control the sound of your voice, and it has a calming effect that prevents nerves from creeping up on you.
4) Practice, Practice, Practice: The better rehearsed you are, the more confident you’ll feel on stage, helping mitigate any fear of public speaking. Focus on your delivery more than specific words, and practice reading your presentation aloud. If possible, perform your speech in front of an audience, even if it’s just a friend or loved one. If you plan to use cue cards or a PowerPoint, practice with those as well, and make sure you’ve designed your cheat sheets in ways that are simple and easy to read. Cue cards with huge blocks of text can be confusing. Instead, use clean bullet points, and make sure the cards are numbered so you don’t mix up the order of your presentation. Record yourself via audio or video recorder and review your presentation as though you were an audience member. You’d be surprised how much changing your perspective can help you improve your public speaking performance.
5) Take Pauses: When you’re nervous, it’s tempting to rush through your presentation, but taking occasional pauses can help to calm your nerves and improve your delivery. Pauses create a break in your speech, which gives the audience a chance to react and absorb your message. Pauses help to add emphasis and can force you to get back into the moment rather than obsessing about the next line you have to recite.
6) Embrace Your Nerves: Don’t judge yourself for being nervous. Your anxiousness about public speaking is a sign that you care about doing well and you’re invested. Studies have shown that trying to stop yourself from being nervous is a losing battle. Instead, transform your nerves into another feeling: excitement. Use your nerves as a way of bringing energy to your presentation as you speak in front of a crowd.
7) Start with a Story: When it comes to public speaking, what people will remember most is how you start and how you finish. Begin with a story, joke, or memory to draw the audience into your presentation right away. This also helps you put their focus on your message rather than your performance as a speaker.
8) Don’t Memorize Every Word: It’s tempting to rehearse to the point that you know every single word, pause, and inflection by heart. This could backfire big-time if you happen to miss a word, completely throwing you off for the rest of your presentation. Instead, memorize the beats, the main points you need to make, and instead of focusing on the exact delivery, put energy into staying in the moment and connecting with your audience.
Public speaking doesn’t have to be painful. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Taking center stage to speak to a crowd is an exciting opportunity to share your voice and demonstrate your ability to motivate and inspire. While your instincts might tell you to get through it as fast as you can and to try not to think about what you’re doing, that approach will almost guarantee a poor performance. As daunting as it may seem, try to enjoy the moment. Remind yourself of the potential benefits of doing a good job, and remember that the people in the audience aren’t there because they want to see you fail. They are there to learn something and to hear what you have to say. Prepare yourself well and your ability to capture the crowd may surprise you.
One of the keys to being a successful sales professional is being great at the art of conversation. But being a good conversationalist is not something that comes naturally to everyone, even the most extroverted people in the world. There are some special conversational considerations for working in sales. Here are a few tips from Cydcor staff on how to master the art of sales-oriented conversation.
Learn more about Cydcor by checking out our profile on CrunchBase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cydcor
Start by building rapport. Make your prospect feel at ease with a little bit of small talk. You want your customer to feel you’re likable, which will make them more inclined to listen to you.
Match your prospect’s energy level. If your customer seems calm and cool, don’t bowl them over with aggressive enthusiasm. However, if your prospect seems like a more energetic type, then match their energy with yours. That way, you’re likely to create a better connection that can lead to a sale.
Ask questions. Find out what kind of aspirations your customer has or any frustrations with your competitor’s product or service. By doing so, you’ll be able to find ways to show your customer that your product is the best.
Ease into the sales pitch. Your prospect is much more likely to respond positively if you don’t just jump into “buy my product or service” mode. You’ll want to make your pitch with solid facts and an appeal to your customer’s aspirations and needs.
Listen. It’s tempting to stop listening before a prospect finishes speaking. You want to figure out a rebuttal to their “no.” But that’s not how you make a sale. But by listening well and doing some gentle probing, you’ll get to know what goals and needs your customer has.
Be sincere. Nobody likes a phony, and almost everyone can tell when someone is bluffing. Be yourself, and remember that you don’t have to agree with every single thing the customer says. Instead, try introducing one or two different points of view into the conversation; it’ll be more fun for both you and your prospect.
Don’t be obsessed with the sale. Have you ever been to a car dealership or a store and encountered a pushy salesperson that wouldn’t back off until you either bought a product or walked out the door? Don’t be that person. “Hard sell” tactics are a turn-off to most prospects. Instead, keep sharing information and appealing to their needs and wants.
Expect nothing, but be prepared for everything. Sales is a great and potentially quite lucrative profession, but it takes some time to become a real expert at it. Be patient with yourself and continue developing your unique skills to master the art of conversation—and conversion.
What tips would you give your teammates for mastering the art of sales conversation? Please share them in the comments. For additional blogs from Cydcor, be sure to check out https://www.cydcor.com/media.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services located in Agoura Hills, CA. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
TED Talks will improve your understanding of a complex concept or help you to master new skills. Humor, imagination, and authentic emotion energize these talks and guarantee your engagement.
TED wants to change your life. It’s that simple. This popular nonprofit was launched in 1984 as a conference exploring the convergence of Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED). TED Talks offer viewers a glimpse into the workings of some of the leading minds in the world today.
The problem with such a vast array of rich resources is that it makes tracking down the topics that will provide an immediate career benefit a bit more difficult. When you have the time, plan to take a tour of the TED Talks available online. You never know what insights you might find from a subject that has no direct connection to your industry.
When your time is limited and you’re looking for insights to improve your performance in business and sales, start with these 10 talks. Each speaker we’ve selected provides a powerful personal story and insights that will have a direct impact on your professional life.
Make yourself comfortable and prepare to open your mind. Your journey to excellence is about to begin.
1. The Puzzle of Motivation | Dan Pink
2. Five Ways To Kill Your Dreams | Bel Pesce
3. Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are | Amy Cuddy
4. Want to Help Someone? Shut Up and Listen! | Ernesto Sirolli
5. The Power Of Believing You Can Improve | Carol Dweck
6. Try Something New For 30 Days | Matt Cutts
7. How To Make Work-Life Balance Work | Nigel Marsh
8. Smart Failure for a Fast-Changing World | Eddie Obeng
9. The Key To Success? Grit. | Angela Lee Duckworth
10. What It Takes To Be A Great Leader | Roselinde Torres
Have you listened to a TED Talk or attended an event in person? Do you have a favorite speaker or subject? If you were going to give a TED Talk, what would you talk about? Please comment here, share your story on Twitter, and follow us @Cydcor. Invite your friends and colleagues to participate in this discussion; you might spark a TED Talk of your very own.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada, to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.