Public speaking has great personal benefits, such as building self-esteem, honing critical thinking skills, and presenting networking opportunities.

A public speaker who exudes confidence is viewed as being more confident, accurate, knowledgeable, intelligent and likable than a speaker who is less confident of what they are saying. It’s natural to be nervous, but to excel in public speaking, you have to overcome your nervous jitters.

A speaker’s tone of voice should be audible and evoke the message of the speech. Good speakers should breathe from their chests and avoid nasal tones. Speaking from your chest is the preferred tone of voice. Breathing from the diaphragm can produce the most attractive voice tones.

According to a study published by the University of Wolverhampton “A highly confident speaker is viewed as being more accurate, competent, credible, intelligent, knowledgeable, likable, and believable than the less confident uncertain speaker.”

7 Benefits of Public Speaking Classes

• Overcome Fear. Fear is the most significant cause of anxiety and nervousness when it comes to public speaking, rather than lack of skills.
• Improve Communication Skills.
• Social Connections.
• Enhance Your Public Speaking.
• Organization.
• Career Growth.
• Inspire Others.

Based on a submission on “in”, the seven(7) elements of public speaking are the speaker, the message, the channel, the listener, the feedback, the interference, and the situation.

Types of speeches

• Informative speech. Informative speeches aim to educate an audience on a particular topic or message.
• Entertaining speech. Entertaining speeches aim to amuse a crowd of people.
• Demonstrative speech.
• Persuasive speech.
• Oratorical speech.
• Debate speech.
• Special occasion speech.
• Pitch speech.

6 Tips to Be a More Confident Speaker

1. Stop trying to be someone else. If you are funny, be funny.
2. Don’t look for approval. Focus on contributing.
3. Practice. A lot.
4. Watch TED Talks. There are thousands of TED videos that serve as an instructional library on speaking.
5. Video yourself speaking.
6. Know your content cold.

The five p’s of presentation are planning, preparation, consistency, practise and performance.

Here Are My 10 Tips for Public Speaking:

1. Nervousness Is Normal.
2. Know Your Audience.
3. Organize Your Material in the Most Effective Manner to Attain Your Purpose.
4. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It.
5. Let Your Personality Come Through.
6. Use Humor, Tell Stories, and Use Effective Language.
7. Don’t Read Unless You Have to.

To become a better speaker, use the following strategies:

1. Plan appropriately.
2. Practice.
3. Engage with your audience.
4. Pay attention to body language.
5. Think positively.
6. Cope with your nerves.
7. Watch recordings of your speeches.

Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Use a clock to check your timings and allow time for the unexpected. Know the audience. Try to speak to one or two people in the audience as they arrive – they will be your allies in the audience – it is easier to speak to friends than to strangers.

Tone of voice, pace and emphasis are all part of non-verbal communication. However, your body language is also important. This includes how you stand, your facial expressions, the way you use your hands to emphasise your speech, and even whether and with whom you make eye contact.

5 Characteristics Of A Great Presenter

• Knowledge. Giving a presentation on something implies that you’re the expert in the topic so it’s important that you know more than your audience does.
• Confidence. A confident presenter commands attention and inspires action.
• Self-awareness.
• Passionate.
• Memorable.

Speaking skills are defined as the skills which allow us to communicate effectively. They give us the ability to convey information verbally and in a way that the listener can understand. Children will learn English speaking skills as well as speaking skills in other languages, in primary and secondary school.

Here are eight of our favorites:

1. Speak, speak, speak. Let’s start right off by saying that there isn’t a magic pill for better speaking.
2. Reflect on your conversations.
3. Listen and read.
4. Prepare cheat sheets.
5. Pick up the phone.
6. Record your voice.
7. Learn phrases rather than single words.
8. Have fun.

10 Speaking tips

1. Listen first. Try not to think about what you are going to say as you’re listening.
2. Make eye contact. It’s important to make eye contact when you’re listening and speaking.
3. Learn transitional phrases and useful expressions.
4. Use gestures appropriately.
5. Relax.
6. Don’t say sorry.
7. Be yourself.
8. Keep it simple.

7 Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary

1. Develop a reading habit. Vocabulary building is easiest when you encounter words in context.
2. Use the dictionary and thesaurus.
3. Play word games.
4. Use flashcards.
5. Subscribe to “word of the day” feeds.
6. Use mnemonics.
7. Practice using new words in conversation.

• Duolingo – The best all-rounder.
• Quiz your English – The best for exam prep.
• The British Council – The best for grammar.
• 6,000 Words – The best for vocabulary.
• Beelingu – The best for reading.
• HelloTalk – The best for speaking.
• Grammarly – The best for writing.
• BBC Learning English – The best for everyday English.