Are you nervous about speaking in public? 5 tips to make any speech sound interesting,

Contrary to what many believe, being a good public speaker isn’t a skill you are born with, but a skill you can acquire.

At least according to David JP Phillips, a Swedish public speaking coach, known for his TED Talks. In one of them, The 110 techniques of communication and public speaking, Phillips describes how he and his team analyzed 5000+ public speakers to find what makes “a good speaker good, a great speaker great, and an outstanding speaker outstanding.”

The result?

Phillips found 110 skills related to our public speaking performance

In his speech, he focuses on five of them:

1. Always keep an open body language. When our body language is closed, it gives others the impression that you’re feel threatened and are feeling uncomfortable. What’s even more important: a closed body language will affect how you’re feeling and performing to the worse. Instead, open up.
2. Move forward. “Confronting” the audience shows confidence and comfort.
3. Use “functional” gestures to make your communication clearer. Functional gestures align with what we’re saying. Why are gestures important? Well, in primal times, humans almost exclusively used gestures to communicate. Ever since, detecting nonverbal signs is hardwired into our brain.
4. Speak slowly to make your content sound more interesting. A common mistake people make when they’re nervous during a presentation is speaking too quickly. Speaking slowly makes you sound more calm, trustworthy and interesting.
5. Use pauses to emphasize. You know for sure the effect of pausing… …it does not only increase focus… …but anticipation as well. Use it to your advantage.

If you haven’t seen his TED Talk, watch it here

This post was created with Typeshare