10 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

In today's highly competitive times, the demand for effective communication in the professional as well as the academic arena is increasing day by day at a quite rapid pace. One significant part of effective communication is public speaking. Generally, people fear public speaking a lot. Especially you'll notice a terrible stage fear and fear of public speaking in the school kids. The fear of public speaking is so harmful to a student’s life that it should be suppressed right away when it is noticed. Although it’s difficult, it’s not unachievable. The fear of public speaking isn’t permanent; one can conquer it and be an eloquent public speaker. Wondering how? Well, as a parent, you can try out several measures to help your children overcome their fear of public speaking. This is what this article is for! In this article, we’re going to share with you 10 highly useful tips for improving public speaking skills. We’re sure that they’d certainly help you tackle the fear of public speaking.

Also Read | Are you too Late in Realising the Importance of Reading Skills?

Public Speaking as a Means of Communication

Gone are the times when communication just meant being able to fluently speak in English. Now although the language of communication in the majority of schools, colleges, offices and other professional institutions is English and being able to fluently speak in English is important, effective communication is more about speaking in a way that would leave a lasting impact on the person you're speaking to. Now, the definition of effective communication is much more than one's command of the English language.

Effective communication involves good speaking and listening skills, leaving an impact with the words that you're using while communicating, making the other grasp the meaning of your words, ensuring that the conversation does not require many follow-ups, and conveying the message in the clearest possible way. Furthermore, effective communication involves effective listening. Effective listening refers to listening in a way that you're able to grasp the meaning of what is being spoken by the other person, and not merely hearing.

To put it simply, public speaking refers to the art of being able to speak fluently in front of an audience. Having said that, public speaking skills do not necessarily come naturally to everyone. After all, public speaking is not about speaking alone but also about capturing the attention of the listeners thus making several people, especially children, underconfident when it comes to acquiring public speaking skills.

Tips for Improving Public Speaking Skills

Listed below are our top 10 tips for improving public speaking skills that would help your children come out of their fear of public speaking and become effective communicators:

• Talk to the mirror! Speaking in front of the mirror on a regular basis is a magical way to become comfortable with speaking. Once you get comfortable with yourself and with the act of speaking, you start feeling confident with public speaking as well.
• Read aloud! You should make it a habit to read aloud every day to yourself and the people you’re comfortable with. This will help you come out of your shell.
• Rank your fears! Start ranking your fears. Think about those fears which are greater than the fear of speaking for you. Whenever you fear public speaking, start motivating yourself by thinking of those fears.
• Focus on the good! Do not focus on maintaining an eye-contact with everyone in the audience. Just focus on the few nodding and smiling heads in the audience, and gradually start expanding.
• Notes to the rescue! Always keep some notes handy to rescue you in times of crisis, i.e., in case you forget something while speaking.
• Smile is the key! Don’t underestimate the power of a smile. No matter how nervous you’re feeling while speaking in front of the public, just keep smiling. A smile helps your audience connect with you.
• Mistakes are friends! Start embracing your faults and flaws. If you forget anything while speaking, feel free to admit that. You can say "I need a moment" or "I'll get back to you later on this".
• Cheat a bit! It’s okay to cheat a bit. Well, you can always jot down the words that you forget or get stuck on while preparing for some speech or talk.
• Nobody is perfect! Rehearse 5-10 times before the actual public appearance.
• You’re the best! Keep this in mind. Considering yourself to be the best will give you the power and confidence to tackle the crowd.

We know how difficult it is sometimes for the parents to find out the right ways to help their children feel confident with public speaking. So, to help you out, we want to share an amazing platform with you, which focuses on improving the public speaking skills of children, i.e. Spark Studio.

Book A Free Trial Now

Spark Studio offers amazing online extracurricular training and certification programs for kids between the age group of 5 to 15 years and focuses on building creativity and confidence in children through high-quality live online programs. Furthermore, Spark studio builds structured lesson plans to individually focus on every child. If you want your children to be smart and confident as per the demands of today’s times, Spark Studio would certainly be a good option for you.

Check Out: Evolution in Education: Shift from Traditional to Personalised Learning