Do you have to make public presentations?  Follow our top tips on public speaking to:

• Get your message across more clearly
• Look more confident
• Captivate your adience 

1. Prepare: Prepare your talk thoroughly but do not attempt to learn it by heart – if necessary use simple notes. Only tell the audience the essential points, appropriate to achieve your objective – otherwise you will confuse them.
   
   
2. Analyse your audience: You need to know how many people will be present – you would use slightly different techniques with an audience of 5 as opposed to one of 500.  It is also important to be aware of the audience’s level of knowledge on your subject.
   
   
3. Clarify your objective: The objective should be expressed in terms of what your audience should feel, think, do or understand when you have finished speaking. You do not have to tell your audience your objective but you must be clear what it is. It is therefore best to write it down and refine it until you are happy.
   
   
4. Practise out loud: It means that the occasion on which your audience hears the presentation is not the first time you have heard it – this will help to reduce your nerves slightly. It allows you the opportunity to time the talk accurately and tells you whether you have too much, or too little, material.
   
   
5. Structure your talk: This is based on the three golden rules of public speaking:
   
   • Tell them what you are going to tell them
   • Tell them
   • Tell them that you have told them
     
     
6. Get to the room early: Get to the room at least half an hour before your audience. If you are the only speaker try and lay out the chairs and equipment in a way that suits you. The audience are then coming onto your territory, not the other way round. You also have an opportunity to check that the equipment works.
   
   
7. Relax:  You need to relax as much as possible before a talk. Some people use physical exercise, others visualise the talk going well. Use whatever technique suits you best. Shut out negative thoughts. Try and imagine you are talking to a group of friends – be yourself.
   
   
8. Maintain eye contact: The first thing that will give away your nerves to an audience, even though they will only pick this up sub-consciously, is the fact that you are not looking at them. Pick five people, one in each corner of the audience and a fifth person in the centre. Move your eyes slowly, looking into the eyes of these five people. The whole audience will feel you are looking at them.
   
   
9. Speak simply, loudly and slowly: Use simple words and short sentences. Avoid jargon and abbreviations. Use stories to emphasise important points. You must be loud enough to be heard by all your audience. As you begin to speak look at your audience, direct your head towards them and try and hit the back wall of the room with your voice. Most people speak too quickly when giving a presentation. The solution is to practise and consciously slow down the rhythm of your speech.
   
   
10. Stick to time: You must stick to the time agreed for your talk otherwise you are likely to annoy the audience and they will stop listening to you. Take a small clock that displays minutes, and preferably seconds, and that you can see easily from a short distance away. Write down your finish time in large numbers, on a sheet of paper in front of you, as you stand up to begin your talk – and finish on time!
    
    

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