Public speaking 101

Public speaking is one skill that everyone should have, it doesn’t matter what you do for a living, or who you are, good public speaking is something that we all need, and you’re about to find out why.

At some point in your life, you are going to have to stand up in front of a group of people, big or small, but that doesn't matter, and you are going to have to speak to them. This could be in your job, school, meetings, anywhere. This is a skill used by people every single day all over our world and a skill that you will need.

Many people use public speaking in different ways, sometimes you have the people giving a motivating speech, people giving a sad speech, or some people giving an angry speech. One thing that is most important is your tone of voice. You should be approachable to people, you cannot be screaming at people just because you are excited about whatever it is your speaking about. But you also cannot be too quiet or shy, or not pronounce your words clearly.

Another very important thing to remember is eye contact. You don’t want to be looking down at your feet, and if you have note cards or a paper, you don’t want to be looking straight at that and reading from it either. You need to look at the people you are talking to and make sure that you have their full attention. Make sure you don’t stare one person down either, just look around the room and lock your focus on one person or only about 10 seconds or less.

If you were having a debate or a public conversation with somebody it is very important that you do not interrupt them or speak over them, it is important that you always let the other person finish what they have to say before you chime in. That is just a respectful thing, especially if you want other people to listen to what you have to say.

You might not think that any of this applies to you but I promise that one day public speaking will be useful to you too.