Champion

Improve your public speaking – tips from a champion

By Anthony Garvey, 2023 UK Public Speaking Champion, Toastmasters International

Top tips from the newly crowned Toastmasters International UK Public Speaking champion to help you do just that.

Whether you are new to public speaking or presenting or simply want to up your game here are some tips I’d like to share based on my experience as a speaker.

As a starting point make sure you know your audience. Who are you presenting to and what are they turning up to hear?  If you are delivering a sales or investor pitch for example, do some research in advance on the people sitting across the table from you. By checking out their LinkedIn profiles, you can tell if they are interested in getting straight down to business to talk about facts and figures or if they prefer to shoot the breeze and get to know people first. This will allow you to adjust your presentation style accordingly.  

With that information as your starting point how do you proceed?

Visualise a successful outcome 

Imagine the audience reacting positively, see them smiling and applauding and run that image through your head a few times before you begin to speak. If it is a live presentation, turn up early and greet the people who are attending as they come in. Then when you are delivering your presentation, look for the positive faces in the crowd who are wishing you well as you are speaking.  

Take a pause

Take the time to pause when you say something really important in your presentation.  Highlight those moments in your script in advance and when you deliver them, take the time to look around the room to ensure the audience is getting the message. 

Adapt if you need to

Be prepared to alter your tactics during a presentation, particularly during a sales or investor pitch.  If you notice you are not connecting or people don’t seem as interested as you would like them to be, change your approach. Maybe you could ditch the slides and speak to the audience directly.  Perhaps you could interact with the attendees more. Think on your feet and if you feel it isn’t working, do something differently. 

Record yourself and evaluate your performance

Use your phone and record one of your practice sessions.  Watch it back and check your content, your body language and your eye contact.  If there are elements you need to improve on, change them.  If you are presenting online, practice in front of a mirror. Facial reactions are really important on the small screen, so keep your expressions in check. 

Record the actual session too, so you can review it afterwards. In other words, treat your presentations as a learning experience and as an opportunity to grow and improve. It can help to ask someone in the audience to give you a private evaluation afterwards so you get an objective view of how you performed and how you can do even better next time. And if you have concerns about particular areas, you can ask your evaluator to keep a watchful eye on them.

Drop into a Toastmasters International club

Visit a Toastmasters club, either online or in person. There are more than 16,000 clubs in 145 countries.  Toastmasters teaches you how to manage your fear of public speaking, schools you in leadership and communication skills, helps you run meetings effectively, and encourages you to develop listening and evaluation skills.  As a guest, you are welcome to turn up for almost all of these meetings, to see if the club you have chosen suits you. As a member, you are assigned a mentor to help you on your speaking journey, to achieve your communication and management goals.  Although Toastmasters clubs originally met in person many of its clubs are now hybrid or online only.

Always have a glass of water

It’s not just to keep you hydrated or to assist you in clearing your throat, but it helps you if you lose your way during your presentation. This happens to all speakers and when it occurs to you, follow this simple advice. Don’t apologise or even acknowledge it.  Take a moment instead and have a sip of water.  In those ten seconds or so, you will reconnect with your train of thought and get going again. And all the audience will see is a speaker having a drop of water.  Steer well clear of coffee, energy drinks and of course, alcohol.

Prepare for the Q&A

You need to work just as hard on the Q&A session as you do on the text of your speech or presentation. Anticipate the questions you may be asked and prepare some answers. If possible, practice and refine the answers with a trusted colleague.  It can also be useful to ask someone (perhaps the event organiser) to provide the initial couple of questions, especially if you agree in advance what will be.  That way you can feel more confident as you answer the questions that follow.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anthony Garvey DTM is the Toastmasters International 2023 UK Public Speaking champion.  Toastmasters International is a not-for-profit organisation that has provided communication and leadership skills since 1924 through a worldwide network of clubs. There are more than 400 clubs and 10,000 members in the UK and Ireland. Members follow a structured educational programme to gain skills and confidence in public and impromptu speaking, chairing meetings and time management. To find your nearest club,visit www.toastmasters.org