• keep everything simple
• stick to three main points
• tell a story without minute detail
• your voice is unimportant unless extreme
• everyone will not like you or agree with you, not a problem. Theycan speak next time.

The most important of the three golden rules is “Keep it Simple” No one coming to a presentation is expecting to go away educated as if they had been at a school for a month or two. Limit your talk to about three main points. That is enough to cover if you want the audience to remember what you said.

The second golden rule is “Stop Talking” As people we don’t hear what is being said until nothing is being said. Once whoever is talking stops for a short break our brains take in what was said and arranges out thoughts. do not talk continuously, every few sentences rest for a short time then continue. Only half a second or a second break is needed but do stop talking.

The third golden rule. is “Remember it is not about you” You are the presenter however it is the information you are going to impart that is important not you. If you falter in your speech or are nervous and it shows in your voice. It does not matter. You are a voice, no one is out to laugh at you.

There are many other tips that could help you. How can you remember hundreds of tips and tricks and use them at the correct time. what is needed is education or training in public speaking. In that way tips and tricks are unnecessary as you know what to do.

I was a very shy young person. Very shy indeed and yet now I love public speaking. Give me a room of 50 people and I will speak for hours.

I have a room of interested people who have come to learn something. I am the one with the knowledge and willing to impart it to anyone who will listen. Perhaps that statement is a little patronizing but it does demonstrate why I am not anxious about public speaking. “I am the one with the knowledge” Nothing will create anxiety more than not knowing your subject. You must know what you are talking about. Never speak in public about something that you have little knowledge of. What is the point? People have come to hear something that they do not know about a subject. Being asked to speak on a subject I don’t know about is terrifying to me. No get someone else would be my answer.

Before a talk I check my facts, revise my subject just in case I forgot something. Some people rehearse the whole thing. I don’t. I write out headings on cards in the order I want to cover them in. If something is technical I may put a few notes extra but that’s all. As I know my subject I only need to remember the running order and the main points which are on my cue cards. A point on the subject of revision, revise early over a few days, not 20 minutes before you are due to speak. Rushed revision will leave you ill prepared and a poor delivery will follow.

I know I am the most knowledgeable person at the presentation because I have been asked to do the talk. I know the audience have not come to trip me up they have come to learn. I don’t do jokes but if someone does start asking silly questions to show off and put me down I ask them to join me to assist me in the presentation. Their silence usually brings a few titters and we carry on.

Do you allow questions or not? Do you allow questions at the end, or do you allow questions at any time? I usually say anytime. This can intimidate some, it is difficult to get back on track after a question and some questions can take so long to answer that the time allocated for the whole presentation has passed before you have covered all of your presentation. This is personal choice. I can always get back to where I was because of the cue cards. Sometimes the question will be answered in the talk later so I politely tell them that the question is very relevant and it will be answered during the presentation later if they would bear with me a little longer. The choice of questions is entirely your choice. It is your presentation. You have total control over all aspects.

One concern you may have is the quality of your voice. To be honest it matters not one jot. I have followed people with perfect diction and found no problem at all despite my broad regional accent. Naturally the volume of your voice must be sufficient to be heard, if necessary a microphone may be useful if your voice is quiet.

The liking of public speaking has not come easy I must add. For many years I have given poor presentations and sometimes absolutely awful ones. No one ever complained which is surprising especially considering how much money they were paying for me to run courses for them. I learned from the experiences. I still make mistakes, who doesn’t? I don’t worry about them I learn from them and use the knowledge to do better next time. I would have been a better speaker earlier if I had had the modern day courses that are available. I would certainly recommend Public speaking Secrets | Extraordinaire this guide covers everything I have learned over my 40 years of public speaking and more.

The question how do I overcome public speaking anxiety? Will often be asked of me in conversation, I think the tips in this site cover most things but cannot discuss everything that is required for effective public speaking. This needs an understanding that tips cannot give. A good course or guide will give you the ability to be confident at speaking in public without fear in a few short days. A deeper understanding will give you the confidence and the keys needed to deliver the type of address you will be proud to deliver. Start a course on Saturday morning and deliver your address on Tuesday without fear or anxiety of public speaking. Not the many years it took me to enjoy public speaking.

Once you have mastered the keys of public speaking you will find a new pleasure each time you are asked to run a course, deliver a speech or presentation. Not many people are comfortable with public speaking. You will be one of a very few you know who are comfortable with speaking in public.

To understand anxiety with public speaking is to accept that most people are worried about public speaking just as much as you are. We have all heard of famous actors suffering terrible stage fright before every performance. It is natural to fear the unknown. Will people laugh at what I say? Will the audience know more about the subject than I will? Will my jokes go flat? Will I lose my place and mess up my delivery.

These are all natural fears. They are all easily dispelled if you are in the right frame of mind. The audience have not gone to a bear baiting event. They have gone there to learn something. If they knew more than you, they would not be coming to hear you speak. Would you have been asked to speak if you were not thought to be the most knowledgeable on the subject available? Even if some of the audience know more than you they would not be rude enough to interfere with your address. They will probably have been in a similar position to you at some time in the past and understand your nervousness.

Jokes are useful but not essential. If the participants wanted to go to a comedy show they would have gone to a comedy show. Jokes may not be your fortes so if this is the case don’t tell any. Jokes are not compulsory.

The first five minutes of your address are the most difficult; this is the time you are getting to know the audience and the audience to get to know you. So get to know them first. You are not a pop star who hides away until the compare gives you the great build up for you to burst on the stage to mass applause. Walk about the hall while the audience are coming in. Introduce yourself to a few of them. Welcome them. Make friends with them. Let them see you are a regular person. Then the first five minutes will be easier. A very important tip is to ensure you are the best dressed person in the room. Feeling well dressed will give you confidence, and credibility with the audience will follow.

When you start your address take your time. Look around the room and smile at a few people you made friends with earlier. Introduce yourself to the audience. Ask them if they can hear you, if they are comfortable etc. Put them at their ease. Tell them a little about yourself and tell them how pleased you are they have come to hear you. The first five minutes have passed easily, you are comfortable with your new friends and they are comfortable with you and will make allowances for any minor slips you may make. Most of them will be grateful that they are not in your place. This type of simple tactic will ease your way into feeling comfortable and alleviate public speaking fears or anxiety.

Now it is time to begin the real address. How you do this will depend on what you are doing. A speech, a presentation or a lecture can be rehearsed over and over again so that all you do is deliver it. If you are doing an informal type of event then you will be speaking off the cuff from a few cue cards. How you do it is personal choice, some use PowerPoint, and just discuss the slides as they appear. These can often be dull and boring but do have the advantage of like the speech being rehears able in detail before the event.  Will you enjoy this type of delivery? The idea is to deliver the address and enjoy yourself doing it. You want to be asked again to do a similar type of event.

The problem with picking up a few tips is that unless you have a good solid base you will only have a few tips to work with. Will this be enjoyable? Imaging learning to drive a car and being given a tip to hold the steering wheel in the ten to two position. How well will you drive. You have no idea what the pedals are for the gear shift or even how to start the engine. In short you will have no understanding. To effectively speak and enjoy public speaking it is much better to have proper understanding of public speaking. A public speaking program will teach you the basics in a few days and in a week or so give you the ability to speak to anyone in any situation because you understand the basics, you understand how to speak. Then it will be possible for you to enjoy public speaking and have no reoccurrence of public speaking anxiety.

Public speaking is speaking to people. Talking to colleagues, talking with friends at a football game or to a shopkeeper, are all examples of public speaking. We all do public speaking every day of our lives.

We are not anxious when speaking to colleagues we just do it. True some people are more interesting than others to listen to. Usually this is because they are more confident about their subject.

So you are not anxious about speaking to colleagues. Speaking to larger groups in a formal setting is usually the problem. Why is this? Some people naturally speak to large groups but not many. Most are as worried as you are they just hide it well. The best will have undertaken some type of training either by a formal course, mentoring or the training of a lifetime of trial and error. My own was trial and error. How much easier it would have been with formal training. Formal courses were expensive 40 years ago and very time consuming. Employers were not so helpful with training courses then as they are today.

A good public speaking training course cuts out the trial and error of learning as you go in fact within days you could be quite confident speaking to a roomful of people. Within weeks you definitely will be, a further advantage will be a new found popularity with colleagues in discussions as you are able to deliver your stories more interestingly. I wish the internet had been around 40 years ago to help me, and not have me suffering the blundering and embarrassment suffered.

The anxiety is really a manifestation of feeling incompetent. Think about why you feel this way. Would you have been asked to do the presentation unless it was felt you were the best person to do it. You may feel you are not the best but those that asked you think you are. All you have to do is tell a story about whatever the presentation is about. As long as you know the subject you cannot fail.