Speaking in public… This situation stresses so many people! Whether at work, with family or friends, in small groups or front of a vast audience, speaking while knowing you are being listened to and in the spotlight is a delicate situation for everyone.

Many of us are afraid of blushing, stammering, or not being up to the task, and in a stressful situation, these fears take over: we are awkward, uncomfortable, and do not give the image we want. To make this moment less terrible, here are our 7 secret boots to ensure.

Remember to breathe

When stress gets in the way, every sentence is usually spun out in a hurry. Either we’re hoping this moment will be over quickly, or the stress is making us feverish. At some point, you’re out of breath, your audience senses it, and it’s not pleasant for anyone.

As with any sporting exercise, you don’t start a speech without a little warm-up: a good, relaxing “warm-up” is abdominal breathing.

Before you speak, take a few minutes to settle into a calm environment.

Take a long breath through your nose by inflating your belly and exhale through your mouth by releasing it.

Then, during your speech, don’t forget to take breaks. This allows you to slow down, breathe, and for your audience to assimilate your words. The message will be clearer and more pleasant to listen to.

Getting into condition

Breathing well before speaking in public is a good way to get rid of stress. To avoid stammering or stammering, a little warm-up can help avoid facial tension.

Speech therapists are familiar with this type of problem and recommend a few diction exercises to avoid them: making faces, articulating a few standard sentences in an exaggerated manner (Who are these six wise Swiss? / The taxman sets excessive taxes on luxury and exquisiteness. / Etc!)… Warming up your voice with a few vocalizations can also have a calming effect.

Finding the right rhythm

There’s nothing worse than a stressed speaker who spouts off his or her speech at breakneck speed! But it’s no better than a slow, listless speaker who talks in the same tone for hours…

Listening to someone speak with energy and interest always generates curiosity and attention, even if the subject does not excite you at first. Intonations are important, but gestures and facial expressions also speak. Conveying emotion is the key to a successful audience.

Remember to have water nearby: with stress, we often get sweaty, our hands are clammy, our heart beats fast, and our mouth is terribly dry. A dry mouth makes it difficult to speak and does not help you feel comfortable.

Note: avoid smoking, which accentuates this symptom!

Rehearse without memorizing

When a speech is organized and scheduled, you have generally had time to prepare it, prioritize the content, to design support to make the presentation dynamic: slide show, poster, objects, etc. Two situations should be avoided:

Reading your presentation on paper or on a slide: your audience has the text in front of them, you have no added value! A support should remain a support, to which you refer to illustrate your point and give examples and key concepts.

Recitation: it can be reassuring for those with a good memory to learn the entire message. The main risk is to have a disembodied speech, empty of emotion, which will not adapt to the reactions you might encounter, to an unexpected event, to a question…

For this, training is the solution! Rehearsal, ideally out loud, allows you to better anticipate your speech: you know the length of your speech, you naturally find transitions, and you know where the important messages are… Make sure you have mastered your subject, and you will be relaxed and natural.

Look at your audience

It’s hard not to look away when you’re intimidated. When speaking in public, it’s easier to stare at your notes or stare blankly than to look clearly at your audience.

The speaker’s attitude is essential, and eye contact is fundamental: most people let their gaze linger on the audience, gliding from one person to the next without really catching on. You must try to establish a meaningful connection. Eye contact should be maintained for a few seconds with each person, and don’t hesitate to smile at the person in front of you if your eyes only meet.

Imagine that you are talking face-to-face with… several people at the same time!

 Take care of the content and form of your speech

An exciting but poorly prepared speech can be a real failure, as can a beautiful presentation with empty content. Content and form are almost equally important, and to begin with, the speech must be adapted to your audience.

Try to adjust the content as much as possible to the level and needs of the listeners: you cannot speak in the same way to students and working professionals. Therefore, the content should match the audience’s background and knowledge, and the form should highlight key concepts and ideas with which they are not familiar.

Note: Remember that what is obvious to you may not be obvious to your audience.

Pay close attention to the introduction and conclusion

To captivate an audience from the start, there is nothing better than a striking introduction: a striking element of your subject, an anecdote, a line of humour, an image, a video… It’s up to you to find the right way to start your speech in order to capture attention and arouse interest.

In the same way, your conclusion must be striking: end with a strong statement and avoid multiplying the items. Do not enumerate or repeat the statement in a point-by-point summary… Rather, a few essential and synthetic ideas will help retain your key messages.

The usual question and answer sessions at the end of a presentation can focus the presentation on a detail and make people forget your final message. Instead, you can energize your speech by inserting time for discussion at the end of each chapter or important part.

Public speaking is always a special moment: while some people are innately skilled at it, for the vast majority, it is a skill that is acquired over time. And in any case, it is something that you prepare and practice for no successful presentation without work and repetition!

Perseverance is necessary to master the art of public speaking. By confronting yourself with this public speaking situation more often, you will have more and more confidence in yourself and be more impactful.