Public speaking is only as difficult as you allow it to be. Unfortunately, many people make it more difficult than it is because their fear or their nervousness is in control. If such is the case with you, then you should consider changing your approach so that you have the upper hand over your nervousness.

Personally, I love nervousness. That adrenaline rush helps me be more dynamic and allows for my passion and enthusiasm to be seen and heard. And, because I am in control of it, my audiences have no idea that I am nervous. They neither see it nor do they hear it in my voice.

By implement the following 5 steps into your presentation, you will discover that you are able to focus on your delivery and not on your fear:

1. Treat your audience as if you were having a conversation in your living room. Imagine your speech or presentation as being one side of the conversation and your audience’s reaction to you, the other. If you can visualize yourself standing at the lectern, at the head of the conference table, or in the front of the room in this manner, you will feel much more confident.
2. Speak to your audience with express, not only in the tonal variety of your voice but also your facial expression and your body language. Standing perfectly still with no physical or aural expression is a quick means of putting your audience to sleep.
3. Know your material inside and out. This means practicing it out loud several days (if not weeks) in advance of your scheduled date. Reading it over in your mind is not practice. Only fools treat their material in that manner.
4. Breathe with the support of your diaphragm. It is the best means of controlling nervousness you have. It is free; it is healthy; and, it will put an end to your breathlessness.
5. Believe in yourself. If you approach your audience believing that you cannot do it, how successful do you think you will be? Do not aim for perfection. Strive to do the best job that you can do by incorporating the above 4 methods into your delivery. If you can accomplish that, then you will succeed.

Public speaking does not have to be your greatest fear. If you want to take control of your nervousness and actually allow it to work for you, I guarantee that these social, emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual components are all that you need to deliver a dynamic speech or presentation.

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, group and corporate training in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit her website at Voice Dynamic and watch as Nancy describes the best means of controlling nervousness in any form of public speaking.

Speaking at conferences is a great way to establish yourself as an authority on a topic, to network with your peers and to meet potential clients, but how do you get invited to speak at conferences?

Firstly, don’t wait to be invited. Identify the areas where you can add value as a speaker and then hunt down the conference organisers who specialise in those areas. Some conferences are advertised before the speaker line-up has been finalised, so you can contact the organisers to offer yourself as a speaker. But since the conference organising industry is so competitive these days and the conference producers are under a lot of pressure to be first to market, a lot of them keep their new conference topics under wraps until they are ready to be marketed.

So how do you get on to the speaker panel at conferences before they are marketed?
One way is to look at past conferences. Call a couple of the speakers from past conferences and ask them what the experience was like. Find out how many delegates attended. If the conference was successful, then there’s a very good chance that the organiser will either repeat the topic, or run a program with a similar theme. Also, some organisers specialise in particular topics, so keep a list of the organisers that run conferences on your favourite subjects and stay in touch with them on a semi-regular basis. It also pays to keep a calendar of yearly conferences and to get in touch with the organisers during their production window.

What about responding to a call for papers?
Some conference organisers put out a call for papers, but many don’t. It pays to be proactive and find the associations and commercial organisers BEFORE they have produced your ideal conference. But if you have missed the window and the program has been finalised, you can still offer your services as a replacement speaker, although if you are a late addition to the program, you will have missed the exposure that comes with being on a brochure that gets sent to thousands of people. So get to them first!

I was told that because I am a consultant and offer a service to the industry that the delegates don’t want to hear from me, and I should be sponsoring the conference instead! What should I do?
This is a common brush-off technique from conference organisers. One way to get around it is to offer to bring a client to present alongside you. Conference producers are often looking for presentations from well-known corporations. Big names help sell delegate tickets. So if you have a client that the conference organiser wants on the program, then offer to run a tag-team presentation where you and your client split the speaking time. That way everyone wins. The producer gets a “name” on the program, and you also get to speak at the conference.

What other ways are there to get on to conference programs?
Conference producers typically look for speakers from a wide range of sources, so being visible in a number of spheres increases your chances of being invited to speak. Join and be active in the relevant professional associations. Write books or articles (or be quoted in them), and become an effective networker.

Many conference organisers also select speakers from other programs, so once you have spoken at a few business conferences, and especially if you rated well, the organisers might start hunting you down!

Peter Chaly is Managing Director at SmartINK http://www.smartink.com.au – a specialist copywriting, marketing and events firm.

I recently had the opportunity to hear a world-renowned public speaker and was surprised as well as disappointed by his delivery. While his message was excellent, his means of delivering that message would have gotten him a C- in my college public speaking class. Without a doubt, content is important in any form of public speaking; however, if your entire script is written out word-for-word in your PowerPoint presentation, why bother? It would be a better use of the audience’s time if you would Xerox it, pass it out, and then everyone can go home!

1. Memorizing or reading your entire presentation is a grave mistake. Your audience came to hear you speak to them – not read or deliver a rote, memorized performance. Your responsibility is to communicate with your audience, not at them. By treating your audience as if you were having a conversation in your living room, you will find that you are much more comfortable and in better control of your nervousness.

2. Not knowing your material is another serious blunder. If you are not familiar with your words or how your speech or presentation flows, then you are likely to make more errors. Making a mistake or two is not the issue – making a lot of them is!

3. Speaking too fast. Controlling your speed is extremely important if you expect your audience to be able to understand what you are saying. Listening to someone move at 100 mph takes much more energy than listening to them at 75! Incidentally, talking at a furious pace saps the energy of you, the speaker, as well.

4. Staring at an object on the wall. By no means should you focus your attention on a spot on the wall or above the heads of your audience. Look them in the eye. Make the contact with your listeners and you will then be aware of their reaction to you. Remember, public speaking is a form of communication. If you are not making eye contact, then you are not communicating.

5. Running Out of Air. Breathlessness on the podium is one of the most common mistakes made because many novice – and even some professional – speakers do not think to breathe. If you wait until you are totally out of air, you will then be required to inhale a huge amount in order to fill your lungs. In doing so, you will experience breathlessness and a tightness in your chest. My advice is to learn to breathe with the support of your diaphragm – truly the best means of controlling nervousness – and then practice supplementing your air supply before you are depleted.

These 5 common mistakes can be easily rectified if you know your material, converse with your audience, learn how to control your speed, make eye contact with your listeners and remember to breathe.

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. To see how voice training can improve your life, both professionally and personally, visit Voice Dynamic or watch a brief video as The Voice Lady describes Dynamic Public Speaking.

I have spoken several times in public in my life. And I never truly felt comfortable speaking in public, especially in high school. But after a while, after gaining enough experience, you get over it. You not only get over it but you also learn how to use your anxiety and fear to steer your presentation in the right direction. But how do you become a unique speaker?

Be Yourself
I think the most important part of being able to brand yourself is to truly accept yourself for who you are. To embrace your character and use it as an opportunity to create something unique. If you watch some movies then you will invariably notice why actors like Jim Carrey and others are so successful. They have such a strong character and are so unique that you would instantly notice him everywhere. The same applies to spiritual or religious leaders. They see to have an aura surrounding them that makes them so much more interesting. That’s also the way you want to be as a public speaker.

Create a Routine
Routines are a great way for people to notice you. For example a routine might be a way to dress or the way you are leaving the stage. It makes you stand out that much more. Once you have done this often enough then people will automatically associate this gesture or routine with you. When they see this again then they will automatically think of you again.

Use Other Sources
In order to brand yourself you need to rely on other things then just the normal business card. Why not create a blog or a website? This is a great way to distinguish yourself from other people. You could for example write about each of your speaking events or what you have learned from them. It doesn’t really matter what you write about as long as you have the experience to back it up.

Public speaking is important and there is nothing more important than learning from someone who has the experience and skills necessary to deliver a dazzling presentation.

If you want to improve public speaking skills then be sure to visit my website. Ultimately it will help you to accomplish better public speaking.

At a recent personal coaching session I was amused to hear that the main thing the client wanted was to “Startle, Dazzle and Amaze them!” – Oh! Don’t we all!!

She was very happy with the body of her speech, she felt that she had the ideal arguments to convince her audience, she had selected her material carefully to appeal to their interests and believed that her conclusion was a rousing call to arms – but the opening part of the speech was the concern. How could she grab her audience’s attention right at the start to say “Wake up and listen to me – I have something important to say!”

After I had got over the visual picture of a conference audience having to be roused from sleep – I was glad to share some very effective ways of getting them to sit up and listen.

One of my favourite ways is to tell an appropriate story – I do it a lot in my articles, bet you never noticed! Everyone loves stories, and if it is told with energy and enthusiasm it will get everyone’s attention.

We like to hear about other people who suffer the same insecurities as we do – and we identify with their problems and discomforts without having the finger pointed directly at us. As well, we can share the triumphs with a feeling that if they can, we can. It is personal, can be amusing and can effectively illustrate the point of your speech right at the start.

Of course, it needs to have a link to what you are going to talk about, it needs to be relevant and it needs to be appropriate to your audience. And while humour can be part of it I don’t recommend it should be a joke – humour can be very difficult so let’s not start out on dodgy ground.

Another effective opening gambit that I have found very successful is the startling statement! An outrageous claim or statement of fact that can make your audience sit up. Many years ago I heard a speech that began with the words “I HATE Rhubarb!” The speaker had walked out to the centre stage; put both hands on her hips and declaimed the words in a voice quivering with passion and hatred. We were jolted out of our comfort zone and I can remember to this day the shock I felt when I heard her.

Again it must be relevant to the topic and the aim of the speech; but when carefully chosen, and passionately delivered the startling statement can be a hammer blow to the audience.

Or why not capture their attention with movement, rather than words? Depending on the topic this can be effective. In a recent presentation about investment, the speaker had three inflated balloons placed in a basket on a small side table. Each one was labelled with a problem. The speaker walked out, and without a word he picked up each balloon, slowly showed the audience the name of the problem and then with a stiletto he burst each one.

He had silently reinforced the message of the presentation – that this company could burst the problem bubbles that were stopping people from investing. Very effective – and very successful.

Movement always grabs people’s attention; we use it deliberately throughout the speech so why not consider it for our opening?

I have heard quotations recommended as an opening strategy – and yes, it can be effective. But it needs to work a little harder than the others I have mentioned. By itself it is often understated. It’s needs a little pizazz!

If you are going to open with a quote, it needs to be pertinent; uncommon and presented with passion.

A quote that has no relevance to the topic is useless, and one that is so common that your audience can repeat it with you is more likely to bore them to tears than to startle or amaze! And if it is both pertinent and uncommon but presented in a lack lustre way it is hardly going to rouse your audience to animated and fascinated attention.

I have used all of these strategies to grab my listener’s eager attention in my speeches; and I can guarantee that they have worked for me.

And while your ambition may not be to “Startle, Dazzle and Amaze Them” they are still a good way to begin a speech and will at least, wake them up.

Michele Keighley AIPFM, is a Director of the innovative communication training company Trischel. She has developed communication training programmes for government departments, international companies and corporate bodies. As a Professional Speaker, Michele has been the key note speaker at conferences in Australia and internationally and is the author of a number of books on Communication, Leadership and Self-Development.