• Question: Have you guys got any tips on how to speak confidently and clearly to people during a presentation???

    Asked by lukealanpatrick to Cesar, Emily, Jamie, Kate, Philippa on 18 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Kate Clancy

      Kate Clancy answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      A few things work for me. I have to practice over and over by myself, especially if the talk is short and on something very technical. I also need to make sure my talk is organized well and that I clearly explain at the start what I’ll be talking about.

      But I have also just gotten better with practice. I teach a course of 750 students in an enormous lecture hall. I have gotten very good just by having to give lectures there every week!

      What works for you? What makes you nervous? For me it’s that people will think I’m wrong or dumb. I still worry about that before most of my science talks, it never quite goes way!

    • Photo: Jamie Gallagher

      Jamie Gallagher answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi luke,

      Well I do a lot of public speaking. Every few days I will be doing something. At first I was very quiet but now I really love it. For me it is all about confidence. If you are doing a talk in school that you have prepared think of it like this- there is no one in the room that knows more about your subject than you do.

      When I look at an audience I look at them all, I always face towards them and I speak a little more slowly than normal. Have little pauses to let people take in what you have just said.

      Just before you go up take a few deep breaths. If it is a very big event with 200-300 people I might want to go and take a few minutes alone and run through what I want to say.

      I know it can be hard to remeber everything you want to say without writting it down but I never take notes. If I have notes I will play with them or just read through them and this is not good.

      Ok so If I just list them a little more and put in an order:
      Prepare- know what you want to talk about
      Relax just before, breath deep
      try not to have notes, if you do only words or numbers
      look at everyone the whole time, keep looking around the audience scanning them slowly like you are looking for someone.
      Speak slowly

      Hope some of that helps. Just remeber that everyone is different- somepeople who are great speakers may not follow all of these rules. find what works for you and get as much practise as possible!!! Once you have done it a few times you may even enjoy it!

    • Photo: Emily Robinson

      Emily Robinson answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      These are brilliant answers. I used to be very nervous about speaking and my voice used to shake, but now I normally can give very confident speeches without the inner terror I used to do through! So just know that you will get better at this so never miss an opportunity to speak in front of an audience. That might sound silly to do the thing that you are nervous about, but I promise you that the more you do it the better you will get at it so it is better to get the practice when you can! Also the one thing I have learnt in life (not just about public speaking) is that sometimes you need to stop caring so much about whether you mess up. That is not saying you shouldn’t care about something, but don’t twist yourself up with worry about it going wrong. Having a few butterflies and a bit of adrenaline in your system is very helpful but being terrified isn’t. So know when to say…’Ah well here it goes..’!

    • Photo: Philippa Demonte

      Philippa Demonte answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      @lukealanpatrick Practice, practice, practice! The more you practice your presentation beforehand, the more confident you’ll be when you come to do it for real. Is there a friend or someone that you can practice in front of the day before?

      Make sure that you give a good introduction to grab your audience’s attention, including stating your name, and try to be enthusiastic about the topic.

      Also:

      * if you are using any equipment such as a computer, always go to the venue early to set it up and make sure it works.

      * Do you have any props that would help make your presentation more interesting? For example, when I had to give a presentation on lava tubes, I handed a piece of lava round the audience .

      * Can you use more than one medium? For example, if you have done your presentation as a powerpoint slide show, is there a black/white board at the venue that you could also draw things on to illustrate a point?

      * Speak slowly and clearly, and make eye contact with your audience. I know that might seem scary at first, but just imagine that you are talking to a friend and then before you know it you’ll have finished the presentation.

      * At the end of the talk briefly summarise the main points.

      * If the audience have the opportunity to ask you questions at the end, think beforehand about what questions they might ask you so that you’ll be prepared with some answers. If you don’t know the answer, just say so. It’s not the end of the world.

      Hope that helps. Good luck with your presentation.

    • Photo: Cesar Lopez-Monsalvo

      Cesar Lopez-Monsalvo answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      Jamie’s suggestion work very well for me and, as Philippa says, practice a lot. You need to have your ideas very clear. Try to be calm and remember to speak slowly. That gives you time to think/remember what goes next and also gives the audience the idea that they understand what you are saying….if you are lucky, maybe they really do!

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