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| Top 5 Biggest Mistakes in Public Speaking |
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,but people will never forget how you made them feel.
There are lots of things you can do to become a good public speaker. However, there are also things you should avoid if you want to be taken seriously. And these things are every bit as important. If you are trying to improve your public speaking skills, stay away from these top 5 mistakes most people make when public speaking.
1. Using Filler words
These are words such as "um," "uh," "but," "like," "well," "so," or "yeah." People often pepper these words throughout their speech when they lose their place. And while this might be okay in a normal conversation, it's not ideal for public speaking. When you use filler words, this makes you sound like you don't know what you're talking about and makes you seem less confident. If you are tempted to use a filler word, try simply pausing instead or taking a quick drink of water. Then continue with the next sentence you're going to say.
2. Recycling Presentations
The second thing you should never do is to give the exact same presentation more than once. Each individual audience is unique. So if you don't cater to your specific audience for a given presentation, your message will fall flat. Even if one audience is similar to another, they won't be exactly the same. Make sure you tailor certain parts of your speech differently so your speech is relevant to that specific audience. It's okay to reuse ideas or concepts, just don't give the same speech word-for-word. To make your speech different, take the same general ideas you've used before and come up with new illustrations or new ways to explain them. You can also create new or updated visual aids to go along with your presentation. Which is what we are going to talk about next.
3. Having Confusing Visual Aids
Visual aids are an excellent method of engaging your audience in your presentation. These aids are meant to complement your presentation. That means you need to make sure they are well-designed and easy to understand. Avoid putting too much text on your visuals. filling up a slide completely, and using distracting or unreadable colors and designs. Instead, try leaving some white space so the graphic won't be crowded or confusing and use design elements such as colors and fonts tastefully to help draw the eyes to the most important piece of information without distracting from your speech itself Finally, make sure your visuals line up with your speech and flow in an order that makes sense. Numbering each slide can help provide a clear illustration of where you are in your presentation.
4. Standing Still
When you're on stage it's easy to feel overwhelmed and freeze up. But standing still or moving stiffly will only turn your audience away. To help make you and your audience feel more comfortable and confident in your presentation, incorporate body language into your speech, move around casually to make eye contact with your audience, and use hand gestures or props when appropriate like when you need to emphasize an important message.
5. Not Preparing
The last thing you should never do is just wing it. Don't get up on stage with only a general idea of what you're going to talk about. That's a recipe for disaster. No matter how much you think you know your speech, always practice ahead of time. Ready your notes over and over to become familiar with them. Experiment with putting emphasis on different words or phrases. Practice your gestures or the type of body language you will use. You should also think about any unique circumstances or unexpected things that might happen during your speech. This will help you be as prepared as possible. As you practice, recording your presentation and watching it back can be extremely helpful. You will be able to catch any filler words and analyze your body language.
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