You have no doubt seen an audience responding very positively to a public
speaker who speaks with confidence. There is something about them, they
hold themselves with a certain air, they seem invincible, alluring, attractive…
but how do they do it?
If you want to develop your confidence levels when speaking consider using
some of these simple steps below to increase your own confidence and make
you feel incredible:
Make sure that you fill your mind with positive thoughts. You can do this by
imagining yourself getting up and speaking in front of an audience and doing
so with confidence and poise. Fill your mind with positive pictures of yourself,
the audience responding, everything going well. Picture people coming up to
you after your speech telling you what a great job you did and how confident
you looked.
Think about other areas of your life where you have been successful and
developed confidence. It might be that you are very confident in a particular
field. Remind yourself of how well you have done in this particular field and
renew the feelings of confidence that you have managed to develop around
this topic. It’s good to remind yourself of this because at some stage you
were not as confident as you are now in that particular area, you have
developed your confidence through practice, experience, knowledge and
determination. You did it once, you can do it again.
To feel confident it is important to be thoroughly prepared. This means
knowing the topic that you are speaking about, researching about it and
ensuring you know it back to front. It means practicing; rehearsing, timing
yourself and anticipating any questions you may be asked. Watch professional speakers and try to get inspiration from them – if you want, check a great speaker here.
Remember that if you act confidently, you will be more confident. How do you
act confidently? You can ensure you walk tall, shoulders back, chest out and
smile. So many people forget to smile but a smile can really help you to relax
and can show the audience you feel comfortable. By filling your mind with
positive thoughts and words you are also sending out a positive energy to the
audience which allows you to look more confident.
Don’t agonize about the audience and how they are judging you or what
they are thinking about you. Embrace who you are and be genuine in your
delivery. Don’t worry about stumbling over the odd word or making a
mistake. If you show that you are human then audiences will connect with
you as they can relate to you.
One of the biggest tips I received early on when learning about public
speaking was the more you appear to be confident to others, the more your
confidence will actually grow. So keep believing in yourself. Keep practicing
and watch your confidence grow rapidly.
