5 Easy Tips For Drastically Improving Your Public Speaking
Public speaking can be hard yet most of us have to do it in some form or fashion. Whether it's a presentation, leading a meeting, preaching, or speaking to a crowd, being a skilled public speaker is a huge asset to have.
As a pastor, I not only speak in public often, but I also watch and help train other preachers and communicators. This means I'm around it a lot I have learned from personal experience and others what works well and what doesn't.
And while there are a lot of things you can do to become a better public speaker, in this post I wanted to share with you five simple things you can implement right away regardless of your skill level or experience. These simple tips really will drastically improve your public speaking ability because they work and few people implement them.
You can become a better public communicator, and these things can help.
1. Always start with a story or illustration
It may seem counter-intuitive, but you should never start by introducing yourself or thanking the hosts for inviting you to speak. You can do that a few minutes in, but not at the very beginning.
Why? Because the first few minutes are the only time you have everyone's attention. You could use it to bore people with information that doesn't serve them very well (like explaining who you are) or you can use that time to draw them in and give them a reason to keep listening to you.
Think of the last concert you attended; how did the main artist begin their set? I can guarantee you (if it was a good concert) they didn't come out and say "hi" to everyone and thanked everyone for coming.
Instead, they likely started with a high energy song the created excitement and momentum. I'm sure at some point they thanked the city for and the fans for coming out, but they didn't do that upfront.
In the same way, the goal in the first few minutes of any talk is to give people a reason to keep listening. Telling a story relevant to what you are talking about or using humor to draw people in is the best thing you can do.
And what's more, very few people begin presentations or talks like that. You can introduce yourself after you have their attention, at which point they will actually care about knowing who you are.
2. No one cares how much you know until you tell a story
We've all heard that no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. If people don't feel like you care about them, they won't want to listen to your advice.
I've adopted that same idea when it comes to public speaking and getting people to listen to you. No one cares how much you know until you tell a story (which is why it is wise to always begin with a story if you can).
No one is moved by statics or information, we are touched and motivated by stories. The hardest and most frustrating part of writing and creating sermons for me is not researching and teaching what the Scriptures actually say, it's presenting it in a way people can digest and want to listen to. This happens by sharing relevant stories (and personal stories work best).
Putting people to sleep with information overload isn't helpful. If people can't remember and/or are not moved by what they have just learned, we failed them as a communicator.
Unfortunately, we often think stories over-simplify or devalue the knowledge and information we are trying to share. In reality, all of us suffer from what is known as the curse of knowledge when we are speaking on topics we are educated on or really familiar with.
According to the encyclopedia of Wikipedia, here is what the curse of knowledge is:
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, communicating with other individuals, unknowingly assumes that the others have the background to understand. For example, in a classroom setting, teachers have difficulty teaching novices because they cannot put themselves in the position of the student. A brilliant professor might no longer remember the difficulties that a young student encounters when learning a new subject.
Stories help us bring abstract concepts into real-life situations. If you tell stories, people will actually listen (and learn).
3. Never have more than one point on a slide
If you are giving a presentation or talk with slides, the tendency can be to put multiple points together and reduce the number of slides you have. This is a bad idea.
The more information you have on a slide, the more distracted people will be. Plus, whenever someone sees a new slide, they will try to read everything on the slide before turning their attention back to the speaker. The more you have a slide at one time, the more time people aren't listening to you.
An additional benefit of simplifying your slides and adding more of them is that it gives people more touchpoints to re-engage when they stop listening. Each time a new slide is presented, there is an opportunity for people to get back on track.
Keep this simple and keep things moving. Don't put more than one point on a slide.
4. Only have one main point
While there may be many ideas and points you want to get across, the most effective communicators will tie everything into one main idea. The reality is that people won't remember everything you say anyway, so why not tell them the big idea behind everything so that they know what they are supposed to take away?
Having one main point (usually shared towards the end) can be hard. This is why many people don't do it. But it forces you as the communicator to ensure everything you are saying is heading in the same direction and helps you figure out what can be cut if you have too much to say.
Do the work of bringing everything you are trying to say into one main idea and you'll be further ahead than most when you speak.
5. Go over your talk out loud
This is perhaps the easiest and most overlooked aspect of speaking well. It's easy to think "you know what you're going to say" as you look over your notes or presentation, but you don't actually know until you have gone over it.
Going over it out loud also allows you to get a more accurate idea of how long it will take you to get through your material. There's nothing worse than realizing you are running out of time as you are speaking and trying to figure out what to cut on the fly.
As a pastor, I communicate in front of an audience almost every week single week and I still go over my sermons twice out loud before I preach on a Sunday. Regardless of your experience level, this is a habit you can't skip if you want to serve those you are communicating to well.
It's not hard to get ahead in public speaking
Regardless of your natural giftedness, public speaking is something you can improve on. While public speaking is a big fear for many people, don't let that fear stop you from doing the best you can do. And if you want some more tips on how to improve, here are eight things I have learned from preaching every week.
As someone who communicates in front of others often as well as sees a lot of other preachers and public communicators, these five tips are simple things many people miss. And remember, you don't have to be the best communicator in the world to be effective, you just need to be the best that you can be. I know you can do it.
Want more public speaking tips?
Even if you aren't a pastor/preacher, many of the same tips for becoming a better preacher apply to becoming a better communicator in general. If you want more practical tips and advice on becoming a better public speaker, check out the Practical Church Planting podcast and search for the episodes on preaching.