SpeechScience

View Original

How to quickly improve your speaking skills (along with techniques to help you practice)

Have an important presentation or speaking engagement coming up? Here are 3 tips on how to  quickly help make anyone a better public speaker.

3 Top Tips to Quickly Improve Your Speaking Skills

1. Articulate

Ensure that your audience is able to appreciate everything you are saying with clear pronunciation. You can practice and improve your ability to pronounce clearly by focusing on and practicing saying consonant sounds clearly.

2. Pause

A pause can provide a powerful moment of reflection for your audience.It also emphasizes your point. When you pause, you also give yourself  the opportunity to focus on your next point.

3. Stress the words that carry your meaning

This will decrease monotone and underline your intent with your voice. Think - Barack Obama !

A daily exercise to help you speak with confidence

Have you ever been asked a question that you felt entirely unprepared for? Successful job interviews, presentation delivery, and networking all require the ability to answer unexpected questions on the spot, professionally and confidently. So how do you learn to deliver a seemingly flawless answer without rehearsing what you are saying? The answer is to practice impromptu speech. 

Let’s break down what this means. Impromptu speaking is the delivery of a speech without any preparation or planning. 

Imagine you are giving an important presentation at work when your boss asks you a question that you were not expecting. What do you do? Do you fall off track and stumble for an answer? How do you reply when you didn’t expect this question?

When you practice presenting a speech or discussing a topic you are not prepared for, you develop the skills and confidence that you would need to speak persuasively regardless of whether or not you were expecting a specific question. 

A quick google search for “impromptu speech questions” will yield lists of questions you can practice with. Practicing even just one question daily can help you sharpen your speaking skills and allow you to smoothly respond to any inquiry - whether or not you were prepared.

Want to become a powerful speaker?

SpeechScience has custom programs for professionals in all fields, helping you reach your speaking potential and gain dream opportunities. 

Want to learn about our custom tailored plans for your specific needs? Contact us today!

Website

bonnie@speechscience.com

(416)323-3881