How To Be A Confident Public Speaker – Part Three
If you’ve missed the opening two parts of our wedding speech series on getting confident with public speaking you can find part one here and part two here.
Trying it Out
Once you have your speech written out in a first draft, the next step is to begin to rehearse it. This is when you discover whether it works or not.
It’s great if you can get some help with this, ideally from a sympathetic listener who can give encouraging feedback and make helpful suggestions. But even if you can’t arrange that, rehearsing it on your own will definitely help. It is possible to speak and to listen to yourself at the same time…
What we’re aiming at is to get to a place where you’re pretty sure you have a speech that works and that you feel good about. That means specifically that you need to believe each part of it belongs in the speech and is there for a good reason. Good reasons are, for example, that it is:
- protocol (the normal, expected thing)
- thanks and acknowledgements
- something heartfelt that you want to say
- something that will inform, amuse or entertain…
Practice Makes Perfect
You need to make sure that you can say all of the things you want to in a fluent and easy way, without stumbling or hesitation. The only way to ensure that is through practice. Most speakers trip up and start to panic when they are not sure what’s coming out of their mouth next. They lose faith in themselves – and keeping that faith is the definition of confidence.
Why is practising so important? Because the more time you spend on the basics the better you will feel about it…. this is how you build that elusive quality of confidence.
Does it Fit?
To maintain your self-belief you need to be certain of your material. So check as you rehearse each bit – do you feel good about saying this? Are you sure it will have the intended impact? Can you say it with sincerity?
Also check for congruence – does this fit with you and who you are? Because if doesn’t feel right to you, you can be certain that it won’t sound right to them. So change it. This is the time to be ruthless.
That’s why it’s really good to have a friendly helper to listen. It’s much easier for someone else to tell you whether the story works, if the tribute sounds right, and whether the joke is funny and appropriate.
How Long?
When you are reasonably happy with the content, time yourself. Check that you are saying enough, but not too much. What’s the estimated length of your speech? Find out how it fits with the other speech-makers.
Keep going over the wording of your speech, polishing it until you are happy with every part of it. Then you are ready to go on to the next stage. It would be ideal to reach this point about a week before the event.
Steve Roche
Professional Life Coach
www.higher-evolution.co.uk
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