How To Rock Public Speaking (the socially awkward person edition)
Now, contrary to popular belief, great public speakers don’t necessarily have to be the extroverted hype-squad type of people. Introverts/socially awkward penguins/quiet/shy/reserved/serious people can be awesome and engaging speakers as well!
After going through a recent oral presentation assessment I thought I would compile my own personal list of tips on how rock a oral presentation/speech (even though your mind in telling you to run and wrap yourself into a blanket burrito).
1. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Like every other studyblr related How-To-Guide out there, this one is going to be no different. Practicing your speech is essential to avoid you unravelling in a pit of nerves onstage and it is kind of the necessary evil to succeed in anything in life. Practicing in front of the mirror does help somewhat, however if you are speaking in front of a decent sized crowd (as I had to in my assessment) it really does help to practice in front of a group of people to simulate the same amount of “pressure” that will be on you during the actual thing.
Recording yourself does help to notice any weird “ticks” you may have that people point out to you while you talk. For me, I apparently swayed my body a lot when I first started out, which was a habit I learnt to control by being self-aware when I watched back past recordings.
2. Hand Gestures! (…practice them)
Going with the flow of the first tip, hand gestures can be either a great help or a great distraction depending on whether you practice how to use these gestures effectively.
Choosing the normal default resting position for your hands to be placed at during the presentation is important. The hands will usually be held clasped, centred at around the lower portion of your diaphragm, and the elbows held at a relaxed 45 degree angle. For the placement of the hands it is really up to the individual to find a position you are comfortable with. Personally, I have come to favour having my right hand simply placed over my left in a loose hold. The default hand position is really something you have to develop yourself, as while mimicking other gestures may work to a certain extent, the default position is something you really have to just keep trying till you find one you feel natural with.
Personally I used hand gestures to either 1. draw attention to the screen or 2. emphasise a point.
For instance if I wanted to emphasise the word “long” I would make a gesture that represented the word “long”, such as moving my hands away from each other to demonstrate a kind of distance between them.
Find a set of gestures that you are comfortable with and practice your speech with them. This helps develop the muscle memory and overtime it will make your movements seem more natural even though they had been rehearsed and planned.
3. Eye Contact (eye of the tigerrrrrrrr)
This is something I still struggle with and a lot of other socially-awkward people do as well.
However, if you are doing a speech for an assessment where you are judged on your eye contact this is one helpful tip I learnt from a friend in debate: just stare till they look away first.
This mainly works well if a teacher is grading you and one of the judging criteria is eye contact with not only the audience but also with the assessors themselves. Just maintain eye contact and usually most of them will break and eventually look away first.
Also if you know anyone in the audience, a great tip would be to arrange with them beforehand for them to just keep nodding and smiling whenever your eyes meet with theirs. Trust me, when you are alone onstage and you see that smiling and nodding face among the others it really does boost your morale a tiny bit more.
As corny as it is, smiling does help! Not only does it channel positivity and enthusiasm on your part, it also does help make you feel better psychologically than if you walked on stage sporting the classic a deer-in-the-headlights look.
5. Tire yourself out beforehand
This is more of a personal tip but I realised that the reason why I always felt jittery and kept swaying and moving my body a lot when I presented was due to the buildup of excess nervous energy and adrenaline beforehand.
Public speaking to humans is not exactly a “natural” sort of behaviour. In fact it goes against our own natural disposition because the idea of countless pairs of eyes staring and scrutinising your every move kicks in the body’s “fight or flight” mechanism which floods your blood with adrenaline.
Before my own presentation assessment I did star jumps in the room in order to release all my excess energy and I was more stable during the period when I had to present. If you are presenting in formal wear and star jumps aren’t exactly an option, consider brisk walking or pacing in a quiet corner before going on stage. Anything to let that extra energy out and assume a calmer and steadier disposition on stage.
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