The Mt Kenya Times 
By: N. George
Worth Noting:
- While speaking to public confidence should be taken with seriousness as it affects the quality of your speech, the way audience perceives you in their minds, see you in their eyes and hear you in their ears.
- Knowing that you are conversant with topic of discussion, pronunciation, volume and tone gives you sufficient confidence to comfortable stand in front of people and make your presentation.
- Your body posture may help you gain and portray confidence like leaning back in the chair and having your hands and legs stretched apart while standing. These postures also help to increase the levels of testosterone boosting your confidence and decrease cortisol which minimizes nervousness.
Confidence should not only be in our imaginations but it should also be manifested in our actions. We should be able to identify its benefits and appreciate them.
When armed with confidence especially while making a public speech you attract the attention of your audience and appear truthful in the subject that you are discussing.
While speaking to public confidence should be taken with seriousness as it affects the quality of your speech, the way audience perceives you in their minds, see you in their eyes and hear you in their ears.
Confidence promotes positive attitude and happy mood.
Lucky enough all of us have confidence within us, all we need is to build it up and strengthen it so no one should complain lack of it.
A good public speaker should know how best to use clauses to create patterns
Some ways that you can use to show confidence while speaking include the following.
Groom well
Wear presentable clothing depending on the occasion.
Thinking that you are smart removes all doubts from your mind and brings comfort to you.
Dressing speaks for itself, shows how organized you are, how bright, dull and confidential you are.
Regular Practicing
Prior testing to check your ability to speak in public helps you to identify areas which need further tuning.
As the idiom says practice makes perfect, repetition of an activity results to proficiency.
Through regular practicing you will not only gain confidence but also test volume and clarity of your speech.
Practicing will also help you to counter check the correct pronunciation of various words in your speech.
Practicing what to talk assist you to familiarize with the contents of your speech.
You may record your speech and later on listen to it to verify that all aspects of your speech are up to required standards.
Knowing that you are conversant with topic of discussion, pronunciation, volume and tone gives you sufficient confidence to comfortable stand in front of people and make your presentation.
Moderate the pace of your speech
Not talking at too fast or too slow pace helps your audience to hear you clearly and with no strain.
Too fast pace in your speech will lead to your audience missing some parts of your speech.
Speaking at a very slow pace will bore your audience and make some of them drowsy.
Sign language
In front of audience nonverbal language is as important as verbal communication.
Some of the nonverbal signs which portray confidence are initiating interactions with your audience, good eye contact, smart dressing, effective gestures and good tone.
A lot of physical movements when making speech shows that you have a lot of space and your levels of confidence are high.’
Holding your head up high and moving your shoulders makes you look confident and improves your voice
Nodding at the response of you audience shows that you are confident, you can hear your audience feedback and you are well connected to them.
Standing upright help you to take deep breath and improve your voice which boosts your confidence levels.
Your body posture may help you gain and portray confidence like leaning back in the chair and having your hands and legs stretched apart while standing. These postures also help to increase the levels of testosterone boosting your confidence and decrease cortisol which minimizes nervousness.
Use of persuasive terms instead of doubtful language
When public speaking you should show direction with firmness instead of expressing doubt and gaps in your speech.
This will instill confidence in the mind of your audience
In a presentation, you should not keep on blaming yourself and regretting rather you need to show confidence and the best direction to take.
Keep hydrated
Regular consumption of beverages for speakers helps in moisturizing and soothing the vocal cords.
Good levels of hydration will help you maintain proper health and feel more comfortable.
Pausing during the speech
Pausing between major parts of your speech helps audience to process and digest the information.
The speaker should observe a silence between major points.
The speech should be divided into the head, main body and conclusion. The main body should further be subdivided into main points.
Pauses also show confidence of the speaker because he or she does not fear forgetting some parts during the speech.
Asking a question then keeping silence allows the audience to think.
Each time you pause during a speech you catch the attention of your audience as they try to figure out what have happened for you to pause and eagerly wait to see and hear what next.
While opening a presentation a pause of 5-10 seconds is a great way of breaking the preoccupation of audience and drawing their attention towards what you are going to teach them.
Pausing during a speech helps in controlling your speech.
Include smile in your speech
Smile during the speech brings warmth and openness
It shows friendliness and signifies approachability.
It is well known that smile is contagious so if you smile the audience will smile back at you creating a positive mood.
Expression of thankfulness
When the speaker appreciates the audience, they too reciprocate and a feel happy mood is created. The traffic becomes two way hence the speaker’s morale and confidence are boosted.
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