Public speaking can be difficult anyone and professionals who make a living out of it are by far no exception to how difficult the act can be. The most successful entrepreneurs and business world people, however, continue public speaking whenever they need to regardless of how difficult it is or how much they think they aren’t very good at it.
So how can we get over our fear of public speaking? Entrepreneur.com offers some rather good list of 7 habits of successful entrepreneurs and how they take on public speaking:
7 Public Speaking Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs
1. Focus on the audience
Something many of us fall victim to when getting in front of any audience to deliver a speech is that we focus on ourselves way too much. Successful entrepreneurs, on the other hand, focus on the audience instead.
2. Engage the audience
Ask your audiences questions, tell them an interesting story, or a joke. Anything to keep them from checking their emails while you speak. If you want your audience to do something or think a certain way after your speech is done, being engaging is one way to go about it.
3. Be conversational
That means, avoid buzzwords. Audiences can pick up on that and if your speech is filled with words you thought would make you sound more professional, that might cause them to tune out or not understand your overall point. Rule of thumb is, use words that a 10 year old can understand. Not because your audience isn’t intelligent enough, but because you want them to understand your point immediately.
4. Tell powerful stories
This is a great way to get your audience to be even more involved in your speech. It also helps you stand out as a speaker as you may not be the first or the last speech they hear in that time.
5. Use slides that are visually engaging
Instead of boring your audience with bullet point after bullet point, do what successful entrepreneurs do and use pictures. Pictures capture the audience’s attention and can help further support your overall point.
6. Get coaching
Few people, if any, are born naturally good at public speaking which is why a successful entrepreneur would seek out coaching and advice from a professional.
7. Keep learning
Along with the point before, it is important to keep learning so that you can stay on top of your public speaking. After all, no smart and successful entrepreneur is ever done learning.