Public Speaking Exercises

Impressive, captivating and arresting are the benchmarks of a seasoned public speaker. While it may look all so flashy and easy to address an audience, believe it or not, being on the stage with the limelight on you can be extremely grueling and for some dreadful as well. Remember, public speaking does not solely depend on your script. There are a number of factors that need to be considered to become a good orator. Right from eye contact to your posture, volume and speed of speech to the tone and infliction, the list of parameters that need attention is endless. For a novice speaker, the best bet would be to indulge in exercises that are truly designed for enhancing public speaking capability. Apart from helping you strengthen your weakness, these exercises would give a boost to your confidence level. In the following lines, we have provided valuable public speaking exercises, just for you.

Undoubtedly, recording yourself is the best way to judge your public speaking skills. It gives you an opportunity to judge yourself the best way possible. You might have prepared an impressive speech and worked upon your vocal skills as well, but chances are that at the time of speaking you can fail to create the kind of impression that you thought of. Recording your performance at practice session is the best way to grow as an orator or public speaker.

 

The record would act like a mirror reflecting your highs and lows. It would showcase all the negativities wherein you need to work about and the positive that need some refinement. Questions like, do you connect to the audience, do you have a tendency to read, never looking up from your notes to acknowledge listeners or is your cadence too rapid, would all be answered immediately, after watching the tape. This would allow you to focus your attention on certain important aspects and evaluate yourself correctly.

 

Did you know that practicing tongue twisters is the best way to attain clarity of speech and diction? Most orators or spokesperson indulge in practicing tongue twisters. These not only give you an excellent diction, but also help you attain proper cadence or tempo of speech. Tongue twisters also make you aware of what you are saying and how you are saying it. The best deal would be to practice a few, right before the performance. It would surely give you the 'warm up' you required. Some of the tongue twisters you can practice are 'New York’s unique. Unique New York, You know you love unique New York'; 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers' and 'Red leather, yellow leather'.

A fun exercise to improve public speaking skills would be to indulge in at least 15 minutes of instant speaking game everyday. The game can either be played all alone or with a partner. In case you are playing with a partner, let him/her give you a topic at random. Upon getting the topic, you need to speak on it for about a minute. For those playing all alone, newspaper would be a great option to get the topics. Choose a headline in random and speak on it for about a minute. This way you would not only improve your speaking skills, but also your brainpower. Also interactive sessions held after public speaking would be a cakewalk for you after practicing this exercise, as it helps you answer the most unexpected of questions, with ease.

 

What is the point of speaking, when the audience cannot hear you? Just like the speech, voice projection is an important factor to consider. Weak voices (by weak, I do not mean soft) lack confidence and give an impression of fear, nervousness and anxiety.  As per the rule of thumb, your voice should come from your lung and not from your mouth or throat alone. A voice coming out from the lungs would be strong, confident and impressive. If you have a voice projection problem, indulge in regular exercise. Deep breath with an attempt to move both hands out as far as possible. This is belly breathing. If you breathe this way and speak simultaneously, your voice would surely be the fullest, strongest and richest. This is because you would be using your lung up to the full capacity. Make sure you make no noise while breathing. Practice these exercise and you would surely be a good orator!