Public speaking is a fundamental entrepreneurial skill. If you can't do it - you should learn to do it.
Tragically, many people come out of the European educational systems with little or no public speaking experience, not even in front of their classrooms. By contrast, in America, most children are regularly forced to do "show and tell" or other classroom speaking activities, which eventually takes away much of the fear of public speaking.
Ultimately, the only way to get over your fear of public speaking (if you have one) is to do it, repeatedly, until it goes away. One place to do so is Toastmasters, a non-profit organisation which has chapters all around the world.
However, practical tips are also welcome. Here are some tips from Jason Freedman. Summarised:
- Have a standard "routine" that you do before very speech, that gets you in the right frame of mind.
- Do not use powerpoint - if you do, have only a few words per slide and don't look at the slides.
- Pick two people in the audience and speak to them.
- Don't worry about your "Ums" and other filler words/sounds.
- Don't memorize your talk or, even worse, read it out.
- Practice in front of real people, not alone.
Read the whole article here.
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