Step 1 To Become A Confident Speaker: How To Get Started Suman January 18, 2017

Step 1 To Become A Confident Speaker: How To Get Started

Welcome back to the series on speaking skills. You already know the 5 important steps to become a confident speaker and how this program is unique. Today we’ll look at step 1 – How to get started on becoming a confident speaker – in more detail.

Getting started is a huge step. Well begun is half done. Here are a few things that you should consider to get started. 

What are your speaking goals?

In order to become confident at speaking, it is important to figure out what your speaking goals are. In the unique program I conduct – called 5 important steps to become a confident speaker, we begin right at this point. Do you mostly speak in meetings at work or pitch ideas to investors? Are you a CEO who addresses stake holders or do you want to take up speaking assignments? Think about it. 

What is your current level?

On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate your speaking skills? You might be higher on the scale for preparation and maybe lower in delivery. Keep up with this series to find out what are the different areas you need to be good at to move up the overall scale.

What are your speaking fear and how can you eliminate them? 

What is it that makes your mouth go dry and you heart pound against your chest at the thought of speaking in public? Even if it is just at your team meeting! Is there something you could do to – like being well prepared – to make things better? Things like power pose can always be used to tackle nerves and feel more confident.

What are your areas of improvement?

Now that you’ve done some thinking, what are the main areas that you think you need to work on? Something that can help you move higher on the scale of being a confident speaker. Preparation, confidence, body language, voice projection, generating ideas for an impromptu talk – there are so many things that go into being a good speaker, every single time.

What are you going to do to improve yourself?

All the analysis about your skills is futile unless you plan to take care of what you lack. After all, speaking is a skill that is going to take you places in your career and make you more articulate in any situation. You can take up an inline course or work with a trainer. Remember, practice makes a man – people, rather – perfect. And you will need to devote time over a period of time to become a master speaker.

Here’s a mindset moment for you – there is no single form of speaking that you can master. There are different kinds of speaking situations you will find ourselves in during our lives and careers. The best you can do is to master the core set of skills that will make you feel confident and in control any time you need to address people. For instance, basket ball players work on skills like dribbling or shooting over and over again till they master it. In an actual game, it’s mastery over these skills that helps players focus on strategy instead of worrying about the basics. Similarly, in speaking, it’s about developing certain skills and being great at them so that you can use them in actual situations.

If you want to master this step with me, I can help you:

– Get a fair assessment of your current level

– Gain clarity on your speaking goals

– Discover reasons why you fear public speaking and learn how to eliminate them 

– Teach you basics of how to begin working on your speaking skills

– Help you understand the Instruction-Imitation-Practice triangle to improve your speaking

– Templates and checklists which you can use in actual speaking situations

To know more about how this course is unique and why you should take this up, see here and here

If you wish to take your speaking skills to the next level, drop me a line and I can schedule a free 20 minute discovery session to discuss your needs.

Next up is going to be details on step 2 – How to prepare for an impressive speech. Subscribe to the blog so that you don’t miss any of the steps to becoming a confident speaker. Until next time…