Another great guest author posting from our friend Katherine Flowers.  She regularly writes guest articles for various different blogging sites, and provides article content on marketing and business solutions for clients in Australia.

Speaking in public can be absolutely terrifying, especially if it is not something that you do very often. However, for some roles, public speaking is absolutely essential. Here are 5 tips on how to improve your public speaking skills.

1. Know your stuff – This may sound obvious, but it is a mistake that a lot of public speakers make. If you know that you are going to be speaking in public, then you have to make sure that you know exactly what you are talking about. This will usually require a considerable amount of research on your part. However, this will greatly improve your public speaking because you will seem as though you are an expert.
2. Improve your communication – Public speaking, especially to large groups of people, requires the highest of communication skills. You need to make sure that you speak loudly, clearly, and at a reasonable speed. Some people get nervous and talk to fast, or too quietly, which doesn’t bode well for a public speaker. Practice as much as you can in order to get it just right.
3. Be humorous – An ice breaker can make public speaking so much easier. You don’t need to be a comedian; simply add a little humour when you are speaking in public. This will make you look confident, and it will make your audience feel much more at ease. As well as this, it will make it much easier for you to communicate and feel calm.
4. Be confident – If you show a lack of confidence in what you are saying then your audience are going to find it very hard to believe the speech that you are putting out there. There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance, but if you can get it right then it will work in your favour. Your audience will believe you know what you are talking about if you look as though you are very confident in what you are saying to them.
5. Don’t show nerves – Obviously, most people are going to have some degree of nervousness when speaking in public, especially to a large group of people. However, it is important that you don’t show that you are nervous. Rather change that nervous energy into something positive, such as enthusiasm. The audience will not notice that you are nervous at all.

If you are someone who has never had to speak in public before and you have suddenly found yourself in a role where you have to do just that, it can be very daunting. However, the tips mentioned above should help you out considerably.

If you are still struggling then you could think about taking a course that offers presentation skills training. These courses are available all over the country, and they can help you to become a great public speaker by teaching you the skills that you may not possess. 

Do you have more public speaking tips that you would like to share?  Comment below!