How to improve your speaking skills

How to improve your speaking skills

Have you ever thought about speaking in front of people? Maybe it is because of timidity, so how should we overcome these difficulties and speak in front of everyone? This article was carefully edited by me. I hope it can help you on how to improve your speaking skills!

How to improve your speaking skills Part 1

1. Remember a hundred famous quotes and philosophical sayings

Most of the philosophical sayings are a system of thought , the essence of an overall structure; it is a language that has been recognized by the broad masses of the people after time and practice, and has certain ideological, truthful and guiding language; it is a refined summary of human wisdom.

Poems have a poetic eye, books have a soul, and speeches have a artistic conception. A poem with a couplet can be called a good poem; a book with a famous quote is worth reading; similarly, a speech with a philosophical quote can benefit the audience and make it unforgettable. Because no matter how unconventional or extraordinary the views expressed by the speaker are, they have all been discussed by famous figures in history to a greater or lesser extent. Quotations from famous people always shine with the light of wisdom, and the influence of famous people is also long-lasting. Therefore, the speaker should grasp the inner psychology of the audience, appropriately quote philosophical quotes or discussions from authoritative figures, and let them serve the argument of their own theoretical viewpoints to enhance the persuasive power of the speech.

2. Memorize a hundred poems and songs.

China is a country of poetry. Poetry and poetry are respectively a form of literary creation. From the day they first appeared, they were passed down by word of mouth. In ancient my country, those who were not happy were called poems, and those who were happy were called songs. Nowadays, they are generally called "poems". It is the product of boiling waves of emotion inspired by real life. In terms of content, it is highly concentrated and comprehensive, with strong emotions and rich imagination. In terms of form, the language must be concise, accurate, and expressive. At the same time, it must have distinct and harmonious rhyme and rhythm, so that it can be easily passed down orally.

Both the language of speech and the language of poetry have the characteristics of sound. A good speech should have poetic language, and an excellent speaker should have poetic passion. Practice has proved that those speeches that are full of poetic passion and full of poetic and picturesque meanings, once spoken by the speaker, seem to have wings and fly into the hearts of millions of listeners, becoming a shocking drumbeat and an inspiring horn.

Therefore, a successful speaker should read more poems and songs and memorize more verses in his mind. As the saying goes: If you are familiar with three hundred Tang poems, you can recite them even if you don't know how to recite them. In speeches and in daily life, appropriately quoting some poems and songs can not only create a beautiful artistic conception, but also improve the speaker's literary taste and artistic charm.

3. Remember a hundred touching storylines at home and abroad

The purpose of a speech is to explain and inspire, that is to say: a speech must not only Convince people with reason, but also move people with emotion. The basis for the best effect of a speech is that the audience is first moved by the content of the speech, and then the audience unconsciously accepts the speaker's thoughts and opinions in the "narration and discussion". If the speaker only talks about some empty and unconvincing "big principles", it is impossible to enhance the credibility and appeal of the speech.

Facts speak louder than words. Citing solid facts and touching plots in your speech is one of the most direct and effective ways to prove your theoretical views. The more specific, comprehensive, vivid, and touching the examples cited by the speaker, the more powerful the proof of the speech's point of view, and the more likely it is to impress and convince the audience. In the history of ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, and in the reality around us, there are many touching and touching stories in all aspects. If a person wants to become an eloquent person, he must accumulate materials in this area, purposefully and consciously remember more storylines. In this way, in speeches and daily work, the speaker can use vivid and popular language to casually tell the storyline related to the content, so that the audience can maintain a relaxed mood and strong interest, making it easier to accept the speaker's point of view.

4. Remember a hundred humorous jokes

Humor is a weapon developed by human beings fighting against themselves. It is also a way to induce joy in a pleasant way. The art of making people happy. Humor is the crystallization of people's thoughts, knowledge, wisdom and inspiration in the use of language. Joke is an indispensable artistic means in interpersonal communication in today's society. It is often a short story. But jokes don’t necessarily equal humor. In other words, a humorous person may tell jokes, but a person who can tell jokes may not necessarily be a humorous person.

Under normal circumstances, audiences are eager to hear relaxed and interesting speeches. A speech that is too serious in tone and too monotonous in content is unlikely to be well received by the audience. Speakers should be good at interspersing some anecdotes, anecdotes, humor, jokes and other content during the speech, so that the views of the speech can be visualized and vivid, and can deepen the audience's understanding and memory of the views; it can also enhance the speech Communication between the speaker and the audience, mobilizing the atmosphere of the speech, strengthening the on-site effect, eliminating the pressure of the audience, cheering up the audience's spirit, and making the audience focus on the speech itself; at the same time, it can also bring joy to the audience, fill the venue with laughter, and make the audience happy. Audiences like and trust speakers more. All eloquent and excellent speakers pay great attention to the use of humorous language in their speeches. Therefore, novice speakers must recite more jokes and humorous language and use humorous language flexibly, so that practice makes perfect and gradually improve their sense of humor.

5. Remember a hundred sentences that are spoken on different occasions

In real work and life, each of us often When we encounter some situations, we need to say a few words, and sometimes it is just a few words. If they are decent and appropriate, they can help us a lot and solve many of our problems, large and small; but if they do not express what we mean and are vague, If you are clear and confused, it will lead to passivity and even the consequences of disaster coming from your mouth.

A person with outstanding eloquence and eloquence can express his or her intentions accurately, vividly, concisely, and fluently in language no matter what the occasion, making others accept it happily, and can talk quickly. Accomplish the things to be done, establish good friendships, and even feel like old friends at first sight. On the contrary, we often see many people who cannot speak. They cannot fully express their intentions in words, which often makes it difficult for others to sound. As a result, it causes difficulties in work and communication, so that it seriously affects the progress of work and career. develop. The main reason is that, in addition to poor oral expression skills, the main reason is insufficient mastery of speaking skills and routines in different occasions, different times, different objects, and different situations.

In short, human memory is unlimited. As long as you remember it carefully, remember it often, and remember it repeatedly, the less you add up, the more you accumulate, and the more you accumulate knowledge, the better your eloquence will be. It will become better and better. As long as you master the correct learning methods, you will get twice the result with half the effort. Method 2 on how to improve your speaking skills

Method 1 Preparation before speaking

1. Research your topic. First of all, you need to know the topic you are talking about in order to be able to convince the audience. For example, if your topic is the mating method of otters or the reason why actor Miley Cyrus became famous, you have to do research on the relevant knowledge in advance. . Although you may have some practical experience in this area, it's best to do some written research so your audience can understand every word you say.

2. Look for relevant information online or in the library, or ask relevant professors for advice, until you feel that you can effectively convey the knowledge you want to convey and answer any questions the audience may have. .

3. The more research you do, the more confident you will be when giving a speech. The more confident you are, the better your speech will be.

4. Know your audience. If you really want to improve your speaking skills, you should also have a good understanding of your audience. If you are giving a presentation to your classmates, your content should arouse their curiosity and interest them. If you are giving a presentation to experts, your content should not be too basic. If you are explaining a complex topic to junior high school students, you need to explain it to them in a language they can understand.

5. Although you can’t completely know what your audience wants to hear and what they don’t want to hear, you can roughly determine what you should say based on the age group and composition of the audience. Therefore, always consider your audience when preparing your speech.

6. Determine the content according to the length of the speech. Typically, the speeches you have to give are time-limited, such as a half-hour speech at work or a 10-minute speech in class. No matter how much time is given to you, you must arrange the corresponding speech content according to the length. Don't prepare too much and speed up your speech without finishing the speech. Don't prepare too little and end up not knowing what to say.

7. If the content of preparation is equivalent to the length of time, you will be more relaxed when speaking and you will behave more freely.

8. Add some multimedia elements to your speech. Whether adding background music or supplementing it with PPT, multimedia elements can help strengthen your point and engage your audience. However, don't use it too much, otherwise it will be counterproductive, which is the "annoying PPT" phenomenon mentioned in a famous article teaching you how to make PPT. Therefore, if you decide to use multimedia materials, you need to make sure that they will help you get closer to your audience and enhance the effectiveness of your speech, rather than alienate you from your audience.

9. It is best to use multimedia only as an auxiliary tool rather than relying entirely on it to give a speech. Because if that is the case, you will feel that you are not fully prepared, and you will not dare to give a completely unscripted speech, which will cause the embarrassing phenomenon of you reading PPT. However, if you want to show some charts, pictures or an outline of a speech, PPT can be very useful.

10. The ideological framework of the speech must be clear. A speech that is logical and has a clear organizational structure will be more popular with the audience and better reflect your speaking ability. Of course, you can be creative with the structure of your speech, but for most speeches, like most papers, they follow a similar format. The format is generally as follows:

11. Introduction: Attract the audience and introduce the topic of the speech. That is to say: "Tell them what you will tell them."

12. Text: Use specific examples, facts, stories, and data to illustrate your point. The key is that you have to show them and reiterate the important points so that they stick with you.

13. Summary: Summarize what you said and extend it to inspire thinking. In other words, "repeat them back what you said."

14. Practice, practice, practice again. If you want to improve your speaking skills, the best way is to practice more. Practice in front of a mirror, practice in the shower, practice in front of friends or family. However, don’t memorize every word, otherwise it will sound unnatural, and you won’t know what to say next if you forget a word or are interrupted by questions from the audience. What you should practice is the key points about the topic. You can add or delete details appropriately during the actual speech, that is, you can use them freely.

15. You can also record your speech as a video. However, some people will be more nervous when they know they are being filmed, so you have to find a method that suits you

Method 2 Speak confidently

1. Try to relax yourself before speaking. You don’t want to arrive at the meeting dripping with sweat or stutter your speech because you’re so nervous. Drink a cup of chrysanthemum tea, meditate quietly, or go for a walk to relax a few hours before your presentation. If you really want to be stress-free when giving a speech, you have to plan ahead. If you are a person who strives for perfection in everything, or if you are practicing a few minutes before your speech, it will be difficult for you to truly relax during your speech. Remember that the more relaxed you are, the closer your audience will feel to you and the better your performance will be.

2. Drink a glass of water to moisten your throat before going on stage, and bring a glass or bottle of water with you so that you can pause for a moment to drink water, which can also have a certain relaxing effect.

3. Arrive at the venue in advance and become familiar with the surrounding environment. If you are giving a speech in a conference hall or other large venue, you should first walk around the venue or sit in the audience to feel it, so as to better grasp the audience's feelings.

4. If you want to relax further, tell yourself that you are just chatting with the audience and don’t pursue perfect results.

The more comfortable you feel in chatting with your audience rather than presenting them with watertight legal evidence, the more likely your audience will be to approach you.

5. Exude sufficient confidence. Kill them with your confidence before you even get out. If you appear confident and believe in what you are saying, your audience will trust you. So, smile and look firmly at your audience to convey to them that you are not nervous and are confident about the topic you are speaking about. If you are really not very confident about what you want to say, try to use confident body movements. This will also make it easier for the audience to trust you.

6. Don’t be listless, keep your head up and chest high.

7. Don’t fidget or twiddle your fingers. You can use gestures to highlight key points when appropriate, but don't do it too frequently, otherwise it will only make others think you are nervous.

8. Know how to make fun of yourself appropriately. If you make a mistake, you might as well admit it openly and in a joking tone, so that everyone will laugh it off without feeling embarrassed.

9. The language should be firm and powerful, conveying the feeling that you believe in every word you say. If your topic is that San Francisco is much better than its southern counterparts, you shouldn't say, "I think San Francisco is probably a better city than Los Angeles." You should say, "San Francisco is much better than Los Angeles, for example." ", this will be more convincing to the audience.

10. An attractive beginning. Your speech should be engaging, preferably with the first word of your mouth arousing the audience's interest and keeping them listening for the entire speech. For example, start with a shocking event or relevant fact, an interesting celebrity anecdote, or a famous quote. No matter what you start with, it must be related to your topic and not just to entertain the public.

11. No matter what you are going to say, you should not start with an apology, even if you are not interested in what you are going to say, but just to complete a school assignment or work task. There is nothing more frustrating to the audience than saying, "I'm sorry, everyone, for wasting your time to listen to this technical lesson, but there's nothing I can do about it."

12. Pronunciation should be clear. Clear pronunciation is a key factor in a good speech. You may prepare the content well, but if you speak too softly, too quickly, or with unclear articulation, the audience may not know what your key points are even after listening to the entire performance. Therefore, you need to speak clearly, speak slowly, and speak loudly so that everyone can hear you. In addition, you should also coordinate your body language appropriately to help the audience better understand what you are saying.

13. Pause slightly between each sentence and use as few "ums" and "ahs" as possible. But it doesn’t mean you won’t “um” and “ah” completely. Even the president also has some “um” and “ah” when delivering his speech. Appropriate modalities will make the speech sound more natural.

14. The language should be concise and concise. Delete irrelevant statements and focus on the key points. You don't need hundreds or thousands of adjectives to describe something, just pick the most precise one.

15. Read more to expand your knowledge and vocabulary. Your knowledge will make your audience think you are wise, and you will be more confident in making your speech clear and coherent.

16. Give examples to illustrate your point. If you want to make your point clear, you need to add stories, anecdotes, data, facts, etc. to your speech. If your point is that healthy eating is a key factor in a happy life, and you can't give examples, why should your audience believe you? Even if you are good-looking and funny, your audience won't be convinced if you don't have actual examples to support your point of view. Stories are a good example. The process of telling a story can bring you closer to the audience and support your point of view more effectively.

17. Of course, you don’t need to give a lot of examples and data, just choose one or two carefully.

18. Stories and data are very effective ways to start. You can also make a simple summary of the stories and data cases you started telling at the end of your speech to make the audience more impressed.

19. Use the second person pronoun "you, you" more often. When writing more formal papers, use less second person pronouns such as "you, you", etc. However, when giving a speech, the use of second person pronouns such as you can greatly shorten the distance between you and the audience.

You want the audience to feel that you are speaking to him or her and that what you are saying will benefit them. You should say "In just one hour, you can learn five ways to effectively deal with conflicts" instead of "Everyone can learn to deal with conflicts...". Although the content of your speech is similar, using the second person more often allows the audience to become more involved in your speech.

20. Speak naturally and humanely. Show your emotions authentically. No one likes a boring speaker, so add some strength to your body language, change your voice and intonation if necessary, tell examples of times when you failed or made a fool of yourself, and use a humorous tone to let the audience learn from your failures. study.

21. Repeatedly emphasize the key points you want to talk about. Of course, every word you say should be important, but there are definitely one or two points you want your audience to remember after your speech is over. You can reiterate your important points without boring your audience. If you tell a story or anecdote at the beginning of your speech, summarize the main points after you finish, and emphasize the points again during or at the end of the speech to make the audience aware of your important points.

22. Another way to emphasize key points is to slow down your speech until the audience realizes that you are talking about the key points. In addition, you can also add gestures at key points.

23. Consider whether you should leave some time for questions and answers. The Q&A session can help the audience fully understand the content of your speech, shorten the distance between you and the audience, and fully grasp the key points you want to convey. If you feel it is necessary to reserve a question and answer session without affecting the delivery of the entire speech, you can arrange a speech after the speech is delivered but before the end.

24. You should set a time range for the Q&A session, such as 5 to 10 minutes. Tell your audience how long the Q&A session will last and stop when the time is up to avoid asking too many questions for too long and affecting the effectiveness of the entire speech.

25. After the Q&A session, you must make a summary. The content of your previous speech may have been cluttered by complicated questions, causing the key points of the speech to be blurred, so it is necessary to summarize at the end.

26. The ending is powerful and thought-provoking. Don't rush to the end just because you and the audience look tired. Your end should summarize the key points of the speech and make the audience think deeply. The tone should be powerful. However, it's okay if you simply "tell them what you said" in a gentle tone. From the beginning to the end of your speech, you should remain confident, hold your head high, and, if necessary, thank the audience for their time.

27. Never act like you are bored with your speech and want to get off the stage. Don't say, "Well, that's pretty much it," or "That's all I have to say" - firmly believe that you gave a great speech, then sum it up passionately and bow down.

Method 3: Keep improving

1. Obtain feedback from the audience. You can't simply walk off the stage and leave the room with a smile on your face, thinking you're done with your presentation. Even if you think you delivered a speech nearly perfectly, there are definitely areas where you can improve, and each speech can provide lessons for a better speech the next time. On the other hand, if you feel that your lecture this time was not good at all, don’t be discouraged. This only means that you still have more room for improvement next time. Here are several ways to effectively obtain feedback:

2. Find a good friend or colleague to listen to your speech in the audience. He/she can objectively evaluate the effect of your speech. He or she can rate your confidence and note the clarity and completeness of your language and the audience's reaction. If you want to get a more objective evaluation, you can also invite a few or some friends to listen to your speech and give you scores.

3. At the end of the speech, ask the audience to fill in a questionnaire to make an objective and true evaluation of you. Although criticism is usually unpleasant to the person receiving it, it can be very beneficial in improving your speaking skills.

4. Videotape your speech. Sometimes your own feelings about a speech do not represent the image that the audience sees, so recording your speech can help you improve yourself.

5. Record videos for the audience.

By recording the audience's reactions, you can see which parts they are interested in and which parts they are bored or confused about.

6. Score the speech based on your own feelings. How do you think you performed? Which part was the hardest to talk about? What can you learn from this speech to give a better speech next time?

7. Gain inspiration. Meet famous speakers in person and learn about the reasons for their success. Why is Anthony Robbins a successful or unsuccessful speaker? Are Steve Jobs' speeches inspiring? In what way did he make his speech inspiring? What about the speeches of MLK, FDR, and Winson Churchill? Listen to other people's speeches, take more notes, learn their strengths and discard their weaknesses. Watching another speaker give a motivational speech to a large group of people can get your own blood pumping and give you the urge to give a big speech.

8. You have to remember that those who are masters of public speaking today may have stage fright. But with hard work, everyone can overcome their inner fears and at least look confident and relaxed on the outside.

9. Join the public speaking club. If you really want to improve your speaking skills, joining a public speaking club can be helpful. You can also make some interesting friends in the club, be exposed to a lot of new knowledge, and learn how to give a concise and inspiring speech in front of a large audience. If you want to perform well when giving speeches at school or work, or if speaking is a hobby of yours, then joining the public speaking club is a good choice.

10. Participate in public speaking seminars or courses. You can also improve your speaking skills by attending public speaking seminars or courses. Your school or employer may offer such opportunities. By attending a seminar or course like this, you can learn from a master speaker and get a chance to practice speaking in front of a small group of people. These classes aren't very long and don't have a lot of students, but they are very helpful because you know that everyone in the class has to give a speech, so you won't be so nervous when you give a speech yourself.

11. If you want to improve your speaking skills, participating in relevant training courses will greatly improve your abilities in this area and make you more confident. ;