T I P S T O H E L P Y O U O V E R C O M E Y O U R F E A R
O F P U B L I C S P E A K I N G
9 Survival Tips For Public
Speaking

9 Survival Tips for Public Speaking
 Dress for the Occasion
 Preparation
 Know the Room and the Technology
 Engage your Audience
 Purpose and Knowing Your Audience
 Be Confident…Own the Floor
 Avoid “Ums and Uhs”
 Timing
 Humor your Audience

Dress for the Occasion
 Always Dress Slightly Better than the Audience
 Dress Consistent with your Brand
 Dress in Something that Allows you to move

Prepare
 Practice, Practice, Practice
 Memorize the opening of your speech to reduce
anxiety and help with the flow
 Have a 3 x 5 card with bullet points
 Prepare for tough questions
 Imagine yourself succeeding

Know the Room and Technology
 Be familiar with the room settings
 Have a backup USB Drive with presentation loaded
on it
 Arrive early to set up and check equipment
 Make the room comfortable for your audience
 Have visual aids ready incase technology isn’t
working

Engage your Audience
 Open Strong
 Ask Questions
 Use Personal Experiences
 Add Humor
 Powerful Visuals
 Use Storytelling
 Have Handouts
 Solicit Feedback

Purpose and Knowing Your Audience
 Know what your audience likes.
 Why are they here? Mandatory? Are they here to
learn?
 What keeps them up at night?
 How can you solve their problems?
 What do you want them to do?
 How can you best reach them?
 How might they resist? What will keep them from
adopting your message

Be Confident…Own the Floor
 Don’t be afraid to make a mistake
 Believe in your capacity to improve
 Think Positively
"Confidence is a habit that can be developed by acting
as if you already had the confidence you desire to
have." Brian Tracy

Avoid “Ums and Uhs”
 Ums and Uhs can be a cry for help
 They can kill your credibility
 The make your audience lose focus
 Use other filler words
 Instead of using Um and Uh, use pauses when
presenting. It allows you to collect your thoughts.
 Leave yourself a voicemail or record your previous
speech

Timing
 Strictly adhere to your allotted time
 Leave time for Q&A
 Respect you audiences time (Especially Lunch
breaks)
 Practice with a timer
 Have a plan to cut material
 Double Down (Create one short presentation and
one long presentation)
 Wear a watch (Phones can be distracting)

Humor your Audience
 If appropriate, open with a joke
 Add humor when necessary
 Identify things that make you laugh
 Humor will help you relax
 Humor helps unite an audience
 Humor often helps the audience retain information
 Humor helps you have fun too