Techniques & Exercises
Everyone feels a level of anxiety when speaking in front of others; it could be when giving a best man speech, pitching for work, or even meeting the in-laws for the first time! However, it’s not about completely eliminating our anxiety around high stakes situations but harnessing that nervous energy in order to help us deliver exciting and engaging experiences for our audience, whomever that may be.
Here are easy and effective tips and tools to help you do just that!
Breathing
Sounds simple, right? We do it all the time but getting in control of your breath in the lead up and during a presentation or speech, can really help.
The benefits of controlled breathing are immediate and powerful, helping with the following:
- Lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.
- Relaxing tense muscles, particularly in your shoulders, neck, and jaw.
- Increasing oxygen to your brain, improving cognitive function.
- Helps create a moment of mindfulness that brings you into the present.
Exercise: Diaphragmatic Breathing
- Sit or stand comfortably with a straight posture.
- Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen.
- Inhale deeply through your nose, ensuring your abdomen rises more than your chest.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth, feeling your abdomen fall.
- Repeat several times to reduce anxiety and settle your mind.
Exercise: 5-5-5 Breathing
- Empty your lungs completely.
- Breathe in quietly through your nose for 5 seconds.
- Hold your breath for 5 seconds.
- Exhale through your mouth for 5 seconds.
- Repeat 3-4 times.
Body Language Confidence
Body language is crucial in public speaking because it communicates far more than your words alone. Research suggests that up to 55% of communication is non-verbal, making your physical presence a powerful tool for connection and credibility.
Effective body language:
- Reinforces your message by providing visual emphasis to your key points. When your gestures, posture, and facial expressions align with your words, it helps audiences absorb and retain information.
- Establishes your credibility before you speak a single word. Audiences form impressions of a speaker’s authority within the first 7 seconds based primarily on non-verbal cues.
- Creates an energy exchange with your audience. When you use expansive “power poses” e.g. standing tall with shoulders back, you appear more.
- Helps manage your own emotional state. By consciously adopting confident postures, you can actually reverse-engineer confidence. Fake it ‘til you make it! This physiological feedback loop means your body can tell your brain you’re confident, even when you don’t initially feel that way.
So, stand tall, use open postures, practice confident stance techniques, such as Amy Cuddy’s “power poses”, which you can find more on here. –Insert hyper link to How to have Confidence When Public Speaking Page.
Warming Up
Exercise: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- Find a quiet space before your presentation.
- Starting with your toes, tense each muscle group for 5 seconds.
- Then release and relax for 10 seconds.
- Work your way up through your entire body.
- Focus on the contrast between tension and relaxation.
Exercise: Tongue Twisters
- Practice tongue twisters to engage your articulators.
- Examples: “Red lorry, yellow lorry” or “She sells seashells.”
- Start slowly, then gradually increase speed.
- Focus on crisp articulation rather than speed.
Exercise: On-voice Activity
Use the out breath to sound each of the vowels in turn. Let each go without force, flowing smoothly from your relaxed throat. For example:
- ‘A’ is going to become ahhhhhhh as in ‘are’.
- ‘E’ is Eeeeeeeeeee as in ‘easy’.
- ‘I’ is Iiiiiiiiiii as in ‘eye’.
- ‘O’ is Oooooooo as in ‘Oh’.
- ‘U’ Uuuuuuu as in ‘euw’
Exercise: Humming
- Hum on one note. Release sound on the outtake of breath, gauge the feeling of the vibrations on this note.
- Extend the hum to sliding up and down a scale without strain, changing the pitch and playing with resonance. You should feel vibrations and buzzing sensations in different parts of your body as the sound hits it. For example, when humming a lower pitch, you are likely to feel vibrations in the chest, whereas a higher pitch will be more present in the face, nose and even the forehead.
Benefit: This exercise helps you produce a fuller, more powerful and clear sound when speaking.
During Your Speech or Presentation
We’ve looked at body language and its importance, let’s delve a little into how you can connect quickly and easily with your audience.
Eye Contact
Making eye contact is a very simple and very powerful tool for appearing confident. Often when we’re out in public we get used to avoiding eye contact with people, as this can make us appear too direct. But when speaking in public we want to harness that, we want to train ourselves to hold people’s gaze.
Eye contact creates connection and projects authority. Public speaking requires more deliberate eye contact than everyday conversation.
Exercise: The “Laser Gaze” Technique
- Mentally divide the room into quadrants.
- Deliver complete thoughts to specific individuals in each section.
- Hold eye contact for 3-5 seconds per person -slightly longer than feels natural.
- Think of “seeing” rather than “being seen”.
We want to treat the audience as one single group but also make personal eye contact with separate people.
Common Mistake: Scanning too quickly or fixating on “safe” audience members. Deliberate eye contact builds connection with your entire audience.
Audience Energy Exchange
Audience participation creates shared ownership of the presentation experience. It reduces pressure on you while increasing your impact. It’ll look effortless and in the moment, but it’s actually pre-planned!
Exercise: Structured Engagement Questions
Plan 2-3 points where you’ll engage the audience:
-
- Direct questions: “By show of hands, who has experienced…”
- Reflection prompts: “Take 30 seconds to consider…”
- Brief paired discussions: “Turn to your neighbour and share…”
During Your Speech or Presentation
Warmth is very important for developing a connection with an audience and appearing confident.
What does warmth look like?
This can include smiling, laughing, open body language, and engaged eye contact.
It’s important to note that you can’t fake warmth. Human beings are very good at spotting inauthentic warmth.
So, if we want to be warm towards someone, we must think thoughts that underlie that warmth.
Exercise: Finding your inner warmth
- Find a quiet space where you can stand or sit comfortably.
- Focus on your breathing.
- As you breathe and release tension, imagine a golden light or energy beginning at your heart, and with each breath, this warmth spreads to your hands, feet, and face. Think of it as your confidence and energy growing.
- Picture yourself standing tall, speaking clearly, and engaging with your audience, as though they are your friends, feeling both warm and confident.
- Smile: As you complete the exercise, smile softly to yourself. A warm, relaxed smile can immediately make you feel more approachable and confident when you’re speaking.
Benefit: This exercise helps you physically and mentally prepare for public speaking by releasing tension, generating warmth, and aligning your body and mind for a positive performance!
Common Mistake: Rushing through the process, allow yourself the time to get yourself to the right state of mind to deliver your speech with relaxation and confidence.
Checklist:
- Before your speech do your breathing and physical warmups.
- Remember to breath during your speech. We often hold our breaths when nervous!
- Use open body language and move with purpose.
- Make eye contact with audience members across the room.
- Vocally vary your pace, don’t rush, enjoy the power of silences to maintain interest.
- Use a warm, friendly tone.
- Smile and have fun!
If you’d like more details on our 6-week Public Speaking Course, here’s a handy link: Speakers Club!
Additional Resources
15 Fun & Effective Games to Improve Your Public Speaking by Effective Articulation
16 Benefits of Perfecting Your Public Speaking Skills by Indeed
5 Improv Techniques to Help You Become a Better Leader
A Practical Guide to Better Public Speaking- Times Higher Education
Contact us today to discuss how our expert teachers and coaches can help you become a more confident and compelling speaker.
Final Reminder: Embrace the fun and watch your confidence soar!