Speaking in front of a large audience can be a daunting task and a source of anxiety even days before carrying it out.
For many people, the simple idea of ​​exposing themselves (and their communication skills) to so many people is a terrible idea, which makes that tremors and indecision when speaking take over one’s body
However, everything can be improved by learning, and the same applies to the ability to give a good oral presentation. That is why below you can read a series of keys based on psychological principles that will help you present your speech in the best possible way after using them several times.
The first thing to be clear about is that Improving our ability to give an oral presentation is a process that lasts days and weeks
Being aware of this is important so as not to get frustrated in the early stages. Secondly, taking this into account means committing to not avoiding the kinds of situations in which one must speak in public and taking advantage of them to practice.
1. Have at least a week in advance
The ideal way to prepare an oral presentation of between 45 and 10 minutes is to spend at least an hour a day preparing it during the previous week, if not before. It is very important to spread the preparation over several days instead of using almost the entire day before preparing it; not only because in this way you can save more time to dedicate in case of unforeseen events but because knowing that you have many days in advance exerts a psychological effect of relative calm and security on oneself.
That is, during the first hours we will not feel as much anxiety if we notice that it is difficult for us to progress, and this will make learning more fluid As we reach the final days, which is the stage in which nerves surface the most, we will do so knowing that we have already come a long way, and this will allow us to be productive without stress leading to a loss of motivation, effort and attention. in what we do.
2. Document yourself well
Before creating the script of what we want to talk about, we must be clear that we know what we are talking about and that our knowledge has no gaps.
To do this, we can help ourselves with a graphic representation that will allow us to know the degree of depth with which we know the topic well. To do this, in the center of a sheet of paper we write a series of items or keywords that we consider the most important topics of the presentation Afterwards, we draw a series of concentric circles around it, and we write other secondary themes in them, around what was written previously.
In this way we will have an overview of the topics to be covered and the importance of each one in the oral presentation. We can start by learning about the essential topics, and little by little we can learn about those that are secondary or accessory.
In the last circle we can write topics that we think are somewhat related to what we are going to talk about but that we do not need to know about for the presentation. In this way we will be prevented and, if during question time someone names them, we can have an answer ready in which we indicate in which books or sources the person who wants to know more about it can be documented.
3. Be clear about the main idea we want to convey
Oral presentations are more attractive if throughout their development there is an idea that structures all the sub-sections into which we divide the talk. This idea doesn’t have to be something of a cautionary tale; For example, if the presentation consists of explaining how we have carried out our thesis, the main idea will simply be the thesis itself.
The important thing is not to deviate from the topic and directly express what it is during the first 2 or 3 minutes of the oral presentation. In this way, the backbone of the talk will be clear and the audience will know how to contextualize what we say in the correct way and without being confused by possible digressions.
4. Prepare the introduction first
Before thinking about the structure that the talk should have, it is better if we first outline the first minutes of it, as much in detail as we can. In this way, already We will have focused on the topic and it will be very easy for us to think about the sections of the talk and the order they should follow
The objective we pursue when creating the introduction is to draw the attention of the audience while raising the topic of the oral presentation. That is why we must avoid very technical introductions or those that use dictionary definitions. It is much better to start with a leading question or a short story.
In this step we will write several titles in order that express in the most direct way possible what sub-topic will be discussed in each section of the talk We will capture these topics in a detailed script about what we want to say, and at first we will work on each of them separately and in order, from those closest to the beginning to those at the end.
This is a phase of the oral presentation planning process that becomes especially important if what we want to communicate is relatively complex and must be addressed through different sub-sections, so dedicate all the time you need to it, since The difference between a clear message and one that is not depends largely on the structure.
6. Linking sub-sections
This step is very simple, because it simply consists of making the different sections of the oral presentation refer to previous or subsequent ones. In this way the audience will better understand what we are talking about, seeing it as a whole in which the pieces are related to each other : “as we saw before…” “we will see this next…”, etc.
In short, knowing how to give a good oral presentation is knowing how to create a coherent speech that has its own entity, instead of being a sum of parts.
7. Checking for possible gaps and leftover parts
In this step we will compare what we have written with the graphic representation in which we ordered the topics according to their importance, and we will see if the extension of each subsection and each line referring to these topics corresponds to that ordering. Thus We will see if we need to talk longer about certain things and less about others, and we can modify the script based on this
This stage allows us to have a general vision of what was written and detect errors that a point of view more focused on details did not allow us to detect.
8. Read aloud
This step can be the most boring, because it only consists of reading what you have written aloud several times. It is advisable to read everything in succession, but it is also advisable to think about each of the sub-sections and read only the part corresponding to it.
In this way we will link each topic to be discussed with certain phrases and with certain ways of weaving the speech. It is important to know, however, that the objective is not to memorize the text by making efforts to make each word remain engraved in our head; The goal is for our brain to get used to learning the order, not the exact content
Knowing the order in which the subsections go and the different simple ideas that are included within these It helps us remember better what we are going to say and express it more naturally , without being afraid of not remembering exactly how a certain part was written. Each topic to talk about acts as a clue as to what is next.
However, although it may seem silly, it is also very important to read aloud, to hear ourselves speaking. In this way our own voice will also be an element that will make the memory of the script richer and more complete.
9. Rest well the day before
We must arrive the day before the exhibition knowing the script well. Thus, we will just spend some time reviewing , and we can rest so that our body recovers and relaxes a little. In addition, it is very important to go to bed early to get enough sleep. Preparing well for an oral presentation is also knowing how to manage time to regain strength.
10. Following a sequence of steps
When giving the talk in public, we should concentrate on saying what we are supposed to say at the stage of the talk we are in, and focus all our attention on it. That means we must forget about trying to remember at all times the general script of the oral presentation ; That option would only distract us and generate anxiety, since our focus of attention cannot be everywhere at once.
11. Know how to look towards the audience
It is important to look in the direction of the audience during the oral presentation, which does not mean looking at the audience. Our attention should be focused on our speech and what we are saying at that very moment, and on little else. To help make this happen, a good help is to play to imagine that the people in the audience are dolls, or in any case, the audience of a very realistic video game. Although it may sound a bit bad, the idea is to depersonalize the public just as psychopaths objectify other people; In this case, think that They are not real people but something like components of a simulation
This will help us keep the nerves from being so intense. Later, when we master the art of public speaking, we can skip this step.
12. Learn to live with nerves
The last step is to embrace the idea that a little nerves are no problem. When we are nervous we believe that our tremors and stutters are very noticeable, but the truth is that this is not the case, the distance from the audience and the clarity of our message mean that these small signs of nervousness are automatically overlooked, because All the public’s attention is much more focused on the content of what we say (what they want to understand) than in how we say it.
