I recently attended an English-language presentation on “common mistakes in public speaking” on prezi.com, and the advice seemed very practical to me. Therefore, I decided to translate and comment on them (as I understand it, perhaps the author had something else in mind). So, here are the most common mistakes.

1. Tightness, little movement.

The first thing that catches your eye is the tightness of the speaker: he stands as if glued to the spot, his hands at his sides, any movement is difficult for him, and what he does is somehow hesitant, or slow (so as not to frighten anyone) or on the contrary, sharply and quickly, so that no one notices.
As I already wrote, moving objects attract much more attention than stationary ones. Therefore, try to walk around the stage, wave your arms, point to individual elements or objects in general. In general, life is movement! Including on stage.

2. Low energy

There is nothing worse than a boring and boring presenter. It happens that the presentation is colorful, the material is interesting, and it didn’t last long, but after it you feel as if all the juice has drained out of you. The point is that a good speaker should energize you. And bad - accordingly, on the contrary - sucks the life force out of you.
I think everyone has encountered such a situation that after a report you want to immediately run, start doing something, rethink your life or work. So you've been well charged.
Therefore, if you are giving a report or public speaking, don’t just list the facts, charge the audience with energy, send them messages, convince them to jump up and take action right now!

3. Insufficient preparation

Despite the general misconception, even a very good and professional speaker must definitely prepare for each report. This is especially true for a new speech (on a new topic or with a new report). It is doubly critical if you were not the one who prepared the presentation (assistant, deputy, specialist...).
It is extremely important to know the structure of the speech, the most and least important points, what and how to emphasize. If listeners feel, or at least suspect, that you are seeing this report for the first time, their credibility will decrease significantly.

And of course, insufficient preparation reduces your confidence and energy. For young and inexperienced presenters, this is multiplied by ten.

4. Not exercising enough

In addition to knowing his talk, the presenter must practice the talk itself. How long does it all take him? Is there still time for questions? And if the section moves, will it be able to shrink by 30%? How about twice? What's most important?
And if someone doesn’t come and the report has to be extended, will he be able to?
How to control your voice, what moments and how exactly to emphasize? Perhaps you need to demonstrate something? When and how exactly to do this?
Even if you consider yourself a great speaker, still prepare in advance and practice: tell your report at least 2-3 times to yourself (or to a mirror, to friends, to a cat...).

5. Lots of data, no stories

People love stories and don't like bare facts. In addition, the vast majority of people do not perceive data by ear. And even a slide on the wall will not improve this indicator much. Therefore, under no circumstances try to build your speech by listing facts or research data, even very interesting ones. In general, the report should have one main idea and one main fact, and the rest, less important ones, should, as it were, emphasize it (confirming it or vice versa with a counter example).
At the same time, it would be good to present this fact in the form of an interesting and memorable (or at least understandable to a given audience) story, an example from life. Or vice versa – completely and absurdly unrealistic to emphasize the point (depending on the situation).

6. Play safely

Many speakers are so afraid of unforeseen situations that they try to standardize everything as much as possible and clearly spell out what and how, almost every minute. At the same time, they do not give any opportunity to show creativity, both for themselves and for the listeners.
Many people avoid “playing” with the audience because they believe that in this case someone will definitely lose. But this is not true. The essence of this game is not the result, but the process itself: for example, asking tricky and ambiguous questions (which can cause controversy and equally ambiguous questions from the audience to the speaker), making harsh statements, etc. If you avoid all sharp and slippery questions during your speech, your report will go smoothly... and will just as smoothly leave the memory of the listeners, without getting caught in anything...

7. Don't show your vulnerability

Many people love robots, but no one wants to communicate with them. What people value in other people is their humanity. And one of the inherent features of any person is his “imperfection,” vulnerability, and the right to make mistakes.
The audience does not like “very smart” speakers. Moreover, this is expressed not so much in the topic of the report or terms (people knew the topic in advance), but specifically in relation to the speaker himself. If you make a mistake (a slip of the tongue, for example, or you tripped while walking across the stage) - use this chance. Show your audience that you are a person just like them! Don't be afraid of it or ignore it.

8. Taking yourself too seriously

Well, everything is clear here without any comments. There is nothing funnier than a serious person on stage who clearly overestimates his seriousness.
You need to treat everything with a little irony and humor, especially towards yourself.

9. Too much material

It just so happens that our perception of information is very limited. Some people can understand and remember more, some less, but still, these are quite limited possibilities. Therefore, you should not overload your listeners with a lot of information, especially if it is numbers and graphs.
I think everyone who studied at a university remembers their feeling at the end of 4 classes. What about 6? Don't make the same mistake - don't mock your audience. As mentioned above, within one report there should be only one main idea... Conveying it is your main task. Listeners can easily forget the rest of the material, but they should remember this main idea of ​​your report for a long time. Remember and start acting in accordance with it!

10. Haste

Well, the last mistake is the constant rush during the performance. When you are in a hurry, it seems that you either do not respect the audience or simply do not know the report.
In addition, when you are in a hurry, you involuntarily crumple words and phrases, there is a high probability of missing something important, making a mistake (especially if the report contains numbers).
Quite often, haste is the result of poor preparation and training.

I hope this simple checklist will help you avoid the most common public speaking mistakes. If you are interested in this material, I recommend that you read the articles: “ Kama Sutra for speakers" And " How to prepare a good report »

The main purpose of public speaking is to convey certain information, inspire and give impetus to action. There are features that bring the audience and speaker together and improve interaction between them. The main problem for beginners in public speaking is the fear of speaking. It represents the main defense function of the body and cannot be completely eliminated. Besides fear, there are some mistakes that speakers can make when communicating with an audience.

Requirements for public speaking

To minimize the risk of errors, you need to adhere to the basic requirements for public speaking:

1. A dynamic and planned start to the performance. It is important to think through and perhaps even learn the beginning of the speech. There should be no mistakes or hesitations.
2. Creating some tension to create debate between the audience and the speaker.
3. Restrained emotions. The audience should observe the speaker's excitement and inspiration. At the same time, the speaker should experience pleasure (and buzz) even from excitement.
4. Conciseness of speeches.
5. It is better to build a speech in the form of a dialogue. It is necessary to talk to the public and observe their reaction, i.e. not so much to perform in front of the public, but to communicate with them.
6. The speech should not be boring for the audience, increase energy, intonation, add emotions.
7. Maintaining contact with the audience.

When preparing a speech, you need to highlight the main idea of ​​the address and be sure to convey it to the audience.

The ending of a speech is just as important as the beginning. It should be clear and concise. The message should end beautifully and emotionally.

Speakers' mistakes

Before you start learning public speaking, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the most common speaking mistakes.

Mistake #1: Uncertainty

If the speaker is unsure of his speech, this will greatly ruin the performance. It is not recommended to cover topics where there is no understanding. The speaker must have a good understanding of the presented report. It is important to prepare thoroughly for your presentation and do your research.

If you have fears, it is important not to show them to the audience. Listeners should have no doubt about the competence and professionalism of the speaker.

Mistake #2: Making excuses

The audience does not need excuses about the lengthy preparation of the report or the lack of experience in rhetoric. She is interested in information that should be educational, new and interesting. If you start making excuses, the audience may lose confidence in the speaker. And even if the speech is well prepared and full of interesting facts, people will listen to it inattentively. Experts do not recommend apologizing to the public, removing blame for a poor-quality report.

Mistake #3: Speech without examples

Examples from life, books or history, metaphors, images and comparisons will help to revive speech and make it more intelligible. Therefore, you should not underestimate them. Visual materials are also an excellent tool. With their help, statistical and theoretical data can be better explained. Examples also help to distract and even entertain the audience.

Mistake 4: Unnecessary gestures and uncontrolled facial expressions

Beginning speakers often do not pay attention to their facial expressions. And fussy gestures and chaotic facial expressions can ruin the whole impression. To learn how to control the process, you should record your speech and look at yourself from the outside. This method will help you see unnecessary movements, widened eyes or raised eyebrows too high. Facial muscles are quite difficult to control. Therefore, constant practice will help you cope with them.

Mistake #5: Word Choice

A person reacts to some words very quickly and even unconsciously. Sometimes this perception does not take into account the meaning of sentences. For example, particles with a negative meaning may not be perceived at all or may be understood with a delay. Frequent use of particle structures cannot lead to the opposite effect.

Mistake #6: Poor preparation

Good preparation will give you confidence in public speaking. You need to understand the topic. If you have poor knowledge of the topic of the report, questions from the audience can lead to a dead end. In this case, the speaker may become confused and not complete the speech with dignity. Before your speech, you need to carefully study the target audience and be sure to develop a backup plan for your speech.

You especially need to prepare for a new topic. Difficulties may arise if the speech was prepared by a deputy or assistant. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the structure of the speech and note the most important and useful points. If listeners understand that the speaker is new to speech, trust will immediately decrease.

Insufficient preparation reduces the speaker's confidence and energy.

Mistake #7: Monotonous speech

Even the most fascinating talk on an interesting topic can be ruined by a boring and tiresome voice. In such a situation, words merge into a single stream. And the tone of speech does not allow us to understand where the boundaries of sentences are. Monotony can cause fatigue and irritation in the audience. Many people don't even hold back their yawns.

People prefer stories and have difficulty listening to bare facts. And many listeners do not perceive data by ear. Sometimes even a good slide can't fix the situation. You cannot build a speech by listing research and facts. The report recommends using one main fact and one main idea. The remaining facts should highlight the information. The idea can be presented in the form of an interesting story. It is advisable to perform for no longer than 15–20 minutes. At most 1 hour.

Mistake #8: Not Using Pauses

Pausing can be a real secret trick to keeping your audience's attention. The long pause deserves special attention. It is worth noting the following features of perception:

1. A pause of 1-2 seconds is understood as if the speaker forgot his speech.
2. 5 seconds - has a theatrical effect.
3. Silence for 10 seconds will attract even those who are distracted by a mobile phone.

Mistake #9: Lack of humor and know-it-all attitude

A sign of a good speaker is the ability to dilute his speech with small jokes and humorous asides. Boring speakers lose the attention of their listeners, who cannot follow the thread of the story.

It must be taken into account that a good speaker must charge with his energy. This will make any material colorful and interesting. If after the report you want to start doing something or a rethinking of the situation arises, then the goal of the speech has been achieved.

Pompous speakers who are too confident in their own importance also cause a bad impression. Such speakers consider themselves smarter than the audience. Don't forget that listeners may be much more knowledgeable about certain topics.

Mistake #10: Fussiness

Many novice speakers begin to hastily walk along the wall or fussily twirl various objects in their hands. The public begins to follow the manipulations and stops listening to the report. Based on the speaker's movements, one can draw conclusions about his confidence. Constant movements indicate the speaker's subconscious desire to escape.

The other side of fussiness is excessive tightness. There is a feeling that the speaker finds any movement difficult. Remember that moving objects attract more attention.

You should not be afraid of questions from the audience. Questions in the middle of a speech are an indication that the report is being listened to. It is worth taking advantage of this opportunity and reviving your speech. Effective presentations are perceived by the audience as a conversation. In this case, the monologue can only be on one side. Professionals do not recommend deviating from the discussion.

How to avoid mistakes

An important point is the preparation of the speech. Sometimes even the text should be written in full, or at least in the form of bullet points, without relying only on improvisation. Before a performance, many people begin to worry, and in this state it is difficult for them to come up with something witty.

It is worth following the example of famous speakers. Improv specialist Steve Allen first copied jokes from comedians' books. This method helped to learn the principle of constructing phrases. It is important to think about the beginning and ending of the report. Many speakers write the first phrases of their speech on small pieces of paper.

Exercise "Rehearsal"

Even famous speakers practice before giving a presentation. Some more than once.

The rehearsal should consist of the following steps:

1. Memorizing text. To do this, the speech must be read aloud and memorized. You may not remember everything verbatim. It is necessary to remember the sequence of main thoughts.
2. Then you should rehearse your speech. It is important to pay attention to intonation and pauses. The audience pays attention to how the text is spoken.
3. After this, you can start practicing gestures and facial expressions. It is worth thinking about what emotions need to be conveyed to the public, and what emotions will help with this.

Finally, a dress rehearsal is required. At the same time, it should be held in front of a small number of familiar people. These could be relatives, neighbors or close people.

Appearance

During rehearsal, you should dress the same as you would for a scheduled performance. It is worth considering that tight clothing can hinder movement. And too bright decorations will distract the attention of listeners. Accessories in the form of bracelets and watches can create some inconvenience. Clothes must be ironed and clean. But you shouldn’t pay too much attention to your appearance.

When speaking, you should not focus attention on yourself or your company. The presentation should contain a little information “about your loved ones.” The focus should remain on the audience and its problems and interests. This is important for all types of speeches, but especially for sales ones.

Before speaking, you need to review the main points and connect information about yourself with the needs of the audience.

The inability to answer questions can be a serious obstacle to mastering public speaking. It is necessary to think through possible questions from a future audience. Friends can help you create a list of questions. You can arrange a practice performance during which you can get first impressions.

The following tips will help beginning speakers:

1. The report must contain clear guidelines for action. The audience will be interested in learning something new right away. The application of the material is of great importance.
2. You need to answer questions right away; you shouldn’t put them off until the end of the presentation.
3. You can ask questions to engage people in discussion.
4. Protein-rich foods stimulate stress-relieving abilities and improve mood. Therefore, you need to include protein foods in your diet.
5. When worried, the adrenal glands produce cortisol, which suppresses abilities and actions. To reduce its effect, exercise is needed.
6. Before your performance, it is recommended to come up with a backup plan in case of unexpected events.
7. Don't rely on superstitions. It is better to replace such speculation with action. You can check the microphone, repeat the speech again, or find suitable points for speaking.
8. The speech needs to be diluted with amazing facts that many are not even aware of.
9. It is important to structure your speech so that you can repeat key points.

Instead of asking people to turn off their cell phones, it's better to gain their attention. People will listen to an inspiring and interesting presentation until the end. The audience is not obligated to show interest and listen; the speaker must make them listen. One well-known public speaking coach states that the speaker should be assisted by a special person holding a stick with a sharpened end. And he (so that the listeners do not fall asleep) must periodically poke the sharp end into the back of the listeners - the speaker)!

Public speaking requires a certain skill. Only in this case can you win over the audience and interest them in your thoughts, views and judgments. But it happens that speakers make mistakes when communicating with listeners. As a result, the invisible connection with those present is disrupted, which leads to alienation and misunderstanding. Below are the most common public speaking mistakes that prevent speakers from achieving professionalism in such a complex matter as public speaking.

First mistake- lack of correspondence between the content of speech and the manner of its presentation. It all comes down to sincerity. When you talk about something, you need to believe in it yourself. If you talk about some things in an uncertain tone, stuttering, constantly looking at your notes, then the audience will instantly feel the falseness. Accordingly, the performance will fail at the very beginning. Therefore, confidence and conviction are necessary, even if you yourself doubt the reliability and veracity of the material presented.

Second mistake- monotonous speech, devoid of emotional component. The speaker gives out some information in a boring, faceless voice. The listeners begin to fidget in their chairs, yawn, covering their mouths with their palms out of decency, and some feel sleepy. Such a speech is especially dangerous at the end of the working day. The audience may simply fall asleep, which will be a complete disaster for the speaker.

The public needs to be kept in good shape. Therefore, during a speech it is necessary to change the tone and volume of your voice. He must be alive and play with all possible voice shades. This is significance, tension, drama, and joy. Only in this case can you interest people even after a hard day at work.

Third mistake- ignoring humor during a speech. It should be said that humor brings an element of animation to any conversation. It is of particular importance during a public speech. The point here is that people cannot remain in a concentrated state for a long time. They are able to listen carefully for no more than 20 minutes, after which a sharp decrease in concentration is observed. This is how the human brain works, which needs some kind of variety. Such diversity is precisely what constitutes a small humorous digression. This is a kind of relaxation, after which listeners can again focus on the main thing.

Fourth mistake- a state of fussiness. There is a common phrase: “Don’t fuss around the client.” It definitely needs to be remembered by those speakers who, during their speech, hastily walk from side to side, twirl a pen in their fingers, or perform some other nervous manipulation. With this manner of behavior, listeners very quickly begin to understand that the speaker is unsure of himself. Of course, you need to move, but only in a calm and leisurely manner. Movements and gestures should exude confidence. This will give additional weight and persuasiveness to the words.

Fifth mistake- self-confidence and know-it-all. It is, at the very least, ridiculous to consider yourself the smartest and most omniscient. Among the listeners there may be a much more erudite person. Therefore, show modesty, but in no case underestimate your knowledge. Tricky questions should be answered sincerely and openly. If you don't know something, admit it honestly. And in order not to lose your authority in the eyes of those present, you need to clearly and interestingly present the information that you know perfectly.

Seventh mistake- incorrect facial expressions. It is useful to know that the audience pays considerable attention to the speaker's facial expression and focuses mainly on the eyebrows and eyes. If the eyes are wide open, then this indicates fear and uncertainty. And raised eyebrows are associated with incompetence. During the speech, the look should be calm and slightly ironic. As for eyebrows, they should be kept in normal condition. Such a face looks quite adequate and evokes not only trust, but also sympathy.

Work on the above public speaking mistakes, try to avoid them, and then your oratory skills will noticeably improve. As a result, your authority will become unquestionable, and the number of grateful listeners will increase.

» Public Speaking: Mistakes

Public Speaking - 10 Mistakes of a Beginner Speaker

Before you begin to learn the secrets of public speaking, you must learn to avoid common mistakes. Experts in the field of communication technologies analyzed and compared the behavior of amateurs and professional speakers. Put their advice into practice, and you will notice how your confidence and self-control during public speaking grow.

Error 1: Mismatch

When the content of your words diverges from your tone of speech, posture and body language, the audience instantly notices. The audience has an unerring sense of the speaker's mood and well-being. If you start saying “Hello, how glad I am to see you all...” in a trembling, uncertain voice, nervously fingering the buttons on your suit, rest assured that your listeners will instantly begin to mistrust both what you said and the speaker himself. Therefore, instead of “I’m glad...” - actually rejoice! Do everything you can to truly experience joy when speaking in public. Consciously convey your positive mood to your listeners. This is important - people in a good mood perceive information more easily, they want to continue contact. If you don't feel joy, don't lie. It's better to be honest: "Today is a big day, so I'm worried..." Then at least you will come across as an honest person who says the truth.

Mistake 2: Making excuses

The public doesn't really care whether you're nervous or not, how long you've been preparing your report, or how much experience you have in public speaking. Therefore, there is no need to make excuses in front of her in the style of “I’m a bad speaker, I rarely speak in front of an audience, so I’m very worried and can give a bad performance...” This is exactly how many amateurs begin their speech, trying to evoke sympathy and get an indulgence in advance for a bad performance. The message seems honest, but it leads to the opposite result. The listeners are perplexed: “Why did we come here if even the speaker himself admits that the performance will be bad?”

The public is selfish. Her focus is primarily on herself. Therefore, from the very beginning of your speech, put her, your beloved, first: the thoughts, desires and feelings of your audience. Your goal is to inform, motivate, or entertain your audience. Therefore, it is not how you speak or how you feel that matters. It is important what information the audience receives. You need to speak in such a way that most of the listeners feel: you understand their aspirations and desires, speak for them and address each of them personally. If you do this, then:

a) many more listeners than you think will simply not pay attention to your anxiety or will treat it condescendingly, because they are primarily interested in themselves and their affairs.

b) your excitement disappears the sooner the more attention you pay to other people and not to your own feelings.

Mistake 3: Apologies

This error is similar to the previous one. Beginning speakers love to apologize, offering to absolve them of blame for the poor quality of the report. “Please forgive me for... (my cold voice, my appearance, poor quality of slides, too short presentation, too long speech, etc., etc.).” The public is not a priest and will not forgive your sins. Apologize for only one thing - for your constant apologies. Better yet, avoid from the very beginning what you will need to ask for forgiveness for. If there really is something you regret, simply say, “I'm sorry!” But best of all is the ability to turn a disadvantage into an advantage: “I have a cold in my voice today, so I ask you to move and sit closer to me. In this way, by coming together even more, we will demonstrate that we are all one team working closely together.”

Mistake 4: Eyes and eyebrows

Are you really confident that you control your facial expressions well? Most beginners only think that this is so. In fact, controlling facial expressions is not easy for an untrained person. Facial muscles are difficult to control without training, and a mysteriously seductive look and eyes wide open with fear are separated by just a couple of millimeters, which radically change perception.

Psychological studies have shown that the public pays 10-15 times more attention to the speaker's eye area than to any other part of the face. Eyebrows are the main element of your facial expressions; they not only indicate emotions, but also control them. Highly raised eyebrows are a sign of uncertainty and incompetence. Pay attention to your eyes and eyebrows. If they say what you say, the audience will love you. Laughing eyes and straight eyebrows are just what you need. It’s a pleasure to listen to you; the audience is confident in your competence. Practice in front of a mirror, record your own performance on video and analyze it.

Mistake 5: Choice of words.

We hear and understand individual words before we understand the entire sentence. Therefore, we react to the meaning of individual words faster and less consciously than to the meaning of sentences. In addition, negative particles are perceived later than other words, and often are not perceived at all. Therefore, the constant use of such constructions as “... Not will bring losses", "... Not Badly", "... Not We are afraid to make efforts”, “... Not I want to bore you with long statistical calculations” cause in the listener an effect opposite to the speaker’s expectations.

Remember: words are pictures in your head! It is not for nothing that in ancient times teachers of rhetoric told their students: “Tell me so that I can see it!” Words should create the picture you want in the minds of your listeners. Therefore, use only words that reinforce your desired goal. Let only what should reach the ears of the listeners reach there. If you want to create a positive attitude, then instead of saying “that's not bad,” say “that's good.” Create a positive mood with positive words - after all, a lot depends on the mood of the public!

Mistake 6: Lack of humor

All students know boring lecturers. “The influence of an external object is associated, firstly, with the progressive emancipation of cognitive functions from primitive affective structures, and secondly, with the differentiation of the affective structures themselves, their autonomy from basal drives...” such a teacher drones on for an hour, not noticing, that the listeners’ brains had long since boiled and they had completely lost the thread of the story.

Better than an informative speech is an interesting speech! Add a smile to your serious speech, dilute it with jokes, tell a funny story. People need to rest periodically. A grateful audience will respond to you with favor and attention. You can laugh at yourself if you made some mistake - listeners will perceive this as a sign of your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Of course, no one expects you to tell jokes at a funeral meeting. But many topics are too important to be taken seriously. Laughter is a life-giving environment for the brain. High-quality teachers know that humor and a good mood only increase the desire to learn and make the process more effective. Laughter helps you relax and leads to the formation of a chemical environment in the brain in which new information is better perceived - this has been proven by neuropsychologists.

Mistake 7: Know-It-All

Even worse than insecure and unprepared speakers are pompous and inflated speakers, bursting with self-importance. They always consider themselves smarter than the audience they are addressing. Get rid of the delusion that you know more than everyone else combined. Even if you are knowledgeable about the topic of your speech, listeners may know much more than you in certain areas. Do not consider the audience stupider than you, otherwise they will repay you in the same coin. Pomposity and know-it-all behavior can play a very cruel joke on you. So, one day a psychology student publicly asked a generally unloved lecturer on the history of philosophy a tricky question: how should one treat the philosopher Wallace? The teacher, afraid that he would be caught lacking erudition, spent a long time and convincingly explaining to the breathless audience the errors of this philosopher, invented by the students on the eve of the lecture.

To avoid getting into a funny situation, it was enough to simply answer: “No, I don’t know this author. If you think his teaching fits our topic, please tell us about it in a few words.” By openly admitting your knowledge or ignorance, you gain even more sympathy from the audience. Connect listeners with new information to the report, be able to evaluate their knowledge. By doing this you will kill several birds with one stone: you will demonstrate respect for the participants and bring animation to your own performance, complement and enrich it. You should be grateful to the audience for their active participation, because at the very least this is a sign of interest in your speech.

Mistake 8: Fussiness

Distracted from the fear of the public, a novice speaker can hastily walk from wall to wall back and forth, like a pendulum, perform fussy manipulations with objects (open and close the lid of the lectern, constantly twirl a pencil in his hands, etc.) and make other unnecessary movements . As a result, the audience begins to follow his movements and stops following the topic of the speech. By the way the speaker moves, it is easy to understand how confident he is. The constant “walking” during public speaking is not accidental. It betrays the desire of the insecure speaker to escape. This is exactly how it is perceived by the audience. These would-be speakers just want to give advice strictly according to Archimedes: “Finally, find a point of support!”

Find a suitable place and take a position to “put down roots.” You can sit or stand - it depends on the duration of the public speaking, the characteristics of the room, etc. factors. The main thing is that from your seat you can make eye contact with the entire audience. You shouldn’t “dig in” in one place. A speaker who constantly hides behind the pulpit and comes out only at the end of a public speech is also not a good option. Move, but move consciously, in control of the space. Mark different parts of the report with a change of position. This will improve the perception of information and make it easier to remember. For example, you change position when moving from the introduction to the body of the speech, when highlighting its key parts, and then when moving to the conclusion. When you finish your report and begin to answer questions from the audience, you again calmly and leisurely move in space to the next point, etc. This way, you orient your listeners through the structure of your public speaking and instill confidence in them.

Mistake 9: Monotony

Nothing is more boring than a report on an interesting topic read in a boring monotone voice. Such public speeches are akin to Chinese torture with dripping water: water drips monotonously onto the crown of the tortured person and gradually drives him to madness. All the words merge into a monotonous stream and by the tone of speech it is impossible to understand where one sentence ends and another begins. Monotonously droning bores quickly cause irritation and fatigue in the audience; listeners can barely restrain themselves from starting to yawn. On the contrary, a skilled speaker masters his speech. To keep the audience on their toes, he constantly varies the volume and strength of his voice, giving it liveliness. When he wants to create tension and interest, he becomes conspiratorially quiet and speaks his words a little more slowly. By speaking louder, he emphasizes the main thing in his public speech. When necessary, he adds significance and drama to the voice.

Pay attention to the sound of your speech. Do you use your voice to highlight key points of public speaking, quotes, statements? Do you raise the pitch at the end of a question? Does the pace of speech change depending on its content? Express your feelings with your voice and you will win over the audience! You will appear confident, energetic and passionate about the topic.

Mistake 10: Missing pauses

It is useful to remember the advice of the brilliant Julia Lambert from Maugham’s “Theater”: “The main thing is the ability to hold a pause, it’s better not to do it, but if it happens, hold it as long as you can.” When you have nothing to say, it’s better to remain silent until the right words come. Sometimes a speaker needs time to think, consult his notes, or simply drink water. And the public needs pauses to comprehend what you said. Ace speakers use pauses purposefully to get feedback from the audience. They actively use interpauses, during which the audience can think about what has been said, and escalate the situation intrapauses when listeners must predict the further development of the story. Pausing can be used to make eye contact to check that you have been understood correctly; to increase tension and drama; to arouse curiosity (“...what will he say next?”) and for much more. So don't be afraid to take breaks. Usually the audience perceives their duration to be much shorter than it seems to the speaker himself.

© Material prepared by: I. Medvedev
© Psyfactor, 2006

There are many prerequisites for a successful performance speaker in front of the public, but there are enough prerequisites for an unsuccessful performance. Therefore, the teachers of public speaking at the Stage of Life would like to dwell in more detail on the most common mistakes that people make. speakers(and professional speakers are no exception), each of which (we emphasize - each!) is in one way or another associated with insufficient preparation. Let's look at some of these most common mistakes. speaker mistakes:

1. Before going to the place of your future speech (report, presentation), it is important to understand why you were invited to speak to members of a particular organization. To do this, the speaker needs to collect as much information as possible about this organization, about its problems faced by its members, and also ask how the audience sees the future presentation (speech).

Several five-minute calls and conversations with a customer representative are clearly not enough for the speaker to obtain all the information of interest.

2. Having an idea of ​​the atmosphere of the upcoming event and why you, how speaker, invited to speak at it, you need to get to know your future audience better. You need to get information about the professional composition of your future listeners, their income level, characteristics, age category, education, and what the purpose of a particular event is. Dig deeper. How far did they have to travel to get here? Do they know each other or is this the first time they have gathered in such a lineup? What have they been told about in the past at a similar event? How would they like to experience your talk and what would they like to take away from it?

3. If you are giving a keynote speech or at some kind of plenary meeting (session) in front of a large mass audience, you do not need to think about latecomers: speaker You will have to start your performance at a strictly agreed time.

It’s another matter when the audience is small, speaker speaking at some practical conference or conducting a training: if you see that the hall is not yet full, you need to wait a couple of minutes, but you should not test the patience of those who arrived on time and want to get to work as soon as possible for too long.

A significant delay in the start of the presentation is only possible when it is obvious that the majority of the audience will only be able to get to the venue after some time. Once you have some experience speaking at various events, you will realize how important it is to start your presentation with a short story or exercise designed to get the audience going.

At the same time, those who were late will be pleased to discover that they did not miss anything significant, and those who arrived on time will be pleased that the presentation (speech) began at the exact time indicated.

4. One of the worst options for speaker- as soon as you go on stage, say that you have just recovered from an illness or are mortally tired from the work that has recently fallen on you or a tiring trip. Listeners are not interested in what happened speaker happened before you appeared in front of them - they, in general, should not be interested in this. Show must go on!

5. Self-respecting speaker cannot afford to perform without a microphone, even in front of a small audience. I had to attend performances speakers, who believed that they could do without a microphone - the result was disastrous. If you're going to speak for more than 20 minutes, do yourself and the audience a favor and use a microphone.

6. Ideally speaker must check the microphone he will be using before his presentation. If for some reason you do not have the opportunity to make sure that the microphone is in full working order before going on stage, watch how it works with it previous speaker . Trying to clear your throat into a microphone is just as ridiculous. As does tapping on it. Speakers who, upon entering the stage, first clear their throat on purpose into the microphone, are acting like amateurs. Nevertheless. This method of testing a microphone is extremely common.

Why speaker Should I not do this procedure before the performance?

Coughing or tapping on the microphone is a sure sign that the speaker feels unsure of his own abilities, and with such actions he only conveys this uncertainty to everyone present in the hall. And the main thing in this point: if you have already started your presentation, it is too late to check whether the projection device, slide show machine, monitor and other devices are working - all this must be done at the height of unprofessionalism.

7. Choose clothes for the performance speaker preferably long before the start of the presentation. If you feel some awkwardness when speaking in a tie, and the dress code for the upcoming speech does not prohibit the speaker from speaking without a tie, do not wear it!

When the speaker has already given a certain number of presentations, you can analyze your preferences regarding wardrobe and its adjustments during the presentation. Based on these preferences, pay extra attention to your wardrobe before your next presentation.

8. The audience can forgive speaker a well-worn joke, but the small font of the text on a slide or projected image, the letters of which can barely be distinguished while sitting in the middle of the hall, and almost impossible to see from the back rows, listeners will never forgive you. Some speakers apologize in advance in such cases: “Please forgive me for the blurry image on this slide” or “I know. That the font here is too small, so I’ll read it out loud.” However, such an apology is unlikely to be accepted.

9. When going out in front of an audience, do not forget that people have gathered to listen to your speech, and not to evaluate your reading technique from a piece of paper. It is allowed to read only excerpts from books (quotes), articles or documents, and complex statistical data. No matter how great you are at reading aloud, those present in the room are much more interested in hearing how you can speak. This mistake is especially typical for scientists speaking at conferences: many of them simply read their report word for word.

10. When a speaker paces back and forth on stage, he wastes his nervous energy and demonstrates to those sitting in the audience that he is nervous, which can negatively affect the presentation.

Do not doubt that any manifestation of nervousness on your part (and aimless walking is its most characteristic sign) will not go unnoticed by the listeners.

11. Each of those who comes to listen to the performance can probably name some unpleasant moment that he especially would not like to see in the performance speaker. For example, as a listener I can’t stand it when someone sniffles or sniffles during a speech. Majority speakers, they do this because of a cold and their own lack of foresight: they just needed to take a handkerchief with them. If, while on stage, you suddenly feel that you need to blow your nose or want to sneeze, apologize, go backstage and take all necessary measures in this case.

And only then can you return to the stage and continue your performance. Is it true. After this it is quite difficult to pretend that nothing special happened.

Therefore, in a nutshell, with humor, clarify the situation. For example: "So, now that I've cleared up some of the issues...", "Of course, this wasn't planned..." or "I'm glad to be with you again!..."

No one in life is immune from mistakes, including experienced speakers, and we will successfully avoid the most common mistakes and delight your audience with brilliant trainings and speeches