Remote Networking Tips #7: Activities you can do at home to help you become a better public speaker

Being confident at public speaking can be an important skill when it comes to networking. Being a good and confident speaker can help you both when networking on a 1:1 basis or in a small group as well as when you are in front of an audience.

Like networking, public speaking and building your confidence comes with practice. While WFH there are lots of things that you can do from the comfort of your own home to develop and practice these skills.

Here are some suggestions of practice routines and activities that you can use to practice:

01. Record yourself speaking

Record yourself speaking. One of the easiest ways to improve your public speaking is to record yourself speaking and then review / critique yourself.

Put the camera on and record yourself talking for a couple of minutes. When you play it back, identify the improvements you can make to your body language, tone, pitch, language etc.

Make a to-do list of things to improve/watch and keep these things under review as you practice. Continue to repeat this exercise to see how you are improving over time.

Make sure to remember to watch the video both with sound and without sound to ensure that you focus on both what you are saying and how you look.

02. Speak to the wall/empty space

If you are worried about speaking in front of an audience. Challenge yourself to speak to the wall for at least two minutes straight.

If you can practice your presentation, with the same level of energy and volume you hope to use in real-life looking at a blank wall or empty space, you will get better at doing a talk even when the audience isn’t smiling back at you to boost your confidence.

03. Do more video calls

If you are doing a lot of video calls at the moment you are probably looking more at your body language and appearance anyway and adjusting yourself and habits anyway. You don’t always have to practice “presenting” to improve your public speaking. Simply engaging in video calls and giving yourself feedback can also help improve your presentation skills.

04. Practice presenting in small groups and in team meetings (and speak to an audience through the screen)

You are probably having even more meetings during lockdown so why not volunteer to do small presentations on video in a safe internal space, such as during team meetings or training meetings etc.

05. Watch and learn from others

As well as watching yourself you can also watch and learn from others. This might be watching other people’s presentations at work and any webinars that you are attending, but it is important to watch high-quality presentations (so that you pick up good tips, not bad habits). Get into the habit of regularly watching YouTube presentations and TED talks when you have some downtime. Identify with their voice and their body language to capture your attention and then incorporate these things into your own presentations when practising.

Further Reading:

• P is for… Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
• V is for… Verbal Communication
• The A to Z of Skills for Networking [Round-up]