If you’re a writer looking to devote some time to your self-development, you may want to give public speaking a go. Not only will public speaking increase your self-confidence, it will help you to lead and to be assertive when the need arises. All these benefits will directly feed into your career as a writer. If you’re planning on giving your first speech, be it at a public speaking group, or at work, or at a writers’ convention, we’ve gather the 5 following tips to help you.

1. Research your topic

If the topic of your speech is an area you already know about, you won’t need to learn much new material. However, if you’re planning on speaking on a topic you’re not familiar with, ensure you’ve gathered all relevant facts and figures in order to ensure you’re confident in the area you talk about. The internet these days is the easiest way to find information on any subject. To keep things manageable, limit the resources you use to research your speech to three to four, so that you don’t feel overwhelmed by the information at your disposal.

2. Use expression to support your words

A dramatic speech delivery will ensure your audience is engaged in what you say. How do you do this? Using facial expressions is one effective way. For instance, if you’re speaking about a topic and the words you suddenly say express sadness, attempt to convey gloom through your facial expressions. You could even change your body language by turning your shoulders inwards. In order to get further ideas of how to do this, watch your favourite actor on TV. Turn down the volume. Now, watch the expressions the actor presents and try and guess what corresponding emotions are being conveyed.

3. Rehearse

Once your speech is written out, the best way to ensure you give a fluent performance is to rehearse. Practice saying your speech out loud 2-4 times, so you know the content of your speech. You don’t need to memorise the speech unless you want to. If you decide not to learn your speech by heart, ensure you know it well enough, so that if you forget anything when you’re delivering it, it will have minimum impact on your delivery. In such a situation, notes can be particularly helpful as described in the point below.

4. Use notes

One way to help ensure you don’t forget important parts of your speech is to use notes. As an example, you could use prompt cards, where each card is a major section of your speech, and on every card you could write down two or three sentences, which have been bullet pointed, and can act as prompts should you need them.

5. Change the pace of your speech and use pauses

Avoid giving a staccato performance. Instead, vary the pace of your speech at appropriate times. Again, consideration of emotions can help determine whether to speak slower or faster. For instance, if you want to convey excitement, then the pace of your speech can become quicker. You can also use pauses before delivering important parts of your speech. By pausing, you create anticipation in your audience who will be waiting intently for you to continue and make your point.

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[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]