This is the blog presentation of Ron Bratt, an expert in public speaking. Ron Bratt helps individuals, mostly children, improve their skills in public speaking. He instills confidence in those striving to be expert speakers and debaters. This blog presentation features tips from Toastmasters, an international program helping individuals to become better at public speaking and communications.

1. How to be a Better Public Speaker
According to the Toastmasters
By Ron Bratt

2. Joshua Rinaldi is the president of the New York
Toastmasters, a speaking club that helps those
unable to speak publicly build up the courage and
the technique.

3. Only two years ago, Rinaldi himself was petrified of
public speaking. Business Insider asked him for
some tips for the person who lists public speaking
amongst his greatest fears.

4. Rinaldi assures wanna be speakers that a little
practice can yield great results very quickly. Here are
some of his tips.

5. Transcript to Memory
A speech is a performance, not a staged reading. You
want to be off book by the time you present. Rinaldi
types out a full first draft and reads it repeatedly
until it begins to sink in.

6. Transcript to Memory
Then he begins reciting the speech without the text
in front of him. He says that what he ends up saying
when he delivers the speech usually ends up being
slightly different than what he wrote, but that will
only make it sound more natural.

7. Use Notes to Keep Your Place
Notes can be helpful in making sure that you do not
end up dwelling on any one particular point for too
long. What you don’t want to do is have such copious
notes that you end up just reading your notes instead
of giving a speech.

8. Use Notes to Keep Your Place
Take up a notecard with four or five one-word bullet
points to help keep you on the right track and only
refer to them when you feel you want to transition to
your next point.

9. Slow Your Breathing. Lay Off
the Coffee.
Nerves can get the best of even the most seasoned
speakers if they are not careful. In the minutes
leading up to being called up to the mic, it can be a
good idea to calm your nerves by subtly clenching
your fists, and intentionally slowing down your
breathing.

10. Slow Your Breathing. Lay Off
the Coffee.
Caffeine should be taken only in small doses before
a speech, as it can mix badly with the natural
adrenaline surge that often accompanies public
speaking.

11. Don’t Apologize
A common mistake amongst rookie speech givers is
the tendency to apologize for their lack of public
speaking prowess ahead of time. This is
understandable. A little bit of self-deprecating humor
will endear yourself to your audience, right? Wrong.

12. Don’t Apologize
All this serves to do is drive down expectations and
many people will zone out immediately. Instead, be
confident. Be a person that people want to listen to
and that will endear you must faster than any self-defeating
joke.