How to speak clear and confident

Through my work but also everyday one to one communication, I realized good communication is key to everything. Communication is important for every business, but individual as well.

How we represent or “sell” ourselves is a very important factor for our work, negtioating in a store, college presentations, even on dates. Thousands of messages each day get interpreted wrong because we are not speaking clear enough or want to say many thoughts at once, which ends up being a mess of sentences thrown in together.

In this post, we will talk about speaking in person and how to do it well and with confidence. The most important thing is to believe in yourself, but also in the things you are saying. You need to have strong convictions about the topic you will talk about.

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1. Imagine everyone being naked – works most of the time for eliminating fear, but try not to laugh :)

2. Make eye contact – It will make others listen to you carefully. If you are talking in front of an audience, find a few friendly faces to focus on. You can look away for a second or two while you talk concentrated, but try to make eye contact as much as possible.

3. Believe in the things you are saying – sentences which start with “Maybe, I think, What if…” will sound like you are seeking for validation or approval of the audience. Instead speak as if you know what the hell you are talking about and the idea you are presenting is the best idea possible. Using examples is a great way to back up your arguments.

4. Work on your confidence – remind yourself each day all the amazing things you did so far and what you achieved. Because confidence is the key of a good speaker.

5. Slow down! – speaking fast is the first sign of being nervous. When you slow down, put emphasis on some words, breathe and talk clear, you will sound more confident in the things you are saying. We tend to rush our speeches when we are nervous, but even if we speak very slow it will sound normal to the rest of the audience.

6. Don’t use filler words – Words like “um, like, well…” are giving the speech a sound of uncertainty.

7. Breathe calm – You will notice that people who talk fast or panicked will look like they have weight on their chest. Instead breath deep and slow and give your voice (which is your musical flute) air so it can work properly.

8. Posture – stand or sit straight up. Looking bent makes you look less condifent and like you don’t believe in your own words. Even if you are the “least important” person on a conference, walking in straight and with your head high will make everyone look at you. Stand tall, proud and with that your lungs will also get enough air to not make your voice sound like Rod Stewart.

9. Gestures – talk with your hands but avoid touching your hair or face, it just looks bad.

10. Dress for the job you want to have, not the one you’ve got – if you are appropriately dressed and walk in straight with a good posture, you will notice people approaching you with more respect or looking at you checking who you are. That will help you get memorized better and make connections easier.

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Practice makes perfect!