10 Benefits of Public Speaking

Have you ever had cold feet about presenting your business review or your small department’s reports to your superiors? It sometimes even happens when you are around friends and family gathering for dinner or reading your vows. Public speaking is an art, a skill that is essential in this day and age for entrepreneurs, regular 9 to 5 managers, and future leaders. It is how you can communicate your thoughts and ambitions to others, and turn them into reality.    

Nurturing the art of public speaking takes time. And so, many opt in to join public speaking seminars to know more about the techniques good public speakers have.

If you don’t feel confident making yourself heard, you should try practicing public speaking because it will definitely be helpful.

1. Increase Confidence

Standing in front of a crowd, which may contain individuals with different interests, beliefs, and perceptions is a challenging task. But, to convey your message clearly, you must work on being calm and steady.  Believing in yourself is the key.

Public speaking puts you to continuously face the crowd and deal with the anxiety that comes with it. In effect, this boosts self-confidence as you learn to deal with what you fear.

2. Expand Career Opportunities

Verbal communication is also integral to make employees understand plans, proposals, and insights of their companies or business owners. In line with that, it’s surprising that universities or colleges don’t put a lot of emphasis on teaching students how to speak well publicly.

Master public speaking and you get to expand your career opportunities. Employers prioritize and value an employee with such skills. It is true that a good public speaker when working for an office, won’t have trouble presiding meetings and setting deals with clients.

3. Improves Communication Skills

As a public speaker, you need to organize ideas and convey them as simply as possible. You learn how to avoid being wordy, discover the plentiful uses of idiomatic expressions and figurative speeches in creating interest, and learn how to determine the level of each listener’s attention while being engaged.

4. It’s Great for Networking

The essence of networking is to find mutual interests and benefits. There is no better way than having a rich conversation with your peers. Better yet, to reach a greater audience, public speaking in a seminar, meeting room, or online through a video conference call would absolutely have a great effect. People would know more about yourself, your business, your preferences and your dislikes. It will paint a clearer picture of you and what people should expect from you in return. 

Your ability to master public speaking will definitely help in expanding your network, therefore, reaching more business opportunities. 

5. Improve Influencing Skills

Public speaking will teach you to speak with a better projection and sounder arguments. Just so you know, projection and sound arguments make you persuasive. And with persuasion as one of your traits, your influencing skills will improve.

The ability to influence is very desirable. It’s helpful during job interviews when selling products to clients or when aiming to initiate collective action. The list of applications is endless.

6. Eliminate Fear of Public Speaking

Fear is a natural reaction by your body in case of danger and intimidation. You want to control your fear, keep it to the minimum and work for you not against you. Here are some practical steps: 

Practice some breathing techniques before and while you are engaged. It helps physiologically to calm the body and relaxes muscles. 

Before starting, think of the worst that could happen. Experience the fear, react, then move on. Nothing as bad as you imagined will get to you. 

Focus on your material and use positive affirmations while time passes.

7. Improve Your Research Skills

When writing the draft of your speech, you will consult journals, interviews, news articles, and other credible sources of information. You also evaluate whether or not the facts that you read are outdated or fallacious. In effect, doing these improve your research skills.

8. Public Speaking Is A Great Way To Meet Friends

You can make new friends along your journey to learn public speaking. Friends who share the same goal and encounter the same challenges will be a powerful source of motivation. You can join a speaking club like “Toastmasters”. The value added will be worth it.  You will be practicing together and maybe you can get into competitions. 

9. Improves Your Leadership Skills

Improved communication skills, ability to influence and improved research skills are core competencies that public speaking brings, which are very essential to be an effective leader.

Being a great public speaker will help you easily direct collective action. Additionally, you won’t find it hard dealing with each person in a group as you are already accustomed to facing a crowd.

Here is a list of successful leaders who master public speaking in real life: Bill Gates, Doug Conant, Bill George, Carla Harris, Terry Jones, Marcus Lemonis, Pat Lencioni, and many more.

10. Personal Satisfaction

Do you know how it feels after you have finished a vigorous workout? It would be exactly the same. Your body releases endorphins after you are done with a hard task successfully. Every time you are able to overcome your fears and express yourself freely and clearly, you feel better about yourself and about your capabilities. 

Summary

Aside from what this article presented, you will reap a lot of other benefits from public speaking. Try it now. You’re more than what you think you are. Don’t be afraid. Every good public speaker was once a beginner!