Speaker 1: you're going to learn seven public speaking tips for beginners. I made a video like this a few years ago that has over a million views, but it's starting to look old and sound a bit old. Here's a refresher of my top seven do's and don'ts, and there's a free PDF that summarizes these tips. There's a link to that in the description below this video. Number one, don't ramble and get long-winded. This is the most common complaint that audiences have when listening to speakers, and that's because long rambling messages make it difficult for your listeners to follow along. Instead, organize your presentation in a clear introduction, body, and conclusion, and keep your introduction concise. Give the central idea or key theme of the message and preview your main points. Then organize the body of your presentation around three clear main points. Say first, second, and third when you get to each of those points. Finally, give a clear conclusion. In fact, say the words in conclusion to signal that you're wrapping up. Quickly recap your main points and you're out. This is the classic public speaking design for a reason. Don't fight it. Trust that this basic design will work for 90% or more of your messages, especially if you're a beginner. Your audience will be grateful that you had a clear plan, and they'll remember what you said, which is the whole point of preparing a message like this in the first place. Organizing a message like this takes a little more behind-the-scenes effort and time, but it'll help you sound great. Number two, don't clutter up your speaking notes with too many details. This is another common mistake. We're often tempted to pack our notes with everything we want to say, and that's natural because we don't want to forget. But when it comes to the actual presentation, we'll get nervous in the moment, and the most likely outcome when we have too many notes is just to lock in on our notes and look down the whole time. We end up reading, essentially, and we sound like we're reading. It comes across as stiff, wooden, and robotic, and it pretty much ends all eye contact. Instead, pare down your notes as you practice so that you can have a structured conversation with your audience. Your goal is to have just key words and key phrases on your note cards. We call these talking points. I have a whole video about how to whittle down your notes as you practice. I'll put a link to that in the description below. The short version is practice a few times, cut your notes in half, practice a few more times, cut your notes in half. Do this over the course of a few days so that by the time you're ready to stand up and speak, you have simplified notes with key words only. You can just glance down, see what's coming next, look up, connect, and have a comfortable conversational style where your personality shines through. Using simplified notes is freedom. Number three, don't look with your eyes in the wrong places. Here's where not to look. Don't look over listeners' heads. That's terrible advice I've heard many times. Don't look at the floor. Don't look at the ceiling or dart your eyes around the room. And for goodness sake, don't turn your shoulders and look back at the screen. Nobody wants to watch you read right from the slides. So here's what you should do. Look directly into each person's eyes long enough to finish a thought and then move on and look directly into the next person's eyes long enough to finish a thought. I've said it in other videos, a teacher once said that eye contact in public speaking should follow this pattern. One thought, one look. In other words, make eye contact for about a half a sentence or so and then move on to the next person. One thought, one look. This is about three to five seconds for each person at a time and make it your goal to look at each person in the room a few times during your presentation. I'll admit this is easier said than done. It can feel awkward to look right into people's eyes if you're not used to it. But remember, you're doing it for your listeners. If you don't look them in the eye, they won't feel like you made a connection with them and listeners want to feel connected. They want to feel part of the process when you are the speaker. If you don't make eye contact, your message won't sink in as much. Number four is similar. For the same reasons, don't load up your slides with too much text or animation. As mentioned, if there's too much on your slides, you'll be tempted to look back and read from your slides or explain everything that's on there. Once you turn away from your listeners like this, you'll lose all engagement. And some people think that their slides are their speaking notes and then they rely on them. Essentially, they can't do their presentation without looking back at their slides. And all of that detail and text will make it difficult for your listeners to understand what's on your slides as well. Instead, make sure your slides are clear, simple and help you make whatever point you're making at that particular moment. A rule of thumb I like to use is that if you're spending more than two or three minutes on each slide when you're preparing them, then you're probably wasting your time. Beginners tend to over rely on their slides and use too many slides. Don't use more than one slide per minute as a maximum. Number five, don't speak too softly or in a low volume. Most beginning presenters speak too softly. They're only loud enough so that the people in the front of the room can hear them. People further back won't be able to hear you in a low volume and it won't make you sound confident to speak like that. So a key tip is to speak a little louder than you usually do in a conversation. Your voice should fill the room. Now you're not yelling. You're just projecting your voice all the way so they can hear you in the back row. I usually pretend when I'm speaking that the people in the back row have a slight hearing loss which many people do. If you think of your voice as an old fashioned volume knob on a radio, move your volume from five or six up to about seven or eight. It may feel awkward at first, but you have to speak in a confident voice if you want to project that confidence to your listeners. Number six, don't fidget with your feet. Don't pace back and forth aimlessly because you're nervous. This will distract your listeners and it'll make you look anxious. Instead for your posture, stand confidently in one place with your shoulders back and square. Stand there for a little while and then if you want to move, move with a purpose. Take a few steps and then stand firmly in another place for a while and share another part of your message. That kind of feet planted stance and posture will make you look prepared and confident. Number seven, don't fidget with your hands. You don't want to put them in your pockets, for example, or play with a pen or do anything else weird or distracting like that. You want to use small gestures that emphasize your ideas. As you practice your presentation, just let your hands go and gesture comfortably as you rehearse. Practice small little gestures just like this. Simply open your hands on the most important word of each sentence or two. Practice like this and it'll become second nature and relaxed during your actual presentation. Here's a quick summary of all seven do's and don'ts. Feel free to leave a comment about the tip you found most helpful. You can find these same seven tips in the free PDF download to remind yourself next time you're preparing a presentation. I'll put a link to that in the description below the video. There are plenty of other free resources on that page as well. Until next time, thanks, God bless, and I will see you soon.