Plan appropriately.
Practice.
Engage with your audience.
Pay attention to body language.
Think positively.
Cope with your nerves.
Watch recordings of your speeches.
Having positive thoughts about yourself and your speaking ability can really help you improve in your speeches. This article has a short but sweet section on positive thinking, along with other awesome advice.
It is really a good article. I also liked the the point, "When You Speak in Public, Nothing "Bad" Can Ever Happen!'". So, let go your Public Speaking apprehension and try your best.
A very good point discussed in this article that says "Focus on your most powerful Experience" when you feel nervous before your presentation. Thinking about positive experiences helps to divert our mind from fear of speaking.
As I am a ESL speaker and i found it a good resource for understanding the anxiety of speaking and overcoming it for ESL speakers. I learned about speak slowly and clearly, and also about word choice for the speech that i am comfortable in speaking.
This article talks about the correct posture, smile, pitch of sound, eye contact, and long pauses as the five main points to consider for speaking with confidence. I like the idea of long pauses to minimize the fillers like "uh...,and...". This was my big problem during my speeches. I practiced my speeches with optimum pauses and it worked well for my last speech.
This website talks about how to choose a good speech topic. During my speech preparation, i felt that if i am comfortable about my topic or i know my topic well, it takes care of half of my nervousness about the speech delivery. So, i think having an interesting speech topic makes speeches enjoyable for the speaker as well as for the audience.
For me this article is going to be a big resource. I struggle with filler words not only in public speaking but with everyday conversations.
For me it's a hard habit to break mainly because I was never allowed a chance to speak and this comment accurately explains why I use them:
"Though not an issue when you're giving a speech in front of an audience, when speaking in a group setting (think work meeting) there is often a level of "competition" for the chance to talk. A pause when speaking often gives someone else the opportunity to pounce and take over the role of speaker. A filler word signals others that you're not yet done talking."
This article suggests eight different ways you can make a speech come to life by non-verbal communication, your body language.
Along with this article, toastmasters.org has numerous helpful and useful resources. I suggest you all take a look! :)
I love this article because it gives you several different choices to work with and STRONG examples. Peter Jeff, the author, is very encouraging in this article as well. At the very end he challenges the reader to use one of these ideas on their next speech.
"Speaking clearly is only half of communication. Listening effectively is the other half."
Being a good listener is just as important as being a good speaker, and though some of these tips may not apply to us, the majority of them are very important and worth a look!