Public Speaking Courses: The Path to a Lucrative Speaking Career

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Many people dread the idea of speaking with confidence in front of a large audience. They shiver at the thoughts of facing a massive crowd with eyes and ears focused on them, waiting to hear what they have to say. Some persons that manage to honor public speaking calls end up suffering stage fright and regretting their decision.

Public speaking is a play on the human mind that tests an individual’s resolve and confidence. It’s an assessment of your ability to stir up intellectual conversations, garner listeners’ attention, and pass your message clearly and concisely.

What Exactly Is Public Speaking?

It’s the act of making a presentation or giving a speech to a live audience with the sole purpose of informing, educating, or entertaining. Giving public speeches to a group of listeners comprising strangers is one of the most tasking activities an individual’s mind can ever undertake. It requires tact, critical thinking, reasoning, research, etc., to communicate an idea effectively. Although many people cite it as one of their biggest fears, it’s a skill you can learn with practice and confidence. In sectors like business, government, politics, and others, giving public speeches is essential to attain leadership positions.

Qualities of an Effective Public Speaker

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Public speaking can be a daunting task that requires grit, tack, deep reasoning, and a host of other qualities. It has to do with sharing your ideas with a significant number of people, making them listen, and getting a favorable response after passing your message. If your speaking skills aren’t up to standard, getting your audience to focus on your presentation will be challenging.

As terrifying as giving speeches to an audience might sound, it’s a field with lots of potentials, and making headway in it requires that you learn the art. If you wondered what attributes make one a compelling speaker, you need to know that they’re pretty many. We’ll examine the top three qualities of a good public speaker below.

• Confidence

Confidence is essential for anyone looking to pursue a career in public speaking. While it’s natural to be nervous when speaking in public, being confident gives you an air of competence, intelligence, likeability, knowledgeability, and accuracy.

Your audience will easily believe whatever you say when it comes from a place of self-believe. Excitement, authenticity, and passion are qualities that depict confidence, and they must always reflect in your person when giving public speeches.

• Authenticity

In giving public presentations, being authentic is essential. It shows originality and acts as an affirmation of self-love. Trying to be someone else on stage takes away all the fun and excitement that comes with being genuine. It’ll look like you’re merely trying to convince the audience on a subject or cause in which you don’t believe.

An effective public speaker must possess a sense of self and be comfortable in and with their personality.

• Natural Voice

As a way of impressing specific audiences, some so-called public speakers try to fake their accents. However, this doesn’t seem right, and it could cost you whatever credibility and connection you have built. Don’t speak in tones that seem too fake or too perfect. Moderation is vital in everything you do.

Public Speaking Tips to Consider Adopting

Giving a public speech isn’t a task you merely wake up and undertake. It’s an act you carry out after careful research and preparation. People even go as far as taking professional public speaking courses to navigate the field effectively. Even if you’re a born speaker, you’re likely to still find yourself cold feet at the mention of public speaking.

To ensure that you don’t ‘go blank’ when you climb a stage, we’ll examine some public speaking tips that will guide you.

• Prepare and Practice

When it comes to speaking publicly to a group of strangers, we can’t overemphasize the significance of practicing before making any appearance. It’s not unusual to develop a racing heart and trembling hands when it’s time to face the crowd.

Practice and preparation enable you to overcome such a feeling before any damage gets done. Prepare your notes, go over your pitches for the umpteenth time, and ensure you’re on track.

• Don’t Make It All About Yourself

As a public speaker, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment. You might be talking and not communicate without even knowing it. So, before crafting your speech, consider the audience and tailor your presentation in a way that makes them feel valued.

• Introduce Humor

While many public speakers adapt the teaching and self-promotion method to navigate the field, the ideal way to connect with an audience is by introducing some elements of humor. Laughter has a way of loosening up a tense atmosphere, and it helps bring the audience back into the conversation.

To excel in the public speaking field, do away with the mentality of impressing. Instead, focus on connecting with others and achieving set goals.

Top Public Speaking Courses to Consider Taking

The fear of public speaking, also known as glossophobia, is real and is common among many people. In some quarters, many believe that it’s a natural phenomenon and is highly undefeatable. But, this is far from the truth. With a bit of effort, glossophobia is a condition many can overcome.

It would interest you to know that some renowned speakers of today once suffered the same predicament but could turn things around by putting in the work.

One way to prepare yourself for a career in public speaking is by taking professional courses in that field. Led by experienced tutors and public speakers, these courses provide you with the required skills and expose you to the world of public presentation. When you enroll in these classes, you get to learn how to make money speaking.

You can find some of the best public speaking courses online, and they’re usually self-paced. We’ll examine the top three below.

• Storytelling and Influencing: Communicate with Impact – Coursera

Led by Macquarie University, this course is available on Coursera, a premium digital learning platform. It’s a 13-hour speaking training that forms an integral part of an online MBA program. Suitable for beginners, the course revolves around speech-giving from a business point of view. It examines several real-life speech-giving situations and gets moderated by seasoned speakers.

• Dynamic Public Speaking Certification – Coursera

Here is another public speaking course from Coursera. With a beginner-friendly syllabus, this course covers the various types of public speaking. It’s a 7-month long certification program led by the University of Washington. While taking this course, you get to write and record speeches. You also get to receive feedback to help you get better.

• Public Speaking (edX)

Led by the Rochester Institute of Technology, this course is a 3-week long program aimed at beginner-level students. It requires no prior knowledge and comes with several public speaking examples. This course is an ideal option if you’re looking to pursue a career in public speaking.

Conclusion

Many renowned speakers of today have gone through some of the dreadful scenarios highlighted above. Even if you’ve taken several public speaking courses, when it’s time to give a speech or make a verbal presentation, the human mind tends to play tricks by creating awful scenarios bordering on failure, ridicule, embarrassment, etc.

Enrolling in speaking courses helps build the skills required to excel in the field. The ones examined above are some of the best that will get you sharp. Consider taking one of them soon.