Speaking in front of an audience of any size can be intimidating, but it doesn’t need to be. With preparation and practice, anyone can improve their presentation skills and become a good public speaker.
Public speaking 101
You don’t need to have public speaking experience to apply to speak at WordCamp Boise, just a deep passion (and a bit of knowledge!) about your subject.
Sure, there are certain characteristics that could give you an advantage when speaking publicly. However, even if you don’t feel like you’re a “natural,” that doesn’t mean you can’t become a competent public speaker. It just takes practice.
There is a lot of useful content out there that digs into the details of how to approach public speaking. Here, we are sharing with you a list of resources we’ve read and found helpful (shoutout to WordCamp Europe for originally providing many of these links):
Resources to get you started
- The Top 9 Characteristics of Effective Public Speakers (article)
- 14 Must-Haves to Be a Great Public Speaker (article)
- Public speaking tips for introverts (article)
- Managing Presentation Nerves, How to Calm Your Stage Fright (article)
- Be the BEST Bad Presenter Ever, Break the Rules, Make Mistakes, and Win Them Over (video tutorial)
- Demystifying Public Speaking (book)
What makes a presentation valuable?
Presentations are essentially about sharing knowledge and educating. Don’t start your presentation by creating a slide deck. Instead, start by recognizing what value you can share, and go from there. (For example: What are the top three key take-aways for your audience?)
There is also an art to structuring your talk so that your audience stays engaged and is able to digest all of the content you are sharing. Here is another specially curated list of helpful articles and books to aid you in structuring your presentation.
- How to give a killer presentation (article)
- Presentation Zen (book)
- The secret structure of great talks (video)
We hope you find these links useful! If you have some other great resources, please share them with us in the comments below.