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Finding persuasive speech topics is not as troublesome as one might think. For the most part, it’s as simple as deciding what you want to persuade your audience of. Popular categories include politics, the economy, religion and business. Within each of these categories there are hundreds of subcategories to choose from depending on your goal. Are you trying to convince your listeners that they should do something, purchase something, believe something, or become something? Then your subject is simply a variation of one of these subtopics. For example, perhaps I want to convince a group of co-workers that they should start using the blue widgets instead of the white ones. The topic of my speech could be something like “Why blue widgets are superior to white widgets for use in the office”. Easier than you thought, isn’t it?

A vital first step is being aware of what your audience is like. Do they already agree with you on most of the facts, and merely need to be persuaded to act, or are you facing a hostile environment where you’ll have to choose your words with caution? Are they already apt to listen to you? Are they forced to be there by their boss, or their parents? These factors will influence your choice of topics and how you present your material.

Presumably, you’re trying to persuade your listeners of some course of action that is in their best interest. If not, I suggest you choose another topic; most audiences are smart enough to see through self-serving speakers and will resent being misled. However, this opens up another subcategory of topics for persuasive speech: helping people help themselves. This is an excellent way to frame any lecture, as most people will appreciate being helped.

A final issue that is of great importance in selecting topics is your own area of knowledge. One of the key factors in persuading a group or audience is the authority of the one giving the lecture. An audience is more likely to listen to someone with a doctorate in botany give a lecture about plants than they would a lecture about history. In short, you need to know what you’re talking about, or at least have the credentials that imply you do. Those areas in which you have perceived authority are the ones you should concentrate on, unless you are already have the trust of the audience.

David Baker has many years of experience as a professional persuasive speaker. For a free guide to writing persuasive speeches, visit http://www.epersuasivespeechtopics.com/FreeOffer or visit http://www.epersuasivespeechtopics.com to learn more about giving persuasive speeches.

How do you speak naturally while all those people are watching you?

This document covers hints and tips on public speaking and presentation skill, dealing with public speaking nerves and anxiety, public speaking skills and public speaking techniques, public speaking training.

Common Fears of Public Speaking

What happens when you have to speak in public?

Did you know that public speaking tops the list of phobias for most people? Not spiders or heights - public speaking - speech in public!

Well, if you didn’t know that, we bet your body does. It will do all kinds of unpleasant things to you when you have to stand up and face a sea of faces with the hope of getting your message across in a compelling and interesting way.

Your hands may sweat and your mouth goes dry. Your knees may shake and a quaver affects your voice. Your heart may race and those well known butterflies invade your stomach.

When all that happens most people don’t think of getting their message across in a compelling and interesting way; they just think of getting off the ’stage’ as quickly as possible!

Have we frightened you sufficiently yet?

It’s normal

We don’t really mean to frighten you, just remind you that your body reacts ‘in extremis’ when put under pressure, and for most people, public speaking is just about the worst pressure they can be put under.

It’s normal to be nervous and have a lot of anxiety when speaking in public. In a way, it’s less normal not to have nerves or anxiety; in fact, to feel you have a phobia about public speaking.

Why do we get Public Speaking anxiety?

Fight or flight

Our bodies are geared to fight or flight from ancient time - fight that mastodon or get the hell out of the way. We don’t have too many mastodons around these days, but the body still reacts as though we do. So, if we have to get up and speak in public, all that adrenalin and noradrenalin goes coursing through our bodies - way more than we need.

We can’t run away (well, we could, but we’d be out of job pretty quick if we did it too often), so our only option is to fight. But in terms of speaking in public, it can be hard to define just what we’re fighting.

Why does public speaking do this to us?

Good question. You’d think that for most people, being given the opportunity to impress their audience would be a fantastic one. There you are in front of a group of people, the spotlight is on you and for the length of time you’ve been give, the world is yours.

Or is it?

The very fact that the spotlight is you is enough to trigger every fear, anxiety and phobia you’ve ever had about public speaking.

Here’s why

You may be judged by all those people, and judged badly
You may feel like a fool
You might make mistakes and loose your way
You’ll be completely humiliated
You’ll never be as good as _________ (fill in the blank)
‘They’ won’t like you
‘They’ won’t ‘get’ what you’re trying to say

How to overcome fear of Public Speaking
What good are Nerves

Public speaking may not be comfortable, but take our word for it, nerves are good. Being ‘centre stage’ is not a good place to feel too comfortable.

Nerves will keep you awake and ensure you don’t get too complacent. Hard to feel complacent when your heart is beating so hard you’re sure everyone watching you can hear it.

If channelled well, nerves can make the difference between giving a humdrum presentation and giving one that keeps people listening.

Get your attention off yourself

It’s very tempting to keep focused on how you’re feeling, especially if you’re feeling really uncomfortable. You’ll start to notice every bead of sweat.

To make your nerves work for you, you need to focus on just about anything other than yourself. You can distract yourself by paying attention to the environment in which you’re speaking and seeing how you can make it work for you.

Once you’re actually in front of your audience, pay attention to them. If you can, notice how people are dressed, who’s wearing glasses, who has on bright colours. There will be dozens and dozens of things you can pay attention to help you trick your mind into not noticing what’s going on with you.

Anything will do and you will find that the less you concentrate on how you are feeling and the more you concentrate on other things, the more confident you will feel.

How to build confidence in Public Speaking

Your audience can be your friend

Unless you know you’re absolutely facing a hostile group of people, human nature is such that your audience wants you succeed. They’re on your side!

Therefore, rather than assuming they don’t like you, give them the benefit of the doubt that they do.

They aren’t an anonymous sea of faces, but real people. So to help you gain more confidence when speaking in public, think of ways to engage your audience. Remember, even if they aren’t speaking, you can still have a two-way conversation.

When you make an important point pay attention to the people who are nodding in agreement and the ones who are frowning in disagreement. As long as you are creating a reaction in your audience you are in charge.

Keep them awake

The one thing you don’t want is for them to fall asleep! But make no mistake public speaking arenas are designed to do just that: dim lights, cushy chairs, not having to open their mouths - a perfect invitation to catch up on those zzzzs.

Ways to keep them away include

Ask rhetorical questions
Maintain eye contact for a second or two with as many people as possible
Be provocative
Be challenging
Change the pace of your delivery
Change the volume of your voice

Public Speaking Training

Get a coach

Whatever the presentation public speaking is tough, so get help.

Since there are about a zillion companies out there all ready to offer you public speaking training and courses, here are some things to look for when deciding the training that’s right for you.

Focus on positives not negatives

Any training you do to become more effective at public speaking should always focus on the positive aspects of what you already do well.

Nothing can undermine confidence more than telling someone what they aren’t doing well.

You already do lots of things well good public speaking training should develop those instead of telling you what you shouldn’t do.

Turn your back on too many rules

If you find a public speaking course that looks as though it’s going to give you lots of dos and don’ts, walk away! Your brain is going to be so full of whatever it is you’re going to be talking about that to try to cram it full of a whole bunch of rules will just be counterproductive.

As far as we’re concerned, aside from physical violence or inappropriately taking off your clothes, there are no hard and fast rules about public speaking.

You are an individual not a clone

Most importantly, good public speaking training should treat you as a unique individual, with your own quirks and idiosyncrasies. You aren’t like anybody else and your training course should help you bring out your individuality, not try to turn you into someone you’re not.

Hints and Tips for Effective Public Speaking

Here are just a few hints, public speaking tips and techniques to help you develop your skills and become far more effective as a public speaker.

Mistakes

Mistakes are all right.

Recovering from mistakes makes you appear more human.
Good recovery puts your audience at ease - they identify with you more.

Humour

Tell jokes if you’re good at telling jokes.
If you aren’t good, best to leave the jokes behind.
There’s nothing worse than a punch line that has no punch.
Gentle humour is good in place of jokes.
Self-deprecation is good, but try not to lay it on too thick.

Tell stories

Stories make you a real person not just a deliverer of information.
Use personal experiences to bring your material to life.
No matter how dry your material is, you can always find a way to humanise it.

How to use the public speaking environment

Try not to get stuck in one place.
Use all the space that’s available to you.
Move around.
One way to do this is to leave your notes in one place and move to another.
If your space is confined (say a meeting room or even presenting at a table) use stronger body language to convey your message.

Technology

Speak to your audience not your slides.
Your slides are there to support you not the other way around.
Ideally, slides should be graphics and not words (people read faster than they hear and will be impatient for you to get to the next point).
If all the technology on offer fails, it’s still you they’ve come to hear.

You can learn to enjoy public speaking and become far more effective at standing in front of a group of people and delivering a potent message.

When it comes to improving your public speaking skills we have three words:

practise, practise, practise!

Jo Ellen and Robin run Impact Factory and have trained thousands of people in the art of Public Speaking for events from Wedding Speeches through to Key Note Conference Speeches.

The conference and speaking industry has really taken off in the last few years as people are now seeking greater fulfillment in their lives. It seems that many baby boomers are now realizing the end of their work life is drawing to a close and many are seeking the help of self proclaimed experts on a range of subject matters that could help them to improve their quality of life. It seems that there is a conference or seminar on every topic imaginable ranging from personal growth, spiritual, self help, business or even career focused. And as a result speakers from near and far who are expert in these fields are flocking over to espouse their knowledge to the growing crowds of delegates happy to fork out sometimes thousands to listen to them.
Conference organizers therefore have the un-enviable responsibility of ensuring that both the conference speakers and delegates are well taken care of and the event run smoothly. A popular way to keep conference speakers and delegates happy is giving them gifts, after all no one can say no to a gift and the goodwill it conjures can leave a lasting positive impression for both the conference organizer and the event.

These gifts can include being presented with souvenirs as a token of appreciation for their contribution and their participation in an event. Moreover, these gifts are usually in the form of cultural pieces or hampers. However, most conference organizers often overlook the fact that delegates and speakers most likely have received many similar gifts from various other events. With this, conference organizers truly need to crack their heads in order to produce innovative gift ideas. Conference and event organizers are often looking to stand out and make their event leave a lasting memory in both the speakers and attendees minds. So coming up with an unique and original gift is a great way to stand out and be noticed.

Purchasing experiences and giving it away to someone as a gift isn’t new but up until now you would have to do your own research into which company to buy the experience from and then trying to determine whether they were safe and reputable. In fact, activities such as a shark dive or a fighter plane ride will definitely create lasting memories especially for delegates who are visiting from a foreign country.

These innovative ideas are splendid for speakers or delegates who may be spending an extra free day to relax or to experience a bit about the local culture before flying back home.

Terence Young - For more great gift ideas visit http://www.surpriseinabox.com. Where every gift is an experience.

Have you ever been to a function in a room full of strangers and found yourself lost for words? It can be a very lonely experience, especially if you intend to date.

The art of introducing yourself to others and creating small talk may come naturally for some, but most people confess to feeling shy, embarrassed and don’t know where to start. Your inner ambitions are crying out for you to relate to others - just as other people are deeply interested to know you.

The key to knowing where to start is to understand the four levels of communication.

1. Small Talk
When you meet someone for the first time, the safest place to start is to talk about surface issues. For instance, make a comment about the weather, current events or the surroundings you are in.

This is called “small talk”, and is used to “size up” the other person to determine the comfort zone between the two of you. There is no need to disclose any personal information with the other person at this stage, as this initial interaction assists you to determine how “safe” they are on your first meeting.

If you are comfortable engaging each other at a surface level you can easily slip into the next level of communication: fact disclosure.

2. Fact Disclosure
This level of communication is slightly deeper than small talk in that you disclose facts about yourself without triggering topics of emotional interest.

The purpose of fact disclosure is to find out if you have something in common. You can use these common areas to build a bridge of friendship later on. You may want to talk about your career or occupation, hobbies, where you live, etc.

Avoid topics like marriage and divorce, politics, sex and religion in this second level of communication. With a little creative thinking, and the use of open-ended questions, you should easily find a topic that interests you both.

If you find a topic of mutual interest then you may progress to the next level of communication: sharing viewpoints and opinions.

3. Share Viewpoints and Opinions
Once you have established that the other person is “safe” through small talk, and have found areas of common interest, you can build rapport by sharing your opinions and viewpoints.

By sharing your viewpoints and opinions you allow yourself to become vulnerable to the scrutiny and objections of the other person, so you would only enter this level of communication once you were comfortable that you both share positive feelings through the first two levels.

Some people give an opinion about politics or religion as their starting point at this level. But you may firstly want to comment on the things you have in common that you found through fact disclosure. This is a safe place to start.

Be prepared to listen to the opinions of your new friend. It is just as important to listen to their viewpoint as much as you expect them to listen to yours. This will enable your friendship to survive.

Make sure you don’t use your opinions as a form of “character assassination” of other people. You may be thought of as a negative person and this may cause your new friend to distance himself/herself from you.

Over time you will learn to find a safe distance in your communication levels, and if you are forming a bond of friendship you may eventually enter into the fourth level of communication: sharing personal feelings.

4. Share Personal Feelings
Only solid friendships survive time to enter the fourth level of communication. After building upon trust, finding things in common and listening to the viewpoints and opinions of others, you may be able to share your personal feelings.

This is where an acquaintance becomes a genuine friend. You know that despite having differing opinions and viewpoints you can trust your friend’s judgement, and may go to them for advice.

Things of deep value to you can be shared without feeling threatened. You listen closely to each other without the need to “solve” your friend’s problem. You are happy to reflect their feelings back to them - forming a bond of empathy and compassion between the two of you.

At this level of communication, it is important that you provide a little distance between yourself and your friend. If the distinction between yourself and your friend becomes unrecognizable, it is possible for your relationship to go sour. If you know how to handle your own feelings, attitudes and behaviors while maintaining your friendship at this level, you will build a successful friendship that can last a lifetime.

By using these four levels of communication with prospective ‘dates’ you will find that they will become interested in you and want to get to know you all the more.

Indooroopilly Toastmasters is a professional speaking club that can assist you to improve your confidence in speaking and communication.
For more information visit Indooroopilly Toastmasters Club

Imagine this. You’ve been called on to give a presentation in front of your peers. You’re well prepared for the presentation. And now, sitting in the auditorium, you suddenly are overcome with virtually uncontrollable anxiety.

‘Why would these people want to hear me?’ you ask yourself. ‘What can I offer them?’

The Master of Ceremonies (MC) calls your name. You begin the endless, long, slow walk to the front of the room. With every step your heartbeat pounds faster. Palms are sweaty. Forehead perspires. Your knees shake.

Your breathing gets shallow. You check for the fiftieth time to make sure your presentation is still tucked away in your pocket. Every stair to the podium is like climbing Mount Everest. From the top stair you glance back and smile at everyone in the room.

The two hundred people in the room look like two million people. Can they see your nerves? You look at the walk you have to make to the podium: it looks like ten miles.

This is a critical moment for you. Of course you’re not going to turn and run out of the room but if feels like literally every fiber in your being is keeping you from advancing.

But from the second that you step on the stage until the moment you’ve finished your speech and are stepping off the stage, you should do one thing:

Act ‘as if’.

Act as if you are fearless.
Act as if you know exactly what you are doing.
Act as if you are the most successful person in the room.
Act as if you have spoken to larger crowds many times before.
Act as if you did not bother to prepare notes because your excellent message comes straight from your heart.
Act as if you are the CEO of the company.

When you act as if it means that you step across that stage and up to the microphone as if you own the world. When selling to a large crowd, acting as if means you walk to the microphone with the self-assurance that each person in the room has already bought from you.

Acting as if simply means living with the confidence that what you want in life and what you want to tell the crowd has already been achieved in your own life. It means that you don’t have to be perfect. It means that you can model someone you think is extraordinary and act as if like they would in that situation.

Finally, the power of acting as if allows you to imagine yourself as greater than you feel you are. Most times we are too hard on ourselves. Acting as if can bring us much closer to how we’d like to be perceived by others. It’s like trying on a colorful suit you might not normally wear and discovering, after taking the leap to buy it, that you look absolutely fabulous in it!

Deborah Torres Patel is an internationally acclaimed expert on self expression, voice & communication. To receive ongoing tips & subscribe for complimentary online training to overcome, eliminate or dramatically reduce the fear of public speaking, sign up at .