From nervous to natural:
Speaker techniques for clear, confident presentations
Learn the tricks of the trade from Presentation Studio’s speaker trainer Gabriella Maselli McGrail, who shares simple, effective practices for public speakers to project confidently and overcome nerves and anxiety.
Deepen your diaphragmatic breathing.
Mastering your breath helps sustain your vocal register in a centred and controlled way. An easy way to tell if you’ve mastered diaphragm breathing is by placing one hand on your stomach and pushing it outwards on your in-breath, to ensure you are activating the diaphragm (which is below your lungs) and avoiding shallow chest breathing.
“Shallow chest breathing can lead to sounding out of breath when speaking, and doesn’t lend itself to creating a nice rhythm punctuated by deep diaphragmatic breaths,” says Gabriella.
Notice the feeling of the inhale expanding deep in the stomach and rib cage, and observe how much more calm your breathing feels, allowing you to take fewer (but deeper) breaths per minute.
Drop your voice to a deeper register.
“If you think about throwing a ball up in the air and watching the ball come down again, try to create the corresponding upward and downward sounds using your voice that mimic the action of the ball, going up and down the vocal register from high to low,” says Gabriella. You’ll want to use somewhere in the middle of your vocal register for the most powerful vocal tone for your own voice: not too high pitched, but not too low either.
The ideal register, particularly for women, might be a tad lower than you’re used to speaking at to ensure you are able to confidently project over time without straining your vocal cords.
Experiment with modulating your speech.
Add dynamism and texture to your delivery by introducing pauses, changes in volume, different speeds, and intonations of specific words for emphasis. No one likes to sit through a robotic speech that sounds like it’s being read aloud by AI, so don’t be afraid to integrate some natural speech inflections to engage your audience and put them at ease, even if they sound casual.
If you aren’t comfortable enough with your speech to improvise these modulations, why not make a note of them in your script or cue cards to prompt you to change up how you are speaking? Gabriella also recommends practicing your speech with these dynamics so they are ingrained in the way you recall the content.
Another way you can do this is to break your speech down into sections, and assign an energy or intention to each part of the message you are delivering. These “gear changes” in tone help to keep your speech dynamic instead of flat.
Learning more advanced performing techniques may also help you authentically articulate different emotions throughout your speech.
Presentation Studio’s speaker trainer Gabriella Maselli McGrail
Stay grounded — literally.
When your mind is wandering to your next bullet point and you are speaking to the audience in front of you, keeping physically stationary helps you maintain focus and exude gravitas. “Imagine melting your feet into the earth beneath you, like a tree with deep roots which still has some movement in its upper half,” says Gabriella.
Too much pacing, shifting weight or repetitive hand gestures can signal nervousness or insecurity, or simply distract the audience from the message you are trying to deliver.
Want to up your public speaking game, banish nerves for good, present smoothly, and handle Q&A sessions with ease? Reach out and learn more about how our speaker training services can help you convey your message with impact and influence.
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