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9-step Cheat Sheet to Become a Great Public Speaker

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Re: 9-step Cheat Sheet to Become a Great Public Speaker

#3
I would add a few simple rules.

1: Never, ever read aloud from the slides. Use the slides as focal points to material you have mentally prepared.

2: Carry only a small deck of notes. Something that can fit in your palm will be fine, and again, use these as an aid to keep the speech in coherent order.

3: Slow down. Your thoughts will be racing, and the personal feeling of time gets distorted.

4: Get familiar with the equipment. Check that everything works at least a hour in advance. Preferably more. Then check again 15 minutes before you're supposed to give the speech.

5: Confident != cocky.

For what it's worth, I was a terribly shy person when I was young. By the time I was in the university, and held the equivalent of infosec 101 on two years running, I had learnt to enjoy speaking in public.