Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It

• Slow Down when you speak. Your listeners have an opportunity to absorb and reflect on what you’re saying.
• Use Voice Exercises to strengthen your voice.
• Record And Listen To Your Voice. Look for ways to improve your pronunciation, your delivery, and your pacing.
• Record Phone Conversations. Replay to hear different ways that you could improve your delivery and articulation next time.
• Focus On Pauses. The drama and power of a speech are contained in the silences that you create as you move from point to point.
• Eat And Drink Well. Energy is essential for good speaking and voice projection. Cold water can chill your vocal chords and decrease the amount of warmth in your voice.

• Acoustics are the most important part of a speech delivery . Keep your voice clear and consistent to keep you audience engaged.
• Content is crucial. Well thought out content with good articulation is essential for a great speech.
• The best speeches are emotional, because they are powerful. Communicate anger, sadness, love, joy or excitement, in a meaningful, authentic and impactful way.

A great way to remove a large portion of fear is to practice hard, studying the topic well. You can research all questions that the audience may ask, and practice the speech in front of a mirror or in front of friends.

Practicing soothes our nerves, making us ready for the final audience.

• If you want your audience to quiet down, to be calm or to perhaps hang on your every word, speak more quietly.
• f you want to rile up your audience, speak with a stronger voice. You can also use volume to convey your passion.
• Try not to speak too quickly. Most audiences will have trouble following along. Instead, speak at a moderate pace. Slowing down your speech even more will emphasize each word.

Microphones just make any speaking mistakes or tics louder and easier for your audience to detect.

And mastery is the foundation of an extraordinary presentation. So express an enthusiastic, passionate, and meaningful connection to the topic you are presenting in your public speech.

You cannot be an inspiration to your peers if you are inspired yourself.

Stories connect us. Stories stimulate and engage the human brain.

Stories help the speaker connect with the audience and make the audience more agreeable with the speaker's point of view.

Make it about the ideas you want to share.

Take the focus off of yourself and putting it instead onto the valuable information you are going to deliver. That way, the speech becomes an exchange of ideas and it creates a place of passion and purpose.

Oftentimes, the reason that we mess up is that we start paying too much attention to the details.

When you’re speaking and you’re trying to get the point across, think about the 3 points you want to get across.  This way,  you'll focus on the outcome of what you’re trying to say rather than every word coming out of your mouth.

The best and most comfortable place to find humor comes from your own personal experience. 

Jot down funny ideas as you come across it that might appeal to your audience - an embarrassing moment that you might not have found funny at the time, or a funny conversation you had. 

Make sure your choose humor is funny to you. First practice with small groups of people. Pay attention to the way your are delivering the joke or quip.

Only use humor in a speech after you are comfortable telling it from memory and have tested it.

Instead of being swept in the spiral of negative thoughts like 'What if I fail? What will they think of me? try to be aware of your physical sensations: how your heart beats, how the air fills your lungs, the heat and sweat you feel.

This will anchor you in the present moment and calm your nerves.

• Make sure you get a good night’s sleep, that you're hydrated and that you had a good meal before. 
• Be careful with your caffeine intake before a big presentation so that your heart rate isn’t already elevated.
• Strike a power pose. Research shows it can shift your mood and make you feel more confident. 
• Own the space. If you can, get to the room early and really imagine owning it.

Get into a relaxed rhythm. 

• Notice your pace next time you walk–what feels comfortable?
• Let your speaking connect with your walking, and notice how your sentence structure changes. 
• Pay attention to when you pause and what patterns naturally emerge when you let your movement drive your sentence structure.

To control nervous gestures, you have to add more by moving from your core–not just your arms.

Allow your full energy to flow through your entire body - it will make you appear calm and collected on the outside, regardless of what you’re feeling on the inside.