Speaking in public is not a comfortable or fun thing for most people. Many people in fact go to great lengths to avoid this activity that leaves them feeling nauseous, sweaty, panicky and just a right mess in general. But despite your (or anyone’s) best efforts, public speaking is something that you’ll likely need to do whether you’re in school, university or the work force. You don’t have to start loving speaking in public, but the ability to get through it unscathed is definitely a useful skill to develop. To help you with this, we’re going to suggest a few strategies to get you through a session of speaking in public.

One thing that a lot of people don’t take into account when they’re speaking in public is just how quickly they’re speaking. We can all sympathise with the desire to have the event or presentation over, but speaking too quickly makes it difficult for your audience to follow what you’re saying. This is obviously a huge problem whether you’re being graded on it for university or making a presentation to your boss. This is why it’s really important to speak even more slowly than you think is necessary when speaking in public – it may seem excruciatingly slow to you but is probably at a normal speed for anyone listening. This is something that comes with practice, but is important to try from that very first presentation.

Another strategy to copy with speaking in public is to practice your speech out loud, multiple times, and in front of other people if at all possible. This is a really important thing to do for several reasons. First off it’ll ensure that your speech doesn’t contain any awkward sounding sentences that will leave you tripping over your words when you do present it. Second off it’ll give you a better idea of how long you’ll actually be speaking for (although remember that you’re likely to speed up when you’re not doing a practice run). Lastly, it’ll help you to get into the mind-set that you will soon be speaking in public, something which some people try to avoid thinking about until it’s about to happen. Being familiar with what you’re going to say will definitely make it a more comfortable process. The extra practice will also mean that you can make eye contact with your audience at various points during the presentation. This will keep them engaged with what you’re saying, making for a much more effective presentation.

Another tip that will help you get through speaking in public is to focus on your breathing. Slow breaths will help to stop that rising feeling of panic and help ensure that you’re not speaking too quickly. It may even be worth checking out some breathing techniques online. Find one that you’re comfortable with – if you can find one that calms you down it’ll prove useful long after any presentations are over.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to figure out whether you’re someone who is more comfortable speaking in public using notes in bullet point form or whether you need each sentence written out in full. Some people feel restricted if they’ve got entire sentences laid out for them, while others feel lost if they don’t. There’s no right or wrong way to do this part – you just need to figure out what works best for you.

While following these strategies will not automatically make you the best public speaker out there, they should help you get through some initial sessions where you’re speaking in public. With each time, you’ll get better and will figure out further strategies that work for you. Remember that experience speaking in public and making presentations is a great skill to put on your CV, so it’s worth putting some effort into developing your abilities now.