On some level, speaking is easy.
You get in front of a group and start talking.
However, to be a great speaker requires some information, practice, and work.
Speaking is a skill like any other.
It can be taught, it can be learned, and it can be improved.
In my experience, one of the biggest mistakes speakers make is to try to act like a "speaker.
" This may be my biggest pet peeve.
So many people are personable, engaging, and funny when you speak to them one on one, but when they get in front of an audience all that goes out the window.
Some of this may be from nerves, and that is understandable.
Many times though, it is because the person is trying to take on a "speaker" persona.
You may have seen this before: someone who takes the stage and suddenly looks very wooden and fake.
They gesture very deliberately, or keep their hands and body so still it looks unnatural.
They may over-articulate, or speak in an odd cadence that you never hear except when someone is giving a speech.
Burn this into your head: the best speakers are the ones who speak naturally.
When you see a great speaker, you will feel like he or she is having a conversation with you.
What's amazing is that every single person in that audience, whether there are five people or five thousand, will feel the same way.
Drop everything you have ever learned about "being a speaker.
" Don't put on a character when you speak.
Be yourself.
Be as much yourself as you possibly can.
If you are an animated talker who gestures, then do so.
If you have a natural sense of humor, use it.
If you like to move, then move.
Can some of these things get distracting? Sure, and later on they can be reigned in, controlled, and modified to not be distracting while still being natural.
First though, you have to break through the conditioning that there needs to be a difference between "you" and "speaker you.
" Remember, anyone can deliver your content.
Only you can be you, and that's why you are the person up there giving the speech.
Let yourself shine!