Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

"I read a thing that actually says that speaking in front of a crowd is considered the number one fear of the average person. I found that amazing. Number two was death. That means to the average person, if you have to be at a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy," jokes Jerry Seinfeld.

And it's true. Experts estimate that 75% of the population has some level of anxiety regarding public speaking.

Now, I'm willing to bet that this statistic is troubling for those who work in an industry where delivering presentations comes with the territory. Whether you've gotten up in front of a crowd 100 times or are about to encounter your first public speaking opportunity, the entire process can feel pretty overwhelming. 

To help you command the positive attention you deserve, we've uncovered 10 science-backed tips for nailing your next speaking gig....

We all know the basics of good presentation skills: don’t read from a script; don’t overwhelm your audience with verbose slides; and the like. But for a particular kind of high-stakes presentation — one in which you’re trying to get buy-in from key decision-makers — those basics aren’t enough.

To persuade the people who have the power to approve your idea or let it die, you need to start with a strong outline. Here are the questions to ask yourself so you can structure a presentation, from the outset, that defuses potential objections upfront and is so compelling a “yes” becomes far more likely....

For many people, even the thought of public speaking can lead to panic. The crowd. The lights. The dreaded Q&A session. It's a lot to deal with.

But allowing these apprehensions to silence our voice can be crippling to our careers. If we want to be seen as smart and articulate professionals, we need to walk the walk and talk the talk.

After all, our intelligence is often best conveyed not in what we say but in how we say it, according to a recent study from the University of Chicago.

Rather than keeping quiet to avoid saying something foolish, it's important that we're actively identifying ways to overcome self-doubt. To help get you started, check out this infographic from the folks at WriteMyEssays.

They've compiled some awesome speaking habits designed to make you sound smarter....

One of the difficulties in understanding how inspirational leaders communicate has been our casual definition of inspiration. Many confuse this word with motivation or operate under the assumption that anyone can "just be inspiring."

Dr. Todd Thrash and Andrew Elliot of Rochester University are two of the leading researchers studying the psychology of inspiration. that there are three distinct stages that an individual will go through in the experience of inspiration: evocation, transcendence, and approach motivation....