Public Speaking Skills For Dummies

Chapter 22

Ten Tips for Preparing to Speak

IN THIS CHAPTER

Taking the time to warm up

Getting centered

Gathering everything you need

So, you have a speech coming up? This short chapter is designed to help you prepare for it.

Warm Up Your Body and Your Voice

You know who warms up? Pretty much everyone. Your favorite athletes, your yoga instructor — anyone who uses his or her body for some sort of performance warms up. And guess what? Public speaking counts as using your body.

You know when you see speakers up there, talking your ear off, not doing all that much moving around, and they’re sweaty? Like dripping with sweat? Yeah, they may be nervous, but chances are their body is working a lot harder than you think. So, if you’re not working hard up there, you’re not doing your job. And if you don’t warm up, you can’t work hard.

The rest of this section offers sample warmups from some of the exercises throughout this book, but you can have fun and create your own.

Get physical

You can go for a run, practice some yoga — heck, walk up some stairs. Try the Elaine dance from Seinfeld. Anything that gets your cardio going.

Get aligned

Place your feet shoulder width apart. Imagine roots ...