Does the thought of speaking in front of others send you running in the opposite direction? Youâre not alone. Many people avoid public speaking at all costs â and there is a cost. Public speaking is one of the quickest, most efficient ways to market yourself, your message, business, or cause. Those who are willing to make presentations immediately stand out from the majority who are not. Whether itâs an audience of five people or 500, itâs worth it to invest in your skills.

After coaching hundreds of clients in presentation skills, Iâm convinced that anyone can improve and gain confidence by following a few simple techniques:

Know Your Audience. Most presentations fail because the speaker never took the time to find out anything about his audience. Knowing your audience means finding out as much information as possible in advance so that you can successfully match your message to their interests and needs. Helpful information includes: gender breakdown, average age, and their current or past experience with your topic. If itâs not possible to learn your audience in advance, then at the very least, arrive early and spend a few minutes meeting people. Or, begin your presentation by asking some general questions like, âWho has experience withâ¦?â This also helps to calms nerves as you are taking the focus off you, and putting it on your audience where it belongs.

Forget Memorizing. One of the biggest fears Iâve heard from my clients is that theyâll freeze up and forget what comes next. That can happen if you try to memorize your entire speech. All it takes is forgetting one word to trip you up. Instead, only memorize the opening and closing. Looking directly at your audience when you start and finish makes a strong, positive impression. For the middle section, itâs fine to glance at note cards with bullet points, or refer to your PowerPoint presentation to jog your memory. Do not, however, write out your whole speech word for word! Youâll be tempted to read it instead of connecting with your audience.

Open with a Bang. Itâs important to grab attention immediately. A good opening sparks interests, sets expectations, previews whatâs to come, and offers benefits. There are several ways to start: ask a question, tell a story, humor (careful with this one unless youâre naturally funny), quotes, dramatic statistics, or music/video. Give your audience a reason to listen, and build your credibility as the best person to be speaking on this topic.

Make it Memorable. Signposting is a way to help your audience follow and remember what youâre saying. Phrases that focus listening are: âThe point is this,â and âThe most important thing to remember is.â Another strategy is to number your points as in, âIâll be offering three ideas, the first one isâ¦â

In Closing. Audiences are most likely to remember the last thing they hear. A strong closing should be memorized and review your main points. Motivate the audience to do something â take an action, ask a question, have an emotional response, or think differently. Make it clear what it is youâre asking them to do (and if you donât know, re-think the purpose of your speech).

Calming Nervousness. Most nerves are caused when the speaker focuses on himself instead of the audience. A speaker might think to himself, âWhat if I say something stupid?â or âI hope I donât trip.â That kind of self-absorption puts up a wall between you and the audience. By shifting your focus to the audience, youâll forget about yourself and start connecting with them. Second, some nervousness is a good thing! Itâs an indication that you care what your audience thinks and can serve as a strong motivator to do well. The goal is not to eliminate nerves, but to use that energy in a positive way.

Credit card debt negotiation is an important part of the debt relief program. People get relaxation from debt with aid of credit card debt negotiation. Previously people we experienced an increase in the usage of plastic money, the plastic money was used so much that it almost became impossible for the debtor to pay the money back to the banks. Banks started facing the threat of getting defaulted. In order to save themselves they started using different tactics to get back their money. These tactics were so harsh that people started filing insolvency due to which the economy got badly damaged.

Credit card debt negotiation is the process in which the debtor negotiates for a discount in the amount of plastic money loan he has to pay back. He achieves a discount of more than 50% if he is a very good negotiator. He is even able to achieve extra time to repay the loan and they are charged low interest rates for the remaining amount of loan. Due to all these characteristics, making repayment of the loan by using this method is considered as the most effective liability relief methods.

It is very important that you are a very good negotiator because only good negotiators can get maximum results. A debtor who is not a good negotiator will never be able to maximize the discount he can achieve. He will end up getting a small discount which will be of no benefit to him. A negotiator or debtor should have the negotiation skills as similar as the skills of a lawyer. Lawyers negotiating skills are considered as the best to tackle any creditor. Creditors are not easy to break and the appropriate skills needed are very important.

If you feel that you do not have the appropriate negation skills then you should consider hiring a liability negotiating firm which will help you get relief from liability through liability settlement. This firm will assign a professional negotiator to your case that negotiator will try to get the best result for their clients. These negotiators are either professional negotiators or are lawyers who have a lot of experience ion this industry and their negotiation skills are very well polished due to this experience. These negotiators have the appropriate skills to tackle the creditors and they are well aware of certain loopholes in the financial industry and they know how to take advantage of these loopholes and break the creditors.

Let’s say you have a room full of people you are looking to train, or influence. You have a lot of information to convey to this group of people, how should you do it? What is the most cost effective, time appropriate, and let us not forget easiest way to do this? Better yet the most important question to ask one’s self is how can I get this group of people interested, gain their trust and keep it throughout the process.

In either instance, a speech would do, but it may come across as tedious or even worse, boring. If you have information that must be conveyed starting with a “boring” speech type proposal is certainly the quickest way to lose the attention of your audience. Once you lose the attention of your audience, it is gone, working on regaining their attention is also a lost cause, start strong and never lose their attention.

Here is a novel idea make your statement(s) via a presentation. Presentations have the ability to hold the attention of your audience as well as “highlight” or pinpoint any information that must be retained. The intriguing idea behind presentations is that they allow mental stimulation as well as visual stimulation. By combing mental stimulation with audio stimulation, you are entertaining two of the five senses; thus allowing the memory retentive area of your audience’s brain to step in and help the brain “absorb” and process the information provided easier.

Before you start your presentation, there are a two key steps to keep in mind:

1. Know the subject you are trying to convey

Who wants to listen to someone that has no idea what he or she is talking about? If you want someone to listen to you, and find your information valid, make an effort and put in the time dedicated to research your topic(s). If someone asks you a follow-up question or questions the last thing you want to say, “Uh I’m not sure,” all creditability is lost from the time you mutter the word “Uh.” Know your stuff, be able to recite the information in your sleep, and make sure that you are ready for any question or questions that may be thrown at you. Keep in mind that the information you are presenting can only be as credible as the person presenting it, and you will be sure to check and recheck the facts as often as necessary.

2. Know your audience

Who is your audience? Who are the people that you will be presenting to? When making a presentation it is important to keep your audience in mind. They are the people you are looking to “convince”, if you are not able to pinpoint your target audience you are not going to be able to tailor the information accordingly. For instance, a younger audience may do better with an Internet based technology chat, whereas an older audience may get lost in the idea of the Internet. Before presenting any information, make sure you aware of your audience, who they are and the best way to convey your message.

Remember our ultimate goal here is mental stimulation, by stimulating our audience’s brain we can keep them interested, entertained, and help the information “sink” in. By following the guidelines outlined above, we can engage our audience in a presentation that not only teaches them but also allows them the opportunity to advance their knowledge.