What Skills are Needed to be a Public Speaker

[Ad- collab] I spent a bulk of my life traveling all over the world to talk at various game developer events. I’ve been to Sweden, Spain, America, Romania and so many more other countries, giving talks on the games industry from various topics. Public Speaking is something that can feel really daunting and difficult, but after years of public speaking, I can confidently say that public speaking is something that you do need some skills to do.

Knowledge on a specific subject

Public speakers are speaking on a topic. Most event speakers, like myself, are invited on stage to talk about a subject they are passionate about or have advance knowledge of. I am sure there are topics everyone is passionate about, and to be a public speaker, you want to have a lot of knowledge in the thing you are speaking of. Having knowledge in that subject, generally, will allow you to not rely on que cards or a script, as you already have the knowledge and are confident in the subject.

Ability to Create Presentations

When it comes to presentations to help get your talk along, this is something that many public speakers use. Presentations can help keep you on topic and ensure that you are not babbling on in a different direction. I tend to include a line or two on each slide which works as the subject of that slide, to remind me of things that I want to mention. Adding in pictures and examples is always a great way to keep your audience engaged as well. If you are nervous about everyone looking at you, having a presentation also diverts attention away from you and to the presentation itself.

Confidence

A lot of public speaking is just confidence. This isn’t something that can really be forced, and is just something that public speakers need to have. As a teen, I was told that if I am giving a talk, everyone in the room came to hear me, for my talk, so it doesn’t matter what I really say as everyone is already there to listen to me. I find the question part of public speaking to be the more challenging part, as you cannot really prepare for questions, but you can prep your actual talk. I found that if I didn’t know an answer, asking for that person’s social media or contact information and saying I would get back to them worked best. If you do not have confidence in speaking, it’s a challenge to end up clearly telling whatever you want to tell.

If you ever need a public speaker, there is also always the option to hire one! There are different types of public speakers – I have primarily done event public speaking, but there are after dinner speakers, workshop hosts, award hosts and much more.

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