Hello Explearners, welcome back. Recently in our community we discussed how prioritizing a growth mindset can enrich our social lives and make room for better friends, better conversations, and a richer social life. It was a wonderful discussion, and if you yourself would like to partake in those, then I'd encourage you to join our community Explearning Academy. Sign up at academy.explearning.co. We'd love to have you.

Do you want to improve your public speaking skills and overcome your fear of speaking in front of others? Then try these seven public speaking exercises to boost your confidence and polish your delivery. From standing in front of a mirror to joining a public speaking club, these simple practices will help you become a confident and more dynamic and engaging speaker.

Alright, let's get into the strategies. 

Stand in front of a mirror and practice speaking clearly and loudly from your diaphragm. Pay attention to your posture, your facial expressions, and even your hand gestures. Standing in front of a mirror and practicing speaking clearly and loudly can help you identify areas for improvement in your posture, facial expressions, non-verbal communication and gestures. For example, you may notice that you tend to slouch or mumble when you speak or use too many filler words or that you use too many distracting hand movements or other non-verbals. By practicing in front of a mirror, you can make adjustments to improve your delivery.

Record yourself speaking and listen back to identify areas for improvement. Recording yourself speaking and listening back can provide valuable insights and feedback on your public speaking skills. For example, you might notice that you use too many filler words, such as, um, ah hmm, or yeah, too often, or that you speak too quickly or too slowly. By listening to a recording of yourself, you can identify areas for improvement and work on correcting them.

Practice deep breathing and relaxation techniques to help reduce anxiety and stress before speaking. Practice deep breathing and the box method techniques and other types of breathing techniques, because this will reduce anxiety before you have to interact with people, get up on stage, run a meeting. For example, you could try taking slow, deep breaths and focusing on the breath as it moves in and out of your body. You can also count the breaths and hold it at the top and the bottom of each breath. This can help calm your nervous system, your nerves, and also improve your focus. 

Choose a topic to speak about and write a brief outline or script for it. Practice delivering your speech out loud. Choosing a topic to speak about and writing out a brief outline can really help you organize your thoughts and ideas and prepare for your speech. For example, if you're giving a presentation on the history of the United States for History class, let's say you might write out an outline with main points such as the colonization of North America, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. This can help you stay on track and make sure that you cover all of the important points in your speech that you want to touch upon. 

Join a public speaking group or club such as Toastmasters, where you can practice speaking in front of others and receive feedback. You can also join a public speaking group or a community such as Explearning Academy, these kinds of groups and communities provide a supportive environment that's encouraging and safe where you can practice speaking in front of others, receive feedback, and not be afraid to make mistakes. For example, in a Toastmaster's meeting, you might give a prepared speech. You might participate in impromptu speaking exercises and receive feedback from other members on your delivery and your content. And in our community, we provide feedback and encouragement for continuing the progress. 

Attend workshops or classes on public speaking to learn new techniques and strategies. This can help you learn new techniques and strategies for improving your speaking skills. For example, you might learn how to use storytelling to engage your audience, or how to use visual aids to support your points.

In our community, we do weekly workshops on communication strategies and social skills, and you have ample opportunity to practice these skills, get feedback, and engage with the lively global community. 

Challenge yourself by speaking in front of different audiences such as friends, family, coworkers. Or in different settings such as in a classroom or networking events. Challenge yourself by speaking in front of these different diverse audiences at different times in different settings with different moods because this can help you develop your public speaking skills and equip you with the knowledge that you can address any type of audience in any setting. This really builds confidence. So you might give a presentation to your classmates, speak at a networking event, deliver a speech at a friend's wedding. Maybe it's an impromptu speech. And find other ways of giving speeches. 

Each of these situations will require you to adapt your delivery, your tone, and your content to specific audiences and settings, and that can help you become more flexible and effective as a speaker. 

Are you ready to put this into practice? Well, I have a set of quests for you to complete if you are a member of our private community Explearning Academy? So if you'd like the quests, the exercises, the discussion that goes along with it, an opportunity to submit your question or ask me live, then you can sign up for our community using the link down below or going to academy.explearning.co.

To sum up, practicing daily public speaking exercises can help you overcome your fear of speaking in front of others and improve your delivery, your tone, and your content. Whether you're giving a presentation at work, delivering a speech at a wedding, or participating in a public speaking club, these exercises will help you become a more confident, relaxed, and effective speaker. So why not give them a try and start building your public speaking skills right now?

Thank you for joining me. If you like this lesson, be sure to give it a thumbs up on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel, turn on the notification bell, and also check out the podcast, which you can find wherever you listen to your podcasts. Check out the website and lastly, join our community if you are looking to improve your social skills, your social fluency, and your communication skills. All right. See you in the next one. Happy Explearning!

About the Author and the Explearning Academy:

Mary Daphne is an expert in communication, executive interpersonal skills, and personal development. She is the founder of the Explearning Academy, a platform dedicated to helping individuals enhance their social fluency, boost their careers, and elevate their social game. Through immersive group coaching programs like the Executive Communication Lab and self-guided journeys, participants gain the social superpowers and career catapults they've been searching for. If you're ready to take your negotiation skills to the next level and connect with like-minded individuals, visit academy.explearning.co and explore the various plans available. Join the Explearning Academy community and unlock your full potential.

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