Learning to speak in public can be a very intimidating process. However, it can be very beneficial for work and professional settings. You can overcome your fears and learn to speak with confidence. Practice the following advice to become more comfortable. The more you work on this skill, the better you will be.

When you are speaking in public, there is usually a time frame that you need to stick to. Make sure that you get to your key points before your time is up. Otherwise, you will have wasted all of our time since the audience will not have received the message you were trying to deliver.

It is important that everything you say during your speech is related to the topic. Even if you are going to tell jokes, they should be related in some way. This will help keep the audience focused on the subject at hand and prevent things from going too far off course.

If you have to speak publicly, try to keep it at twenty minutes or less. This is the average attention span of most individuals, so speaking for longer than this is going to risk boring them. If you have to speak for longer than this, find some way to change gears in the middle to liven things up.

Know your material inside and out. Even when you commit your speech to memory, knowing jokes, facts and figures with regard to the topic is always helpful. Work them in on the fly depending on how you gauge your audience. Be prepared for more questions on the subject.

When preparing to make a speech, be sure to understand the concept of your topic first. Do a lot of research so you have not only your point of view, but others as well. Think through what you want to say, and put those thoughts down on paper so you can follow your own train of thought. You will sound more professional if you know how to answer their questions.

Some people prepare their notes for speaking in public by using a tablet or other device; however, this is not necessarily a good idea. Murphy’s law is sure to strike and leave you with a dead battery, a stolen device or some other catastrophe. Be safe and write your remarks on index cards as well as keeping them on your mobile device.

Make sure that the beginning of your speech is a moment to relax. Greet and address your audience. Then pause for three seconds. This gives them a chance to focus on you, while you get a moment to transform your nervous energy into enthusiasm for the material you are about to deliver.

Now you know some of the tips used by masters of public speaking. Use them in your own life to help boost your confidence. The more comfortable you are speaking in public, the greater your opportunities to advance in your profession. Take notes from what you have just read and apply them to your situation.