You may be an excellent speaker, may have excellent content but, if you are shabbily dressed, no one would at the first place like to listen to you and if at all they do, they would forget you as well as your speech the moment you leave the place.

Dress smartly. Casual dressing is a strict no no in office presentations. Do not wear something which will make you feel uncomfortable. Some people do wear tattered jeans and T shirt for office sessions and presentations. Such dressing works only when you are addressing a group of friends or probably your relatives or anyone you do not share a very formal relationship.

Trust me, wearing the right clothes makes you confident and you generally feel good from inside. Dressing casually also means that you generally are not serious towards the whole idea of addressing people and eventually your audience also find it extremely difficult to concentrate on the event. In such a case, they would attend the seminar and listen to you just for the sake of it.

Dressing correctly helps you create the first impression among your audience. As they say “First impression is the last impression” and it definitely matters a lot. Tom had excellent public speaking skills. He somehow became over confident and once went shabbily dressed to address his team members. Neither did he bother to iron his clothes nor polish his shoes. Not only his team members who once used to take TOM very seriously made fun of him but also never bothered to pay attention to what he was saying. They also avoided his sessions in the future. Such is the importance of dressing in public speaking. Since Tom was not neatly dressed, the audience perceived him to be a lazy and careless person who did not bother to take care of his own clothes. How would such a person take care of the team or for that matter entire organization?

One needs to dress correctly for a pleasing personality. Dressing as per the occasion definitely gives you an edge over others. Do not overdress. Females need not to look like a makeup box while addressing people. Remember, no one has asked you to look like a bride or for that matter a film actress. In this way, you would attract the attention of people but for all the wrong reasons. The overall idea is to look neat, tidy and presentable.

Do not wear revealing clothes while delivering presentations. If you believe, exposing would guarantee a huge crowd, you are sadly mistaken. Men should avoid wearing gaudy shirts or ill fitted trousers for presentations. Do not forget that dressing sensibly plays an essential role in earning respect for you. Dressing plays an important role in public speaking as it certainly reflects your seriousness towards job and life in general as well as your upbringing, thought process and overall attitude.

Make sure your shoes are polished and hair neatly combed. This is also an important aspect of right dressing. The best way to avoid blunders in dressing is to see yourself in the mirror before stepping out for sessions. Remember, dressing correctly will not only make you an excellent speaker but also a favourite among audience.

What is confidence? What is the difference between being confident and over confident? You really do not have to overreact or use a fake accent just to show that you are confident. Trust me; by doing so, you would spoil the show. What is the need of copying others? Aren’t we capable enough to handle our audience? You really do not need to worry if you know you are correct.

Self confidence is crucial in public speaking. Confidence reflects in the way you carry yourself. Some people are good communicators but when it comes to addressing a large number of people, they lose confidence.

Problems such as stage fear, nervousness disappear when you have confidence in yourself. There must be something in you and that is the reason why your superiors have asked you to address a large audience. Self confidence comes only when you know the agenda well and the purpose of the presentation is clear.

Why do you think the people would believe you if you yourself are not sure of your content? Remember, convincing people is definitely not a cake walk. But yes, the situation becomes easier when you are confident enough to not only convince others but also make them listen to you with rapt attention and also act accordingly.

Public speaking is not everyone’s cup of tea. Not every individual is comfortable standing in front of a large audience, making eye contact with them and delivering his content. Positive attitude plays an important role. Some people have the habit of cribbing on everything.

If your Boss walks up to you and asks you to address a group of say 50 employees, what would be your immediate reaction? Some people would definitely not like the idea and come up with several excuses to avoid the same. Where is the problem? Trust me, the problem is nowhere but in our attitude, the way we see things. Professionally it always helps to look at the brighter sides of things. Remember, cribbing leads to no solution.

An individual who accepts challenges with a smile is the one who climbs the success ladder within the shortest possible time frame. Do not make an issue of every small thing. One needs to stay positive. It not only reduces stress but also helps you deliver your hundred percent.

The job of a public speaker is to ensure that his/her audience has understood what was discussed at the session. Positive attitude helps you concentrate and also stay calm. Keep a smile on your face.

Positive attitude plays an essential role in helping you connect with your audience. Even if someone asks you a silly question, why do you have to be rude with him? Never find faults in others. You need to understand that if an individual has invested his time or probably money in attending your session, he /she has full rights to clear all doubts and go back home happy and satisfied.

People with a negative attitude generally find it difficult to adjust with fellow workers. Learn to accept your mistakes. Do not feel bad if someone points out your mistake. Instead make sure you do not repeat them in future. Positive attitude helps you deal with criticism and face critics.

Let us go through the role of public speaking in career growth:

Being a public speaker indeed makes you a popular face in your organization.

Let us go through two situations:

Tom worked really hard and never believed in bunking office. He was an introvert who remained glued to his computer most of the times and hardly interacted with his fellow workers or participated in extracurricular activities. He did meet his targets but never really bothered to attend office parties or address his juniors. Very few people knew Tom and his Bosses hardly spoke to him.

Jack, on the other hand, did not work as hard as Tom but always stayed in the limelight. He willingly participated in seminars, conferences and was an excellent speaker. He had excellent communication skills and made best possible use of the same. In no time, he became extremely popular in the office and everyone knew him by his name. Though he did miss his targets sometime, but he was always in his superior’s good books.

Who do you think was more successful?

Obviously Jack. Jack in a very short span of time became the team leader and got excellent perks and benefits. Tom suffered as nobody not even his Bosses knew that he was indeed a diligent worker.

When you address, say hundred people together on a common platform, people start recognizing you and acknowledging your talent. When you do something apart from your routine work not only your colleagues but also superiors notice you immediately. You climb the success ladder quickly if you are a familiar face among the management. Public speaking helps you acquire confidence – a must for every professional. It helps you get rid of fear, nervousness and you start believing in yourself.

Public speaking inculcates the habit of reading in individuals which goes a long way in acquainting them with the latest developments in their respective fields. One has to meticulously prepare notes/bullet points for the presentations and thus knows what is happening around. Professionals develop the habit of surfing informative websites and as a result come across several useful things which is not the case when people stick to the nine to five routine job.

For an individual to do well professionally, he/she needs to communicate effectively. Not everyone is born with effective communication skills but one can certainly master the same with time and practice.

Public speaking plays a crucial role in improving your communication skills. No one can explain the importance of two way communication better than a public speaker. Your communication with your Boss will not yield results unless and until he/she understands what you intend to communicate. Public speaking in true sense makes you an effective communicator- one of most important keys to success.

Public speaking helps you respect deadlines . Trust me, if you learn how to deliver within the stipulated time frame, nothing can stop you from being successful. You are generally allotted a time frame and you have to finish your presentation within that time frame. Dragging a presentation unnecessarily is useless. If you are allotted say two hours for your presentation, not only you have to finish with the actual content but also assign some time for question answers.

Public speaking inculcates managerial as well as leadership skills- again two very important skills in the professional world. It is no joke standing in front of a large number of people and making them listen to you. You learn how to become a role model for others and how to motivate people to act according to you.

Effective communication ensures the message reaches the audience in its correct and desired form. Communication is incomplete if the recipients are not aware as to what the sender intends to speak. Speak clearly and make sure your content is relevant and makes sense. You may speak in any language but your audience needs to understand your thoughts and ideas. Choose the correct words in your speech. Avoid using jargons and slangs in official communication.

Speak with confidence. Your communication needs to motivate your audience to follow what has been discussed in the seminar or conference. Support your content with practical examples so that people can relate it with their daily lives.

Two way communication is of utmost importance. A scenario where only the speaker speaks and others either sleep or fiddle with their cell phones is not the ideal one. People sitting in first two rows are generally attentive but what about those who are on the last benches? Trust me, in most of the cases they are lost somewhere else.

An individual is considered to be a good and effective speaker only when questions and queries come from even the last benchers. Motivate your audience to ask questions in between. It is always better to revert later if you are not clear on something rather than lying.

Style of communication also plays an important role in public speaking. There are very few individuals who really bother about their pitch and tone. What is the use of an excellent presentation if it is not communicated well? Speak loudly but clearly. You do not have to shout but make sure you are audible to everyone. Check with your audience whether they can hear you clearly or not? Do not forget that you are not speaking for yourself but for everyone sitting in the room.

Do not try to copy others. Inspiration is alright but problem arises when people try to blindly follow their colleagues or bosses. Every individual has his/her own style and it is always better to stick to it. Speaking with a fake accent is a strict no no in public speaking.

Allow people to express their ideas and opinions. Do not expect a yes in everything you say. A session is effective only when every individual sitting in the forum agrees to the terms, conditions, policies and so on discussed in the session. Forcing your ideas on your audience does not make sense in today’s business scenario.

One needs to prepare well before a session but you just can’t predict everything your audience might ask. It is practically impossible to jot down everything you intend to speak. Fluency is of utmost importance and it comes with thorough practice. No one is born with effective communication skills but trust me, it comes with hard work, time, dedication and of course practice.

Use the right tenses. Take extreme care of your grammar. Take care of punctuation marks. Give pauses in between. For effective communication it is important to develop eye contact with your audience. Enrich your vocabulary. It helps in public speaking. Take care of your body language as well.

Public speaking is not that easy as it sounds. One needs to practice really well for the same.

The first and the foremost step towards preparing for public speaking is to be very clear about the agenda. Ask yourself as to why do you need to address people? Do not call people just for the sake of it. Once you are clear with the topic, do as much research as you can. Remember, your audience can ask you anything under the sky. You can’t skip every question.

Thorough knowledge about the topic to be discussed is in fact the key to an effective session. There are speakers who prefer taking notes/bullet points to the session. I do not say that it is a wrong practice but reading only from the notes is certainly not acceptable and expected out of a good and professional speaker.

Why are you the chosen one to represent your company in front of all the employees in case you just have to read out notes? In fact anyone can do the same.

Understand that eye contact is a crucial aspect in public speaking. It helps you connect with your audience instantly and more over people also take you seriously. Remember, one needs to be spontaneous and it comes only when you yourself are clear as to what you intend to speak.

You can take few points just in case you have a bad memory but always try to make your session an interactive one for better results. Be prepared for the worst questions. Surf various informative websites, read related books, articles, notes and gather as much relevant information as you can.

Support your content with live case studies, practical examples and authentic data. You can also make a nice presentation to share with your audience but make sure your presentation highlights only the key points. Presentation is always in bullets and you just do not have to include paragraphs and stories in it.

Practicing well is another step towards preparing for public speaking. Never be over confident. Give your presentation in front of either a friend or colleague whom you trust and who is capable of giving you honest and correct feedback. Incorporate the changes as suggested. If you cannot find someone, stand in front of the mirror and speak. It works! It helps you realize your mistakes and shortcomings.

Dressing appropriately helps you carve a niche of your own and leave an everlasting impression. You really do not have to wear your bridal outfit but yes wear something you yourself are sure of. Wear comfortable clothes and no casual clothing to formal presentations. A white shirt with a black fitted trouser is the ideal combination. Wearing a tie or not is entirely your choice.

Do not wear belts with a broad and flashy buckle. Girls should not wear dresses with a deep neck revealing their cleavage. Dress decently and most importantly neatly. You do not have to put layers of make up just because you have to address people on a public forum.

Divide your speech in parts and be very careful about your time limit. There is no point in unnecessarily dragging a presentation. If your time limit is two hours, make sure you assign some time for your own and company’s introduction, the actual content and also for question answer round in the end. Be very confident and believe in yourself.

Let us understand the meaning of public speaking with the help of a very simple example:

Tim was the managing director of XYZ industries. Tim wanted to circulate the company policies to all his employees and everyone directly or indirectly associated with his firm. Neither he wanted to send an email nor he had the time to call all his employees and explain the rules and regulations individually. He finally decided to call all his employees on a common platform and address them. The impact was definitely much more as Tim could personally meet all his employees and yes even the staff members were really happy as the message came straight from their top Boss. Queries were addressed and nobody could blame each other later on.

This act of speaking to a large group of people with an intention of informing them about something is called as public speaking. Public speaking helps you communicate directly with your target audience at a single time.

The most important thing in public speaking is selecting the right topic. The agenda needs to be very clear. Do not just call people for the sake of it unless and until you are absolutely clear as to what you intend to communicate. Personal issues need not to be discussed on a public forum. If John has a personal problem with any of his team members, then does he need to call all the employees for a public meeting? Absolutely NOT.

Remember, public speaking plays an important role only when the topic is related to all and everybody needs to be informed of the same. Make sure you choose the right words while addressing people. One wrong word and you are gone. No one would believe you in future.

Be very confident while addressing people. Do not forget to make an eye contact with your audience. It helps you establish a relationship with them. There are people who look here and there while speaking. Such a practice needs to be avoided at all cost.

Be precise and crisp. It is foolish to play with words on an open forum. Do not unnecessarily cook stories but come to the point immediately. No one really has the time to listen to your stories. A public speaker needs to be smart and intelligent enough to understand the reactions as well as moods of his audience. Dragging the session unnecessarily is of no use.

Maintain a smile on your face. There is no need to be nervous if you know what you have to speak. Remember, public speaking is an art. Not everyone is born with public speaking skills. It comes with time. Be extremely careful of your pitch. Be neither too loud nor too soft. There are people who speak only for the people sitting in the first row. Speak clearly and make sure you are audible even to the people sitting on the last bench.

Dress appropriately. You just can’t afford to wear a tattered jeans and a T shirt while addressing your office people. They will never take you seriously.

Make the session interesting and interactive. Ask questions in between and do give time to your audience to ask questions and clear their doubts.

The venue, sound system, dais, lights also are important aspects of public speaking. Make sure you have a proper auditorium or a conference hall for addressing people where they can sit comfortably. Stand on an elevated platform where everyone can see you clearly.It helps.The microphone and other sound system must be in proper working condition.