How To Project Confidence

Hi, I'm Simon Bucknall and in 2008, I won the European Championship of Public Speaking. At the Art of Connection, we help ambitious professionals to connect with their audience and we do it by bringing world class communications expertise into the training room to enable our clients to persuade, influence and inspire others. More people would rather die than stand and speak in front of an audience, or so the saying goes.

But it's true that nerves, lack of confidence, is one of the biggest barriers, stop so many people from standing up and speaking, and for those who do stand up and speak, it can make, for some of them, the whole experience miserable. So, how can you project greater confidence? Well, here are some tips that may help. The first is all to do with mindset.

Most people, when they're feeling nervous, they feel low on confidence, are worrying about what the audience will think of them. Do I look stupid? Does my bum look big in this? Am I going to sound silly? Am I going to forget everything that's in my head? Isn't this true? We both know it is. In fact as an audience member, if I'm listening to you, I don't care whether you feel nervous.

I don't care whether you are worried about forgetting your lines. All I care about is do you have something of value for me. And so the next time you're in front of an audience, remember your audience is there wanting you to succeed because they want you to communicate the best that you have.

Another tip is something so simple, I promise everyone can do it and it's this. At the start of your talk, before you do anything else, pause. Many people feel they have to rush in to the presentation.

Before people have even stopped talking, the room fall in silent. But if you take just a few moments to allow the audience to settle, don't say anything. Not only would it ensure the people are listening to you but they'll be impressed by the self-confidence it takes to stand in front of a room and stay silent.

Finally, something else that you can use to help add to the confidence you project is your voice. Simply by raising the volume of which you speak will create a greater impact on the audience. It'll also make you feel different.

It'll get the energy going and your body is you feel the words going out to the very back of the room. Nervous people tend to speak more quietly. So, keep the volume nice and high and you will achieve greater impact with your audience and you'll project that confidence. .