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The Ultimate Guide to Developing Confidence in Public Speaking
Many kids in schools fear expressing themselves, and as a result, their confidence remains at a low and they develop poor self-esteem. The idea of numerous eyeballs fixed on them, while they speak, may haunt them.
This nervousness that children feel stems from a lack of understanding on how to gain confidence in speaking. This is where the skill of speaking with confidence plays a crucial role in the growing stages of children’s lives.
Children must be well acquainted with how to build confidence in speaking because it will enhance their communication skills, and ensure success in their respective careers. It is also essential to plant the seeds of confidence in children while they are in their growing years. It will become an integral part of their personalities as they move ahead in life.
In this article, we will help you to develop confidence in public speaking through fun and easy activities and routines that you can engage within your daily life.
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Top 15 Ways To Gain Confidence In Speaking
Here are 15 activities that a child can do regularly to build confidence in speaking:
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Watch Inspirational Talks
Getting introduced to inspirational talks can be the first step towards building your confidence in public speaking. It can often be difficult for you to develop confidence in speaking, especially if you have been shy and reserved your whole childhood.
Watching Ted Talk and other similar host-led educational videos can be helpful in such cases. There are thousands of videos available on the internet on a wide range of topics. Watching these videos will allow you to have a first-hand understanding of public speaking.
While watching such videos, you can also engage yourself in writing about topics you find interesting. This includes taking notes about what you liked and disliked in the speech, and later discussing it with a friend or family member.
Having discussions on such topics by referring to your notes is how you will gain confidence in speaking.
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Record yourself while speaking
Another routine that you should start following as you develop the habit of speaking with confidence is to record yourself. If you are one of the many people who get uncomfortable while watching themselves talk, this is going to help you massively.
Since communicating through video is taking over texting, recording yourself will only help you to speak with confidence. The skill of presenting ideas and thoughts over video is going to prepare you for many situations in the future.
To achieve the skills of speaking well and presenting yourself sophisticatedly, you need to watch yourself speaking.
By watching yourself speak you will be able to build confidence in speaking by reflecting on your style of communication, tone of speech, and mistakes. Try to record every time you practise speaking to build a positive mental image yourself.
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Participate in Debates
Debate is one of the most valuable activities. Many online platforms hold small debates regularly. Even if you don’t have access to these platforms, you can always go up to your most opinionated friends and ask them to have a discussion with you on some topic.
Debating promotes confidence and positive public presentation, which will further help you develop confidence in public speaking.
Some other skills that are polished through participating in debates are critical thinking, quick thinking, emotional control, and many others. These skills are essential to gain confidence in speaking.
While speaking in public you need to manage your nerves and think positively. At the same time, you should be able to think quickly in case you get stuck or make a mistake.
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Participate in Group Discussion
If you are someone who likes to have an open discussion rather than fierce debates, then you should practise what you like. Participating in group discussion, whether it is within your school, home, or friend circle can positively affect boosting your confidence to speak in public.
Speaking out loud about a topic that you have learned will help you build confidence in your learning and yourself.
Group discussions are also important to realise and reflect upon your mistakes when someone gives you feedback.
Feedback can also affect a person negatively, and if you are someone who is not used to getting feedback then you should have discussions only in an environment that you trust- this includes your friends and family.
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Storytelling Sessions
Holding storytelling sessions with your family and friends is a great activity to not only have fun but also to help you gain confidence in speaking. You can hold these sessions occasionally either at your home, in a park, or anywhere you are comfortable.
Such sessions not only ensure that your creative skills are polished but also help you to gain confidence through the development of communication skills.
It is going to be even more beneficial if you hold storytelling sessions for your little brothers and sisters. Small children are prone to asking more questions and keeping you on their toes, and you won’t have to be scared of making a mistake in front of them. All of this will be in favour of you to build confidence in public speaking.
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Show and Tell
If you are a parent trying to help your children gain confidence in speaking, you can start with the famous ‘Show and Tell’.
For those of you who don’t know what this is- it refers to an activity in which a child is given an object and he/she has to speak about it for around 3 minutes. This activity will set the stage for your child to gain confidence in speaking in public.
Show and Tell provides your child a way to engage with their thoughts and speak them aloud in an understandable way. It develops the skills of communication and spontaneity in children, which further helps them to speak with confidence.
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Film Review Sessions
Every OTT platform has a separate section for kids, and it is correct to say that every child enjoys movies. Whether it is a Disney movie or one from the Harry Potter series, the list of movies for a child to watch is endless.
But have you ever thought of conducting a film review session with your child? Trust us, it is one of the best ways to help a child gain confidence in speaking.
Public speaking is essentially a way of expressing your thoughts on a subject, in front of a large group of people. Film review sessions fall under the same umbrella. It is one of the steps to develop confidence in public speaking. If you are a teenager then you can initiate such sessions with your family and peers.
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Mock Expert Interview
This is a fun and relaxing activity for both children and young adults. It is exactly what it sounds like- you have to conduct a mock interview with an expert.
It is up to the child to decide the subject that the interviewee is an expert in. The part of the interviewee can be played by a parent, grandparent, friend, sibling, or anyone.
For younger children, the subject can be as stupid as a ‘slime expert’ and for older children, it can be something interesting like sports or dishes. The motive behind this activity is to let the brain of the child run free so that he or she can come up with interesting questions.
This will help build their confidence as the child will be in a position of authority and will be asking open-ended questions on random topics.
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Describe the Image
This is a friendly game that can be played on video conferencing or at a dinner table. People of all age groups can play this game, but it is specifically helpful for children to gain confidence in speaking. In this game, random images are to be put in a box and one speaker at a time will pick an image and talk about it.
If a child is stuck and is unable to speak further, then questions can be asked regarding the image which will push him or her to keep on speaking.
It is a fun game to play to help your child with thinking outside the box, expressing their thoughts clearly, and building confidence through all this.
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The Importance of Body Language in Public Speaking
Shy children often hesitate from making eye contact or using gestures with another person while speaking to them. This can come across as a lack of confidence and poor command over body language in the child.
Knowing how to maintain eye contact and use appropriate gestures is important to allow the child to present themselves as confident. You can teach your child to practise positive body language by encouraging them to use a mirror while delivering a speech or presentation.
Physically playing games with them that incorporate the use of gestures and eye contact can be helpful to develop confidence in them over time. Teach your child to look in your eyes for a few seconds and then move their gaze slowly towards another spot on the face, like the forehead.
And then resume again to look and maintain eye contact. Practise this with your child before their big presentation to help with maintaining positive body language.
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Starting with writing
Public speaking is about expressing your thoughts to an audience clearly and concisely. If your words and writing are not on point and nicely structured, you can lose confidence while speaking. That is why it is essential to start with writing and practise it regularly.
You can do this by writing for a given duration of time on a random topic and then structuring it and re-structuring it, till it starts to sound clear in your head. After you are confident in your writing, it will be easy for you to gain confidence in speaking.
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Joining Public Speaking groups
Several public speaking groups are available, both online and offline, for you to join to enhance your public speaking experience. You don’t have to directly step in front of an audience, you can start by joining a small group that holds public speaking sessions weekly or monthly.
Joining such a group will allow you to constantly be in touch with public speaking and build your confidence in speaking. You will be able to guide newcomers and learn from experienced people at the same time.
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Read books
Reading books is one such activity that everyone should do, irrespective of whether they want to do public speaking or not. Reading is an excellent instrument to enhance your verbal skills.
If you feel like you are not good at communicating then you should start reading books. Not only does reading offer a wide range of topics to talk about, but it also broadens your understanding of the world around you.
Therefore, reading helps in building confidence, and communication skills. Parents should encourage their children to read daily, as it is going to plant values and social skills inside them.
It is one of the most important habits that should be taken into consideration if children and young adults want to gain confidence in speaking.
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Use the Storytelling Cards
This is also one of the fun games, which helps in building confidence to speak fluently in public. In the storytelling game, a child is made to choose from a bunch of cards, and then use that card as a prompt to tell a story out loud. Parents can buy these cards online, or they can make their cards to personalise the game.
This activity will help the child to use their imagination spontaneously. As the child will try to structure his thoughts into words, he/she will gain confidence in speaking. This game is perfect for all age groups and can be played with family members and friends.
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Learn note-making
Note-making is one of the few skills that can be underestimated because of the time it takes to finally get a hang of it. It is also one of the essential skills which are needed to gain confidence in public speaking. Note-making helps the child with critical thinking skills, which discourages them from overreliance on the text.
Parents can teach their children note-making by telling them to write down things, which they found extraordinary, from their favourite books. Planetspark also offers free creative writing trials as a way to introduce children to note-making.
This will develop the child’s habit of remembering key highlights from a big text. It will allow them to focus on the main subject and speak confidently on it.
These tips on speaking with confidence will help children and young adults to move forward in their careers, become influential public speakers and confident adults. Apart from these tips, children should also take part in improvisational dramas, do mindful exercises and discuss their favourite topics with friends and family.
Confidence is important in the overall development of the child, it motivates them to speak in public.
Parents can encourage their children to speak confidently in public by having open communication in their houses through fun activities and games, including the ones mentioned above.
Children learn from their parents more than they learn from anyone else, that is why parents play an important role in developing their confidence.
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