How to Become Better at Public Speaking

Hey y’all,

A few days ago, I had the biggest public speaking opportunity of my life.

I gave a 10-minute keynote about my YouTube journey in front of 400 YouTube employees, including executives. Nearly 1,000 employees were also tuning in live.

And it went really well.

I’ve been decent at public speaking all my life, though most of my opportunities have been within the classroom. Before this speech, my last “real” speaking opportunity (and by that I mean speaking to a crowd of at least 100+ people) was my graduation speech.

Since this whole experience is still fresh in my head, I want to spend some time this week going over a few of my public speaking tips.

Tip #1: Put on a Performance

To a degree, public speaking is performative. It’s not just about the words you say, but how you say them.

It’s about how your body language, tonality, and pacing come together with your words to enthrall the audience—to captivate them from start to finish.

The next time you have to public speak, I want you to imagine that you’re an actor. Imagine you’re the most captivating, charismatic orator the world has ever seen.

Sounds cheesy, I know. But if you only engage in negative self-talk leading up to the speech, you’re much more likely to fumble.

Coming in with a confident mindset—one that might even be detached for your true emotional state—will not only help quell your nerves, but help you feel present during your speech. You’ll feel looser and relaxed, your body language will seem more natural, and your words will hold more power.

And here’s another secret: once you step on that stage (or step in front of the classroom), chances are most of your nerves will naturally disappear.

I find that the most nerve-wracking part of public speaking isn’t the speech itself, but the time leading up to the speech.

“What will they think of me?”

“What if I mess up?”

These thoughts are natural. But I promise you that even if you do mess up, nobody will remember a day later. People have more important things to dwell over than your minor slip-up (and I mean that in the nicest way possible).

Tip #2: Incorporate Humor

During my speech, I made a few lighthearted statements that got the crowd laughing. I’m not a comedian, so I wasn’t up there cracking jokes.

But I was having fun with my speech!

I made a statement that poked fun at the CEO’s alma mater (in a playful way). I talked about how uploading a Minecraft video is a “rite of passage” for any big YouTuber. And I even poked fun at elite colleges.

I find that lighthearted humor is appropriate in almost any context and only shows that you’re human.

If you’re not having fun writing and saying your speech, chances are your audience isn’t having fun listening.

Tip #3: Tell Stories

Along the same lines, I highly recommend that you tell stories during your speech.

Again, it goes back to the golden rule: “Show, don’t tell.”

Don’t just stand on that stage and rattle off a bunch of random facts and statistics. Bring those facts and numbers to live with anecdotes that paint a vivid picture.

I was on stage to talk about my YouTube journey. So I told the story of why I started, the story of when my account started to take off, and even the story of when my brother and I founded Next Admit. (Shameless plug: check us out if you need help with your college essays!)

Stories will help your audience feel a stronger personal connection and allow your speech to leave a bigger impact.

Tip #4: Chunk Up Your Speech

This one is a technical tip that helped me memorize my entire speech within a day or so.

During my speech, I had access to a teleprompter, though I only looked up at it once or twice. I pretty much had my entire speech memorized by heart.

I did this by chunking my speech.

I printed out my speech and drew lines to divide it up into chunks. Each chunk represented a distinct idea or theme.

For example, the first chunk of my speech was the intro, the second chunk of my speech was about my first YouTube video, the third chunk was about my education, and so on.

Instead of trying to memorize each line individually, I went chunk-by-chunk, which helped me feed it into my memory faster.

Tip #5: Practice Like Crazy

Alright, this one should be obvious, but I practiced a ton. Although I memorized the speech fairly quickly, I kept delivering it over and over and over again.

I wanted to leave no room for error.

In the two days leading up to the event, I practiced my speech around twelve times, including a few times before bed. I also practiced twice the morning of the speech.

But I didn’t practice right before the speech.

In the minutes leading up the speech, I didn’t want to feel all nervous or angsty about my lines. By that point, I felt that if I had it, I had it.

And fortunately, I did.

This was a fun newsletter to write! Felt more like a personal story rather than a list of tips. Do you like this format? DM me on Instagram (@goharsguide) to let me know!

If you want additional study advice, come join my Discord! We have a global community of students helping each other succeed in school. Would love to see you there.

And if you need help with college applications, check out Next Admit! We have a team of Ivy League consultants eager to help you navigate the admissions process.

I’ll see you next week!

Best,
Gohar