What to look for in a Public Speaking Course

People often ask me why they should join my public speaking courses as opposed to joining others. There are many public speaking courses in the market, some good, others not. Below is a number of points to consider when looking for a public speaking course.

1. Consider the skills of the person who will be delivering the course. Are they someone who has been there and done it before, or are they a "wanna-be". There are some great people who have won major competitions with their speaking, and these include David Brooks, Craig Valentine as well as my favourite, Darren laCroix.
2. Not everyone can be a world champion speaker. However, you can find some speakers who have the skills that you need all the same. These include Darren Fleming, Jeff Justice and Eric Feng.
3. Make sure that the course that you are interested in has what you are after. Many courses out there want to turn you into a keynote speaker and promise that you will make lots of money in your new found career. However, if you just want to be able to communicate more clearly with clients and colleagues, then you need to look at what your public speaking course will achieve and see if the results are what you are after.
4. A good public speaking course will have a clear outline that is based in the 'real world'. That is, if you are a very nervous speaker, don't look for the magic trick that will turn you into the next Bill Clinton. Look for something that is achievable and can get you the results you need.
5. See if you can get Public speaking course testimonials. yes, it is easy to fudge these, so look for one that have company names listed.
6. Choose a reputable organisation that has a history behind it. Toastmasters International offers a number of programs that can improve your skills. Toastmasters Australia has a number of public speaking courses that can show you how to progress.
7. Finally, try to get a public speaking course that has the ability to video your presentations so you can take it away and review it later. You will learn an amazing amount just from watching your own performance.

If you need some more information about public speaking courses, or even one-on-one public speaking coaching drop me a line and I will help you out.

Cheers

Darren Fleming

www.executivespeaking.com.au

Australian Public speaking courses

Ways to improve public speaking skills

1. One-on-one public speaking coaching will allow you to really improve your skills. Often CEO's and the like use one-on-one coaching to refine their skills to allow them to be the leader they need to be.
2. Toastmasters: Toastmasters is the worlds leading organisation for teaching public speaking. Based in the USA, it has clubs all over the world. This link will take you to Toastmasters in Australia. I have been a member of Toastmasters in South Australia for years and have benefited greatly from it. Another organisation that can help with this is Australia's Rostrum. Rostrum has their own program designed to improve your public speaking skills
3. Another way to improve your public speaking skills is to attend a "private" public speaking course. This link will take you to a one-day course. You can get extended public speaking courses that offer more information.
4. You can visit various public speaking websites to get information for free on them. Some great ones are Executive Speaking, David Brooks, the public speaking blog, Tom Antion, and of course this blog as it grows!
5. Read articles on public speaking. You can get great articles on public speaking by trawling the net.
6. Join the National Speakers Association. While this association does not teach public speaking in the same way that Toastmasters does, it will give you the skills that build on Toastmasters training. There are National Speakers associations all over the world. I am a member of the National Speakers Association of Australia
7. Finally, you can just get out there and practice. As the the 2001 Word Champion of Public Speaking Darren LaCroix says, "Stage time, Stage time, Stage time" is the best way to improve. Just get up and have a go. You wont be as bad as you think you are - no one ever is.

'til next time.

Cheers
Darren Fleming
Australia's Public Speaking Coach