Ten simple tips for your first speech

Almost everyone has a fear of speaking in front of a group their first few times. In fact, it's the number one fear for most Americans, beating fear of death on most people's list.

The video clip on your right shows the famous speech from  "Meet John Doe,"  a 1941 classic by Frank Capra. In it, Gary Cooper illustrates ten simple techniques for making a great public speech your very first time.

    You'll notice that John Doe (Gary Cooper) is really nervous! Like you, this is obviously his first public speech. Folks are interrpting him, his voice cracks, his hands are trembling. He even gets heckled within the first few seconds, Yet he overcomes it to give an amazing speech. How did he do it? 

     Here are ten of the tricks you can learn from him:

1. Take a second to look at the audience before you begin. Smile and breathe.
2. Keep your composure by imagining you're talking to a friend or cousin. Remember, everyone out there puts their pants on one leg at a time just like you.
3. Use humor to break the tension. It's always good to prepare and rehearse a joke, but make sure it's simple, short, and appropriate. People will laugh 99 out of 100 times because your audience is almost always rooting for you ... and they like to laugh.
   
4. Look up as often as possible and make eye contact with your audience. Pick out different people around the audience and look right into their eyes.
5. Keep it simple. You don't have to impress people with complex ideas or big words.
   
6. No matter what, keep your speech shorter than the time allotted to you. Rehearse with a stopwatch or clock so you're not guessing.
   
7. If you're a first timer, use a text if you have to but it's better to use a few notecards and speak as extemporaneously as you can.
   
8. Believe in what you're saying. Speak with conviction, even emotion.
   
9. Even if your topic is dry, make it human. A good way to do this is tell an anecdote or an illustration of one specific event.
10. Make sure you have one major point to get across and you can summarize it in one short sentence. In this case, it's "tear down the fences between you and your neighbor and you'll tear down hatred."

 Relax, have a good time, and enjoy the applause afterwards.