Practising Quick Tips for the Stage – Nurturing Our Young Communicators

It’s a big speech, your child is selected to address the school, and most of the content is already prepared. What is the best way for your child to prepare before the presentation in this scenario? While we often see the preparation process as a holistic journey from the ideation phase to the body language elements. In reality, most of our presentations may not benefit from the long timeline to run through the entire process.

There is a quicker way for your child to run through the finer details of their presentation before the big moment comes. This assumes that the available content, script, or materials are ready for the presentation. All that is left is to manage the stage fears leading up to the moment and practise the finer elements of the speech/presentation for a professional stage performance. For our young communicators, these few moments leading up to the stage can be tough to navigate.

Today, we will share three quick tips that your child can apply to help ease those nerves before the big delivery on stage.

Public Speaking Tip #1: What is Important?

The first tip encourages our young communicators to re-visit their script and content. As speakers, we may have practised the script and content to such a level of familiarity that we can present the entire presentation without referring. However, this may sometimes lead to complacency, especially in a high-stress, high-stakes situation. A moment of pause on stage may derail the speaker’s mind as they deliver.

One of the ways to manage this is to internalise the speech by re-visiting the script and cultivating muscle memory of the key parts of the speech. For example, instead of repeatedly running through the full script, your child can focus on the first lines in the introduction, the transitions, stories, or even the conclusion. In keeping this focus, they will remind themselves of the important aspects of their presentation and deliver those segments with confidence.

Public Speaking Tip #2: Lock that Content

One of the better habits to keep is to lock the script down from further revisions in the final few moments leading up to a presentation (or a few days before even!). Having the courage to lock the content will allow our young communicators the space to stay focused on their preparation. In contrast, having the mentality of last-minute tweaks/changes may derail your child’s focus or even cause unnecessary pressure on our young presenter!

Locking the content need not be a rigid, stressful process. Instead, your child can set clear parameters of the script that they are comfortable with. We have seen young speakers in our class who are comfortable keeping a story more fluid by locking down the general story curve. Some prefer to commit to specific research points or evidence in their speeches. No matter the setting, the main principle applies – locking the key content will encourage your child to stay focused on the presentation goal.

Public Speaking Tip #3: Breathe and Walk

We have shared stage fear/anxiety management tips for our young communicators in previous articles. From power poses to breathing exercises, these techniques should remain within your child’s pre-speech routine to ensure a calmer and more confident delivery style. Beyond these elements, encourage your child to consider the various logistical aspects of the presentation – How big is the stage? Is there a podium? How big is the audience? Keeping some of these aspects in mind will prevent a shock when the presentation comes along.

Your Last-Minute Tips!

While we always encourage our communicators to allocate sufficient time to prepare their speech (in content and delivery), we understand that this may not be possible. Even without a dedicated speech preparation process, your child should still have an emergency set of last-minute tips to help them face and overcome their speaking setting. We hope that the quick tips above can form part of your child’s routine!

WATCH: “Last-Minute” Presentation/ Public Speaking Tips

If you are keen to take your public speaking skills & presentation skills (either business/corporate presentation / kids in-class presentation) to the next level so that you may communicate and deliver speeches with greater flair and charisma, feel free to check out our public speaking/ presentation skills course for adults and public speaking course for children below!

We want to help you bring out the best in your team, organization, and company. Public speaking and communication skills for the workplace, such as persuasion, remain a priority for most corporate training out there. We believe in staying ahead of the curve in sharing the contemporary communication skills to help you and your team remain relevant, competitive and nimble. Through our customized corporate training programmes, your team will benefit from an in-depth, hands-on, and potential-maximising public speaking & presentation skills training programme!

Feel free to reach out to us to curate your own public speaking corporate training programme for your team, company, or organization! Let us help you develop them into highly effective public speakers at work, empowered with effective presentation skills & storytelling skills – them giving speeches with charisma, influence and impact is something you can look forward to!