ESL PROFESSIONALS - 5 PRACTICAL PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS

PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS for ESL PROFESSIONALS in MEETINGS

 If you think people still judge you for your accent, here is the antidote. 

Your listeners do not know how much you have already worked to improve your public speaking and presentations at work!  They only want to hear your ideas without effort today.  

YOUR ACCENT IS NOT A PROBLEM AT ALL WHEN PEOPLE UNDERSTAND YOU THE FIRST TIME YOU SAY SOMETHING. 

Are you still occasionally asked to repeat? 

Read this:

 Here’s how to sound confident and clear—without over-preparing every word.

 1.   Do not write your speech! You know these ideas so make an outline to remind yourself of the key points to make and speak as if you are telling one person, even when there are many people in the room. Do you listen to people more when they read their talk or when they explain their points to you?

2.   Plan your Opener

3.   Plan your Close

4.   Rehearse the Opener and Close aloud, speaking slower than normal.  Articulate very clearly.

5.   Put both in an outline, with your Main Points in between.

a.   These Main Points often use the PREP Framework - Point, Reason, Example, Point repeated.

b.   Pause after saying a key idea.  This gives you time to breathe and listeners time to process.

6.   Acknowledge other’s ideas, “I agree.” And “I agree, and I’d like to add…”

 BONUS MICRO-HABIT

Record yourself rehearsing but wait an hour before you listen. Play it back. If you think you sound professional, others will too.

 Who is the writer? Reesa Woolf PhD is the granddaughter of immigrants who has devoted her career to assisting ESL professionals move as high as they’d like in their careers. She has degrees in business speech and business psychology and became a convention keynote speaker after teaching Public Speaking Without Fear for 25 years. She heals public speaking fear and smooths accents in 6-sessions.