Never forget to breathe properly when you deliver a talk in public.
Before starting your talk, take a deep breath.
You must feel that you have enough air in your lungs.
Breathe out as you speak your first words and pause briefly between each sentence and refill your lungs.
Don’t speak too fast or you’ll run out of breath and oxygen won’t get to your brain and you’ll start to feel dizzy and you’ll lose track of what you were saying. Right, where was I? Ah yes, a deep breath to clear my mind and start again.
Don’t be afraid to take longer pauses than you are normally do. … They allow you to breathe deeply … They help you to relax and release tension … They give you time to think what to say next. …. And to choose the best words …. They add a dramatic quality … And your audience might even think … that you’re reflecting deeply on what you are saying …
But sometimes … you talk too … slowly … with long … pauses in the wrong … places ….
OK, you are going slow, but you’re out of breath anyway! In this case remember to breathe in with your nose when you finish a sentence and breathe out slowly when you talk.
Get some practise reading a few texts out loud and every time you feel a bit out of breath, take a long pause and a couple of deep breaths, just like a swimmer before diving into water.
And you’ll see that everything goes much more smoothly.
