Robin Roberts’s 7 Tips for Public Speaking

Robin Roberts has been a Good Morning America anchor for more than a decade. Before that, she was the first black, female anchor on ESPN’s flagship program, SportsCenter. She’s interviewed President Barack Obama, reported on the ground in Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina, and spoken publicly about her breast cancer and Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Robin’s work has given her plenty of opportunities to hone her public speaking skills.

Whether you’re going to be a presenter at a professional conference or just need help delivering a toast at a wedding, here are Robin’s public speaking tips to help you get over the jitters and feel great when you stand up in front of an audience:

1. 1. Prepare. Preparation equals confidence. Even those people who embrace the stage and look like they’re ad-libbing their way through a great speech have some predetermined talking points. You should outline your speech, including a list of all the main points you’d like to touch on. Definitely try to avoid writing out your speech in full or memorizing it word-for-word; you’ll sound stiff and insincere. This doesn’t mean you can’t write down anything—Robin suggests using index cards with bullets to help you remember your important points.
2. 2. Know your audience. The way you present your key points, in large part, should be determined by your audience (whether it’s a live audience or people listening in online or on TV). Great speakers ask themselves: “What does my audience want to hear?” For Robin, answering this question sometimes means asking an audience member. She’ll ask the person who invited her to speak what they’re hoping she would convey, and then she’ll plan accordingly by writing out some pertinent bullet points.
3. 3. Tell stories. Communicating effectively during a speaking engagement requires that you engage your audience. Robin does this by sharing personal anecdotes. If you can use a personal story to insert yourself into your talking points, you’ll show that you mean what you’re saying.
4. 4. Know where to look. If you’re speaking to a very large audience, Robin suggests looking just over the crowd’s eye line rather than making eye contact with a few people. That will make it appear that you’re looking at everyone while giving you the personal comfort of not having to be constantly reminded of the crowd’s daunting size. In a smaller crowd, find that one person who’s looking straight at you and hanging on to your every word. Speak to them. They’ll make you feel confident about your speech.
5. 5. Keep it simple. You don’t need to impress the audience with your sentence structure. When you get up in front of others, you need to keep them engaged with short phrases and quick, snappy stories. Audiences’ attention spans are always limited, and your speech better cater to that.
6. 6. Enunciate. An oft-overlooked element in the art of public speaking is making sure your audience can tell what you’re saying through enunciation and clear syntax. Perfect diction takes some serious practice. Robin managed to get rid of her filler words, like “you know,” but that took paying attention to her own speech patterns. You first have to identify your verbal tics before you can get rid of them.
7. 7. Remember that it won’t always be perfect. It’s a plain fact about any public speech: your speech isn’t always going to be a hit. Robin acknowledges that there’s not much you can do when that happens. Just keep talking like you’re killing it and get through what you came there to say.

Learn more about effective and authentic communication from Emmy-winning “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts. Communicate effectively, embrace vulnerability, and live life with optimism with the MasterClass Annual Membership.