Why Improve Speaking Skills?

Why should you practice your public speaking and presentation skills at least once per week?

The short answer to this question is because speaking and presentation skills are developed over time. You can’t just read a book or take a 3-session speech class and expect much of your skills to improve or last. Speaking skills must be practiced ongoing or your skills will start to fade.

For ongoing speaking practice and improvement in a supportive environment, Toastmasters clubs are still one of the only options. Many people have thought about visiting a Toastmasters club but just haven’t taken that next step. They cite lack of time or no need for giving speeches in their work as reasons stopping them from attending.

For those reasons, we have outlined below more than 160 reasons you should strongly consider visiting and joining our Toastmasters club to improve your public speaking and presentation skills. Each benefit has been experienced personally by one or many of our members over time.

Next time you find yourself asking, “What would I get out of joining a Toastmasters club and committing to attending those weekly meetings,” refer to this list.

160+ Reasons to Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills

1. Accelerate your advancement at work.
2. Accept speaking opportunities with excitement instead of fear.
3. Ace your college presentations with ease.
4. Analyze your communication skills in the moment and make adjustments on-the-fly.
5. Anticipate being asked to speak and be ready and eager.
6. Apply to industry events as a presenter knowing you’ll do a great job.
7. Arrange unorganized content into digestible format.
8. Assist others to improve their speaking skills while you are doing the same.
9. Attain a reputation as a topic authority.
10. Attract more leads in larger chunks as your audiences get larger.
11. Believe you are capable of doing anything or tackling any challenge.
12. Broaden your networking contacts.
13. Build your business faster by being more clear in your one-on-one communications.
14. Channel nervousness into meaningful hand gestures and movement.
15. Close more sales.
16. Communicate your thoughts in a persuasive manner.
17. Compare other speakers against your own skills.
18. Compile a list of speaking skills you need to improve upon.
19. Complete individual objectives toward your speaking improvement.
20. Conclude your speeches with a strong call to action.
21. Confront the nation’s #1 fear (public speaking) head on…and overcome other fears too.
22. Construct visual aids for greater impact using PowerPoint slides.
23. Consult with others how you might improve.
24. Continuing speaking skills development over time is the secret sauce whether you are a beginner or advanced speaker.
25. Control nervousness.
26. Correct speech content that doesn’t flow as smoothly as you had hoped.
27. Create speech introductions that set you up for applause and welcome.
28. Deliver words that inspire audiences to take action.
29. Demonstrate your product or service in a way that’s best understood.
30. Detect sensitive content areas.
31. Determine your natural speaking qualities.
32. Develop a speaking style.
33. Diagnose annoyances you have in your speaking voice and fix them.
34. Discover talent you didn’t know you had.
35. Display energy and vitality in your message.
36. Display your professionalism.
37. Disprove inaccurate facts presented by others.
38. Dramatize stories to get audience interest and engagement.
39. Drive your audience to take the action you want.
40. Earn respect you deserve from your colleagues.
41. Educate others accurately and completely.
42. Eliminate your body movements that might annoy or distract people.
43. Embrace nervousness and use it to help you present your best.
44. Encourage people that they really can be successful if they follow your suggestions.
45. Enforce procedure standards not currently being met.
46. Enhance your vocal pitch, rate, tone and volume.
47. Enjoy the act of speaking instead of fear it.
48. Entertain audiences instead of just talking to them.
49. Establish rapport with people you’ve just met.
50. Evaluate your progress over time.
51. Examine other presenters and apply their techniques to your own presentations.
52. Exceed your own expectations.
53. Execute a proven plan for skills growth.
54. Exhibit communication and leadership skills employers want.
55. Expand your resume by citing specific speaking accomplishments.
56. Experiment with speech delivery techniques.
57. Explain your points in clear language that your audience understands.
58. Express your view on a subject and back it up with facts.
59. Extend your desire to give more memorable presentations by using graphics and video.
60. Fix a dispute by applying your listening and communication skills.
61. Form an archive of speeches to draw on later.
62. Formalize procedures by presenting the same steps to a live group.
63. Gain publicity for your business.
64. Gather research to reinforce your beliefs or points.
65. Generate awareness for a topic that’s new to listeners.
66. Get a raise at your job.
67. Get repeat business.
68. Grow comfortable with incorporating technology into your presentations over time and with repetition.
69. Guide your audience through a sequence of steps they will remember.
70. Handle complaints from upset customers with confidence and resolve.
71. Imagine giving longer speeches once you prove to yourself you can survive shorter ones.
72. Impress your boss.
73. Impress your colleagues.
74. Improve one speaking and presentation skill at a time.
75. Improve your ability to think on your feet.
76. Improvise when you forget what to say next…without anyone noticing.
77. Increase your industry stature.
78. Influence your beliefs on others.
79. Inform others with news they need to know.
80. Initiate discussion instead of withdrawing.
81. Innovate new ways of presenting old topics.
82. Inspire change for a cause you believe in.
83. Inspire others to follow you and see your side of the story.
84. Instruct people how to adopt a new sequence of steps.
85. Intensify support for a new process, procedure or requirement.
86. Interview experts with clarity and enthusiasm.
87. Interview with confidence for a new job.
88. Introduce other speakers at an important event.
89. Launch a new produce or service via video.
90. Lead a group with confidence.
91. Learn new technology such as presentation apps and projectors.
92. Lift the spirits of the uninspired.
93. Listen for how your content is received.
94. Magnify a problem that’s been kept dormant.
95. Maintain relationships with clear discussions.
96. Market your business by presenting better on video.
97. Measure your progress in speaking skill over time.
98. Mediate conflicts before they explode.
99. Memorize presentation content through repetition.
100. Mentor others to improve their speaking skills.
101. Motivate listeners to follow through with your suggestions.
102. Negotiate deals more clearly and calmly.
103. Observe speaking faults in others and avoid making the same mistakes.
104. Obtain certification for speaking competence at many levels.
105. Officiate events as your reputation builds.
106. Organize your thoughts into logical steps anyone can follow.
107. Overcome your fear of speaking.
108. Paint a visual picture so your audience can see a better way of doing something.
109. Participate in meetings at work instead of hiding in silence.
110. Participate in work meetings with confidence.
111. Perfect your content delivery in front of an audience.
112. Persuade people to embrace your ideas.
113. Praise recipients of awards at public events.
114. Prepare presentations in advance knowing you will give your best.
115. Present with confidence assurance.
116. Preside meetings instead of just showing up.
117. Propose solutions to problems and get recognized for being thorough.
118. Provide an entertaining and memorable toast at a wedding or other special event.
119. Prove realities people are skeptical to believe.
120. Question controversial subjects you are opposed to.
121. Raise your self-esteem.
122. Receive feedback from audience that your insights are valuable.
123. Recognize key staff for a job well done.
124. Recruit volunteers by presenting needs and ways to help.
125. Reduce fears among staff when rumors circulate at the office.
126. Reduce stress in the days and weeks before your scheduled speaking date.
127. Reinforce goals and keep your team on the right track.
128. Relax when speaking instead of dreading the experience.
129. Reorganize a speech after receiving feedback the first time through.
130. Research a topic and cite sources the right way.
131. Respond publicly to allegations made against you or your company.
132. Restore confidence during challenging times.
133. Revise portions of a presentation for greater clarity.
134. Save time with every new speech you assemble.
135. Save your marriage.
136. Schedule more speaking opportunities and look forward to them instead of fear them.
137. Seek new opportunities to speak because you have learned to enjoy it.
138. Sell more…and faster!
139. Sense from the audience whether or not they are accepting your message.
140. Separate yourself from your competition.
141. Serve people and mankind by presenting solutions to problems.
142. Set yourself apart from your competition.
143. Share your knowledge and gain trust from anyone you communicate with.
144. Show your expertise rather than just telling it.
145. Simplify your message so that it can be easily understood by everyone.
146. Solve peoples’ problems and you will have devoted followers.
147. Speak with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
148. Stimulate your brain to stay sharp.
149. Streamline procedures and present them to your team so everyone is doing the same thing the way you want them to.
150. Strengthen your critical thinking.
151. Study other speakers to improve upon your own speaking skills.
152. Suggest new ideas instead of keeping them to yourself.
153. Summarize large chunks of content so that others can understand.
154. Supply content of value that people are willing to pay for to receive.
155. Tackle topics you can now speak about that you once thought were too complex.
156. Talk more smoothly on the phone.
157. Teach individuals or groups how to follow a series of steps.
158. Test new material and listen for feedback.
159. Test your humor and refine your jokes over time.
160. Train new hires with confidence and patience.
161. Transcribe your speeches into printed content.
162. Travel to deliver important presentations and expand your presence and industry reputation.
163. Uncover a talent you didn’t know you had.
164. Verbalize what you want to say when you need to say the right thing the first time.
165. Win the deal when your presentation is in competition with others.
166. Work through past trauma by finally being able to talk about a topic you’ve buried deep inside of yourself.

We always conclude our blog posts with an invitation for you to come check out our George Sutton Toastmasters club. We meet every Thursday morning from 11:30 to 1:00 pm at the Colorado Technical University Aurora location, 3151 S. Vaughn Way, 4th Floor, Rm 424, Aurora, CO 80014. We hope to see you at a meeting soon!