Dear ladies and gentlemen, how do you prepare a public speech? When there is no microphone, no audience nor scene, you can still get fully prepared just with a mirror. Wonder how to do it? Let me introduce you to some mirror exercises!

Mirror
Looking into a mirror as you rehearse your speech can help you become more aware of your posture, stance, body language, and gestures. Many great speakers also use/used mirrors to help them practise speeches.


Churchill giving a public speech

Mirror exercises

1. Confidence Exercise

Why:
Before getting started, you may have to do this exercise. Confidence is the precondition for every good speech. You can persuade others only when you believe in yourself and what you are talking about.

How:
Stand in front of a mirror, it’s better to reflect your whole body. Keep your weight equally divided on both feet.
Straighten your back and take a deep breath.
Keep your shoulders back and push your breast out
Look yourself in the eyes confidently. Put on a light smile and show determination.
Encourage yourself, say: “I believe in you!”, “I see you getting better every day!”, etc…


Sit down if it is more comfortable for you

When:
At the beginning, you can do it every morning when you get up. When you feel more confident about yourself, you can reduce it.

2. Smile exercise

Why:
In fact, 70% of the audiences’ attention is paid to what they see rather than hear. Nothing is more contagious than a genuine smile.

How:
Duchenne Smile Practise
Stand in front of a mirror but concentrate only on your eyes. You may find it helpful to cover the lower part of your face with a piece of paper.
Make your eyes smile; hold it for ten seconds.
When your eyes do smile, remember how it feels, including which muscles are working and how.
Repeat this exercise 3 times.

When:
Practise smiling before going to work, you can do in a bathroom. Use your hand or tissue instead when there is no paper around.

3. Breath Exercise

Why:
When giving a speech, we usually need a deeper voice to be clearly heard. In order for you to be in control of your voice, first you need to be in control of your breath.

How:
Stand in front of a mirror, keep your body balanced. Rest shoulders and chest.
Breathe in through your nose, fill your belly with air.
Breath out through your mouth, slightly push your belly in. Exhaling slowly and gradually.
Pay attention not to lift your shoulders or chest as you breathe in.


Avoid lifting shoulders

When:
Every time you feel stressful or there’s an important event upcoming, take some time to do this exercise. It is a good way to help you calm down.

4. Diction Exercises

Why:
Diction exercises strengthen the muscles involved in speech. It helps you pronounce more clearly and avoid habitual patterns that may not be benefitting your speech delivery.

How:
Stand in front of a mirror close enough so you can see your mouth and tongue movement.
Try to say: “Betty bought a bit of butter, but she found the butter bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better.”
Repeat until you can say it without mistake. Choose other sentences to practices pronunciation of words beginning with other letters.

When:
This exercise is a good warm up before delivering the speech. You can also do it whenever it is convenient.

5. Gesture exercise

Why:
To be a good speaker our gestures have to reflect the emotion and story we are telling to our audience. As I said, people pay more attention to what they see, than hear.

How:
Think about what gestures are the best for particular sentences in your speech.
Sort them out clearly so you know which ones to practice.
Stand in front of the mirror and start practising one by one.
Control the range of motion. Make gestures while talking, find the right timing so the movements don’t seem abrupt.


Do not make any unnecessary gestures

When:
Once your speech text is done, you can start practising until you master them completely.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, we hope these mirror exercises can help with your next great speech. If you find anything difficult or have any problems with the practise, let us know!