Whether you are an entrepreneur or a manager, your communication skills impact your level of success in life. The best leaders know how to communicate their message and to gain support. They can inspire individuals to do more and can build a strong team. Perfecting these skills can positively affect your professional and personal relationships.

Learn to Listen

Listening is a key element of improving your communication skills. After a presentation, ask your peers or manager for feedback. Before the event, think about your audience. Each audience is different, so it is important to think about how your presentation should change to meet their needs. To be a skilled speaker, listen to what other people have to say and focus on their ideas. This helps you improve as a speaker and gain insight into what other people are thinking.

Communication Skills and Nonverbal Communication

About 55 percent of communication is nonverbal. How you say something is just as important as what you say. Keep eye contact, move around the space and stand confidently. If you look calm and confident, the audience will engage.

Start and End With the Main Points

No one listens all of the time. If you want the audience to hear your main points, you need to reinforce them. They are most likely to listen at the start and end of your talk. Make sure that you begin with your main points and build on them. At the end, sum up your main points again so that the audience clearly knows what you are talking about.

Engage the Audience

Since people have limited attention spans, you have to work to keep their attention. An effective communicator engages the audience. Ask people questions during your speech. You can ask quick survey questions that get the audience to raise their hands. If the audience is involved in the speech, it means that they have to pay attention. Focus on making your discussions as interactive as possible.

Be Careful With Visual Aids

While a visual aid can sometimes help, it can also distract from your speech. The audience is so focused on the PowerPoint visuals that they forget to listen to you. Speakers also have a tendency to rely too much on the visual aid and not enough on preparing the speech. Instead of using a visual aid, practice your storytelling and speech in front of a mirror. Look at your body language and really prepare for your talk.

Remember to always over-communicate your main points. People only recall a few key points from each discussion. You have to make sure that these are the key points that you want them to remember. Start and end your talk with the main points. Throughout your speech, focus on engaging the audience and your body language. After each talk, get honest feedback so that you can become an even better speaker.