Public speaking can be intimidating and challenging, especially if it is in front of other business professionals. Chances are, if you work in a business environment you will be required to speak in public at some stage in your career, whether it’s for a presentation, meeting, or seminar. Here are three tips to help you improve your public speaking and deliver your message effectively.

Prepare and practice:
Spending enough time preparing your notes, pace, presentation visuals, and timeliness before the day is crucial; it can help tame your nerves and provide you with reassurance that you know what you’re going to talk about. Try preparing an opening line or run over a personal story you might want to use to engage the audience and show charisma.

As well as this, you should also prepare your material to run slightly under time, i.e, a 15 minute speech if you’re given a 20 minute time slot. This accounts for audience interruptions, comments and questions, and allows you to implement thought-provoking pauses. Prepping if you are going on a stage is also useful in preventing embarrassing blunders during your presentation, so make sure to test your microphone, presentation slides and lighting if possible.

Speak slowly:
A common mistake people make when they are nervous is to talk too quickly. Mumbling or talking at a fast pace to rush through the content and end the ordeal shows your nervousness and is one of the easiest ways to lose your audience’s attention. It is a good idea to speak slowly and use pauses throughout your presentation, and not just at the end of phrases or sentences. You’ll often find that if you go quiet for a moment, the audience will wait for you and anticipate what you will say next. This way you retain audience engagement while also getting a chance to take a full breath and slow down.

Be passionate:
Speakers that show passion exude confidence and engage with their audiences. If you focus on giving to your audience rather than appearing to speak for your own benefit, you can almost guarantee that your audience will respond positively. Showing that you want to benefit your audience and that you care can be done through tactics like explaining high-level topics thoroughly, asking questions to ensure they understand what you’re saying, or even sharing a funny, moving, or relatable anecdote. Don’t hold back when discussing subjects that evoke emotion in you; if you feel strongly about something then convey it. Passionate speakers are much more likely to be remembered, and even favoured, for their authenticity.

Businesses with employees working remotely must consider digital security measures to protect their business assets and the safety of their employees. Phishing scams are a particularly prominent security issue, especially for employees working with their personal devices and networks that may be insecure. Phishing scams are designed to steal information through mediums such as emails or social media posts, using hackers posing as a legitimate and trustworthy source that asks for your personal details. To protect your staff from these attacks, consider the following measures:

Identification of phishing attacks
Awareness is a key factor in identifying and avoiding phishing attacks. Some key characteristics of phishing scams to look out for are:

• They are asking you to verify your bank account details and password via a link and website.
• They are asking you to confirm your details for a maintenance upgrade or as part of a security check.
• Their email or text message includes spelling or grammatical errors.
• A bank or financial institution is asking you to verify your bank account details even though you are not a customer.
• They do not include your full name in their email or text message, or have no specific addressee.

Teach staff what to do
After your employees have identified the phishing attacks, make sure that they:

• Don’t click on any suspicious links sent to them.
• Never give away their personal or business information to sources that aren’t verified.
• Block the sender of phishing emails or text messages to prevent future attacks.

Use antivirus software
Signing up for antivirus software for your employees’ devices may prove to be a worthwhile investment. Antivirus software can prevent phishing attacks from escalating and becoming damaging. When using antivirus software, it is important to keep up with regular updates to ensure security measures are up to scratch.

Encourage communication
To decrease the risks of an employee giving confidential information to phishing scammers, encourage open dialogue between staff about third party emails. If employees double-check email addresses and links amongst each other, it can help them identify what is legitimate or not. Employees can also alert other staff members when they receive a suspicious email asking for business information to spread caution.

Cyber risk is one of the leading threats for small businesses in Australia, with the cost of a cyber incident averaging $276,000 for businesses.

Whether it’s marketing material, legal documents or customer details, businesses nowadays depend on the digital for operation. This is why it’s so important to make sure your digital assets are protected and safe from hackers, viruses and malware.

Keep track of all your digital assets
Listing all of your digital assets will make it easier to ensure that you’ve got everything covered, as we often don’t realise how many digital assets we have. These could include your social media accounts, trademarks, customer information, contracts and websites. You can prioritise these assets by which ones you want to protect the most to ones that wouldn’t affect your business if they were stolen.

Secure your servers
You can physically protect your servers by keeping server rooms cool, monitoring and limiting access to server rooms and keeping servers, switches and hubs locked. Securing your servers digital can be done by restricting the number of administrator passwords, using updates anti-virus software, regularly backing up data, setting up a firewall and keeping track of server reports to monitor changes and irregularities. You can see what security measures are available for your servers by seeking advice from a trusted supplier.

Implement two-factor identification
Two-factor identification requires a user to get through two layers of security in order to be allowed access. For example, having to enter a password and then entering a code sent to your phone. Implementing two-factor identification wherever possible will help add an extra layer of security, and for most online platforms such as Google and Mailchimp, no additional software is needed as you can choose to enable two-factor identification.

Secure networks
Protecting your network from unauthorised access can be done by using a firewall and reviewing firewall logs for unusual activity on your network. You can also restrict your staff from installing software and content for personal uses as they may allow remote access to the network and could bring in viruses and hackers. Additionally, it is important to always keep your operating system and security software up to date. Replacing any weak passwords with strong and unique ones can also go a long way.

Consider cyber insurance
Cyber insurance can be used to protect your business against digital breaches and risks, meaning that if your digital assets are lost, cyber insurance can cover related costs such as investigation and crisis management costs such as notifying customers and lawsuits. If you’re thinking of implementing cyber insurance, check if your current insurance company has the option to add it to your plan. If not, there are many separate cyber insurance companies you can use.

Protecting your business from any kind of threat is a priority. When it comes to online security, however, many owners are not practising secure measures to properly protect their business.

Online scamming and fraud is a lucrative industry, with large amounts of money being transferred to scammers under false pretences. Small businesses are unfortunately too often the target of online scamming and should practice a number of strategies to ensure their online security.

Keep personal details secure:
Protecting your personal details is important because scammers can use your information to target a specific scam towards your business, making it more believable or realistic. Be mindful of how much personal information is accessible on your website and social media profiles. Back up your content and avoid using public computers or hotspots where possible.

Ensure you are using password protection and that you choose your passwords carefully. An organisation-wide password policy can also go a long way in protecting businesses from online fraud. Passwords should not be shared between colleagues or used across multiple sites.

Practice caution:
Keep your wits about you when online. It is common for small businesses to receive fake invoices which can easily be paid if not enough attention is being paid. Keep records of everything and check the credibility of people who are contacting you online expecting some kind of financial transaction.

Take the time to educate your employees about the importance of not clicking on links in emails or messages, or opening attachments from people or organisations they don’t know. Often scams will threaten immediate action, it is important that you and your employees stay calm and not overreact if a scam is intimidating.

Install appropriate anti-virus software:
Ensuring all technologies used for your business are protected from vicious spyware or malware is a necessary step when preventing online scamming from occurring. Do your research to find the best software for your business and your business needs. Be sure to read reviews before deciding on the software you will install.