How to Seem Confident During a Conversation

Sometimes, it’s essential to seem confident during a conversation. For example, when you have to negotiate or face a difficult work situation. However, confidence is something that doesn’t come to everyone that easily.

There are many reasons why. Sometimes, it’s due to shyness or lack of assertive communication skills. Other times, it’s due to the fact that the person they’re talking to or the circumstances put too much pressure on them. Whatever the case may be, it is possible to seem confident during a conversation.

The secret to this lies in the following tips that’ll help boost your self-confidence during a conversation. This way, the person you’re talking to won’t notice how scared or nervous you may be.

Eye contact will help you seem confident during a conversation

More often than not, body language speaks a lot louder than words. Thus, your eyes are very important. Your look reveals a lot about how you feel. An evasive or erratic look is a clear sign of insecurity, so avoid it at all costs.

Therefore, to seem confident during a conversation, you should make direct eye contact. Look the other person straight in the eye. This doesn’t mean that you should keep your gaze fixed without blinking, though. If you do this, the other person may believe you’re challenging them or are aggressive.

It’s possible to train your gaze so that it projects confidence. Look at yourself in the mirror to be aware of the way you tend to look at others. Try to naturally look at a person you can trust in the eyes. Little by little, you’ll learn to consciously control your eye contact.

Your tone of voice

We may not notice it, but our tone of voice is another element that says a lot about ourselves. That’s why it’s advisable to know your own voice and learn to manage it. A good exercise is to record yourself and then listen to the recording, remembering to pay attention to all the details.

A person seems confident during a conversation if they transmit their message without yelling. Let people hear you, but don’t overshadow the other person with your voice. You can learn to modulate your tone of voice with practice. Developing this skill is something that will make you feel more confident.

Articulate properly

It’s very important to speak loud enough so people can hear you. However, your audience also needs to understand what you’re saying. Insecurity can make you hesitate, which may make people think it’s hard for you to express yourself. It may also make you talk too fast, which isn’t good either.

Fortunately, proper articulation is another skill that you can acquire through practice. Don’t hesitate to practice by exaggerating every word you say. This helps develop speech muscles. Experts also advise saying tongue twisters at different speeds. Proper articulation is a definite sign that you feel confident in what you’re saying.

Keep your emotions out of it

How we perceive a situation can be a detriment to our self-confidence. If you believe that the person you’re talking to is more powerful than you, you’ll feel incredibly nervous. It’ll be difficult to seem confident during a conversation if you put too much pressure on yourself. All you have to do is try your best and remember that all humans make mistakes.

That being said, you can avoid messing up by preparing beforehand. If there’s a specific person who makes you nervous, associate them with a fictional character you don’t like. Additionally, think of yourself as an actor that person will come into contact with. This way, you’ll believe that you’re not the one who’s going to be speaking to that person, but instead a version of yourself that you created for the occasion. This will help you keep your emotions out of it and allow you to handle everything better.

These tips will help you have better conversations in your day-to-day life. Try them out today!