Archive for the ‘Speak With Confidence’ Category
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
Not everyone has severe stage fright or fear of public speaking. Many people tell me the first few minutes of a talk or speech are filled with tension and anxiety. But, they say that once they get past the first five or ten minutes, they feel OK. When I ask them to evaluate what happens in the first few minutes, they realize that it is making genuine connection with listeners that allows them to relax and share their ideas.
For years I struggled with stage fright and fear of public speaking. My struggles led me to develop ways to manage my tension and eventually to create a method that transforms the tension of stage fright. One of the greatest things I have learned is how to consciously generate connective presence before I start to talk. As a result, I now feel at home and comfortable from the very first minute of a talk. There is no waiting to get comfortable or hoping to get relaxed since I have learned to be present with audiences. There is just a stepping into being with my audience from the first moment. All my efforts can then be put into building deeper and deeper rapport with listeners and on sharing myself fully with them.
Here is how you can create connective presence at your next opportunity to speak up or to speak in front of a group. The following steps will help you to manage your tension, intention and attention so that comfortable connection is a natural outcome of your presence.
First, get yourself into a state of presence by focusing your awareness on being in your body. Simply place your attention in each part of your body, one part at a time. Start by focusing your attention inside your head for 5 or 10 seconds. Be aware of being in your head. Then focus in your neck, then your chest, etc, working your attention all the way down to your feet. You will notice that energy flows where ever you put your attention. By the time you get to your feet, you will be grounded in your body, feeling connected to yourself, filled with energy and present to the moment.
Next, set your intention to care about your listeners. Decide to love them rather than worrying about whether they will like you or not. Decide to be there for them to share your ideas, insights, expertise and talents.
Finally, open yourself to receiving their attention. As you step into the center of attention, be intentional about taking in their attention as support. You will literally sense their energy coming towards you. When you can take their energy in, there is no need to defend, protect or deflect their attention. It simply comes into you, filling you up with a bodily-felt sense of support. You are now in a state of connective presence, being with your listeners and ready to share your ideas.
Managing tension is about consciously focusing human energy through intention and attention. It is what athletes do to get into the ideal performance state so they can play their best game. If athletes can learn this skill, then so can you. Try it and report back to me. If you need some help with grounding in your body, try my Grounding Meditation to support the process of developing your own connective presence.
Sandra Zimmer works with high achievers who are struggling with communication and who may be uncomfortable speaking in groups. She helps them transform the way they express who they are so they feel confident to share their ideas, insights and expertise. Sandra has developed the Zimmer Method for Authentic Communication. Her method guides people through an experiential process that connects them to their natural abilities to express themselves
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
In business, there’s no time to lose. Grab the audience’s attention and make sure that you retain it.
The key question is – what is the purpose of your presentation? What do you want to achieve?
Do you want to inform, persuade, inspire, entertain?
Make the context crystal clear. Spend a long time considering your subject and gathering appropriate material that will punch your key messages home. How long will you be speaking for? What is your place on the speaking programme? Do you have to tie in with someone else’s contribution? The auditorium and number of guests present can have a big impact on you and your speech. Find out who’ll be there? Could they have an impact on your speaking career?
What visual aids equipment will be there? (or do you want to be there)? Know how to use it properly – and carry spares! Ensure that you know the requirments of the auditorium. Agree them up front with the organizers.
Get the sequence of your talk right. Would an agenda help? You will need a logical and ‘signposted’ structure with a definite conclusion (do not leave it in the air!). Have a strong opening with impact, something that the audience will remember long after. Similarly, the ending should be memorable. Research shows that your audience will probably remember the beginning and the ending if they are delivered convincingly.
Establish your audience’s level of knowledge by research before the event. The army has an interesting saying: ‘Good reconnaissance is never wasted.’ Ensure you adapt your presentation to their level of knowledge and interest.
Check for rapport with your audience. Are they nodding with agreement. Win them over. Smile, talk of ‘we/us’, and never talk down or patronize your audience.
Keep them awake. It’s better without a written script (unless you have to). Aim for variety of voice – word pictures can be highlighted within a long talk – visual aids, maybe (with pie charts rather than tables) or break it up with a 2-man act.
If you have any briefing materials, distribute them before the event. Or tell them at the start if they’ll get notes at the end. Be prepared for questions. Note and remember who asked the question. With Q&A sessions, always repeat the question.
If you don’t know the answer – never flannel – it will show!
There are three keys to success: preparation – preparation – preparation.
Explore all three in great detail and you will probably succeed in your assignment.
There is no substitution for preparation. Plan your structure. Don’t waste people’s time – get into it. Time is money – deliver your messages confidently http://www.collegeofpublicspeaking.co.uk
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Public speaking is an art form, when you deliver a presentation or a speech in front of an audience. In a survey, it is the greatest fear of the people who were polled, so you are definitely not alone if the thought of public speaking makes your knees tremble. Whilst public speaking can be taught and trained, the one key factor that you must possess is self confidence. With it, you will be able to trust in your own ability to cope with accidental hiccups, or unexpected questions shot your way.
The first thing to realize is that whilst training can help to prepare you, speaking with confidence is something that comes with exposure. The more often you speak in front of an audience, the more you will realize that there is not much to be afraid of, and that most people are not as critical as you think they might be. This will help you to build your confidence naturally.
The reason why so many people are afraid of public speaking is because they are unable to overcome their nervousness. The cause of this feeling of anxiety can differ from each person, with most people being afraid of coming across as incompetent. No matter how much you have trained, or rationalized the reasons why you should not be nervous, it is normal to still feel this way. Try to take the focus away from your fear, as the more you dwell on it the worse it will seem and you will soon find yourself paralyzed by your fear. Look for something to distract you, or engage in relaxation techniques.
This is a perfectly normal feeling to experience, and only someone who does not care about the presentation is able to feel a total lack of nervousness. The feeling of intense nervousness is especially strong right before you step up to speak, and you should take deep breathes to calm yourself down. Make eye contact with the audience and smile at them, especially if you know them personally. This will help you feel as though you are speaking to friends. Smile, and it will help your body to relax as smiling is an expression associated with having fun. At the end of it, the most important thing you should do is tell yourself not to be nervous. You have put in the effort and the preparation for this speech, and you should place your faith in yourself.
Before you embark on your presentation, it is a good idea to find out more about the audience demographics. If it is an open event which does not have a specific target crowd, scan the audience to find out their general age and experiences. This will help you to build rapport and form a connection with them in the first 3 minutes of your speech. How do you do this? Try to identify possible reasons why your presentation will be beneficial to them, and why they should pay attention. Capture their interest in the most important few minutes of your opening speech, and let them know what you will be covering.
Always play to your strengths. If you have a naturally serious face, you can attempt to soften the speech by adding in a hint of humor. Similarly if you have a reputation for being a clown, try to keep to the facts and figures and make your presentation a formal but interesting one. Whilst numbers and data is often crucial information, it does not do well to either focus too much or to gloss over them. Make sure you time yourself before your presentation, as a speech that drags on for too long no matter how interesting, will become boring and you will lose the audiences’ attention.
When delivering a presentation, it is a good idea to smile, but take care not to do this throughout the entire speech. It is also preferable to pick a topic that you are familiar with, or one that you have personal experience in. Public speaking is never easy, and you should not be afraid to ask for help. It is perfectly acceptable to inject humor or the unexpected into your presentation and personal anecdotes adds a touch to your speech and will keep your audience attentive.
Ultimately, stage fright and nerves is something that cannot be overcome with a snap of your fingers. With increased performances, you will find it easier to overcome your fear of public speaking, as speaking with confidence is something that needs to be developed and honed over time.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Frost
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
The preparation of your material not only must be thorough, but also must be personal, because to discuss a subject effectively at a management meeting or to present it to a group convincingly and speak with confidence it is important to project your own self into your talk.
Nobody likes to listen to a ghost-written address read with the zest of a secretary reviewing last month’s minutes; such an impersonal speaker wastes his listeners’ as well as his own time.
Ghost-writing is practiced by public characters that either have little or nothing to say—or who do not know how to express their own ideas. These people simply hire better informed or more articulate characters to provide them with language and also ideas.
When a ghost-written composition appears in print or is passed off as oratory, the public is deceived into believing that it is an authentic discourse which originated in the mind of its putative author who, in fact, is nothing more than a literary microphone or megaphone.
Many individuals are full of good words—so they become ghost-writers—but a good speech requires not only superb language but also a thorough knowledge of the subject. The subject may be foreign to the ghost-writer, and to cover any deficiency he may resort to pious platitudes, but fancy phrases are no substitute for lack of knowledge of the sub¬ject. That knowledge a speaker must possess personally in order to present his ideas interestingly and convincingly.
An audience wants a speaker to speak with confidence, conviction and sincerity. Perfect English is not required for effective public speaking or presentations. The audience want the presenters to know their topic and deliver a speech that is worth while to them.
Ghost-written speeches do have their place, but to enable the presenter to speak with confidence they must have input into the writing so that it reflects their knowledge and personality. In this way they will develop into a confident public speaker.
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Being able to speak with confidence is a highly respected skill, but it is usually the opposite to this that people focus on when they asked to speak – they look for what could go wrong, not how to make it go right. Outlined here is a method that can help all speaker to speak with confidence and deliver a more effective speech.
When a person agrees to give a speech, his first problem is to determine how to go about preparing and delivering the speech. Although each speech situation is different in many respects from every other speech situation, the over-all task is the same: to give a speech that is worth while in purpose, acceptable to the audience, and to some degree skillful. The way in which a speaker goes about accomplishing this task, like the task itself, is nearly the same in all speech situations. This way of going about one’s task is best described as method. Intelligence, it is said, is knowing what can be done in a given situation. Wisdom is knowing how to go about it. Wisdom is the prac¬tical aspect of knowledge. In this respect, the practical aspect of speech training is the method used to prepare and deliver a speech.
If a person is faced with a problem which he does not know how to solve and if leaving this problem unsolved leads to dire consequences, the person will usually have a sinking feeling and become panicky. This is exactly what may happen to us when we are asked to give a speech. If we do not know how to go about preparing or delivering an acceptable speech, we anticipate embarrassment and loss of prestige. In another situation, in which we know how to go about solving our problem, our fear subsides and we lose ourselves in the process of solving the problem. The more sure we are that our solution will work, the less we are afraid. So when we are asked to give a speech, if we are sure we know how to go about preparing and delivering one, our fear will subside and we can lose ourselves in the preparation of our remarks. Good preparation will allow us to speak with confidence and often with pleasure.
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