Art Of Great Speaking

The thought of public speaking is something that is enough to make anyone get nervous. It is also called stage fright or speech anxiety – the anxiousness and fear that accompanies the negative thoughts one tends to have when faced with the prospect of speaking in public or in front of a large group of people.

Everybody can fall victim to speech anxiety: even celebrities and prominent people who are regularly under the spotlight sometimes still have the “butterflies in the stomach,” the sweaty palms, and the shaking knees that accompany the fear of public speaking. The possible causes of speech anxiety are numerous.

One could be previous failure in delivering a speech. The fear of repeated failure may cause an individual to develop an extreme fear to try again. On the other hand, inexperience, or never having given a public speech, results to an almost similar fear. Another common cause is shyness. The feeling of having all eyes focused on you at a particular time can cause much anxiety for a shy person who do not normally speak too much even in front of small groups. Some people just hate being the center of attention and the feeling of conspicuousness when speaking in public increases the level of anxiety and embarrassment one feels.

Another, and easier to resolve, cause of speech anxiety is lack of preparation. Without practice, the level of discomfort in speaking words that you don’t really know by heart is considerably larger. If you are not intimately acquainted with the content of your speech, if the words coming out of your mouth are not things that you actually have strong feelings for, chances are you will have the fear of being “found out.” The chances of being provoked into discussions you think you cannot have a strong opinion about and can defend increase the level of anxiety of many public speakers.

One of the first steps in overcoming speech anxiety is to identify your personal reasons on why you fear it so. Once you are aware of the cause, you can then work on finding solutions to your concerns. Whether you fear speaking in front of thousands or even in front of one other person, there are ways to manage your fear and improve your performance. From something as simple as practicing your spiels, making use of visualizations, or self-motivation to something like searching for professional help by taking up a skills training course, speech anxiety is not without “cure.”

These actions will help you develop strategies to overcome your fears or, if not, at least handle it in such a way that your anxiety will not be evident to your audience. There are several self-help books available that discuss tips and strategies to be better communicators.

Speech anxiety is a behavioral condition that is common to all humans. Different personalities may experience different levels of such an anxiety but the good news is that it can be overcome. With proper training and practice, anybody has the potential to be an excellent speaker. Bobby Dyland is a expert on anxiety and panic attacks who recently developed a free eCourse that lists a step by step process for understanding, controlling and finally beating anxiety.

If you are interested in learning more about his “Crushing Anxiety and Reclaiming your Life” eCourse and beating panic attacks once and for all, please go here: http://www.crushanxiety.com

Don’t let these common fears hold you back.

A line from Caroline Casey’s speech at the Green Festival intrigued me. She said, “Our security used to be in laying low. Now, our security lies in showing up.” As independent professionals, it’s more important than ever to take on the challenge and speak up for our businesses. Sure, there can be fear in giving a presentation; there’s a lot of judgment in the world. But, what would it mean to your bottom line if you gave a talk that was focused, relevant and naturally persuasive? For our businesses to flourish, it’s time to get past any reluctance and dive in. Put together a talk for a local group or consider creating an on-line seminar. Do something that stretches you.

Some people I’ve coached have had very little fear when presenting a power-point slide show for their company. But now, when it comes to talking about themselves and their businesses, the vulnerability factor kicks in. Some people have grown so accustomed to others speaking for them; the thought of standing up and using their own voice is too intimidating. Some people have been criticized so severely that they’ll go to any length to avoid giving a speech. I’ve seen people spend thousands of dollars on advertising, using it as the only component of their marketing plan. What a waste… not only of dollars, but of precious life force. When we understand where the fear comes from and work with it in a positive way, we’ll have more business than we know what to do with. Our self-confidence will be a shining light for others. Some of the most brilliant public speakers I’ve seen and coached have had the worst stage fright. They simply made a decision to do what it takes to break free of it.

So, what does it take to show up and get results?

1) A belief in your product or service so strong that it overrides any anxiety.

2) A belief that you are the perfect person to be presenting these particular ideas and suggestions.

3) A true desire to help and empower someone else.

4) A well-thought out presentation that influences your target audience to take action

When you tap into these four, you won’t be able to hold yourself back. Look for the most appropriate opportunities to communicate your message with as many people as possible. One hour in front of a large audience is ripe with possibilities. (Beware; it can have serious negative effects if done too soon without proper preparation) Any major city has hundreds of networking venues looking for speakers. A simple google search will help you find them. Watch for these common mistakes that many speakers make and get help where you need it.

1) Lack of clear, organized structure

2) Poor delivery

3) Little or no emotional or intellectual connection

4) A weak call to action

When we step into a bigger domain, our hidden issues have a way of showing up with us. All parts of us become more visible. What made us successful at one point in our lives is usually the thing that’s holding us back from our next step. Take a look. There’s a lot of potential for personal growth as well as the growth of your business. When you’re ready for a significant leap, I invite you to consider creating a dynamic speech or hosting a lively workshop.

Pamela Ziemann has been coaching people with natural, authentic presentations since 1997. Build your self-confidence by signing up for her free e-course “Answering Tough Questions in the Moment” at http://www.OnlineSpeakingSchool.com You’ll receive 6 daily lessons, plus weekly tips to help you say what you want anytime, anywhere, with anyone.

We all know that being in the public eye is not only a huge part of running a business but also a key aspect to being taken seriously as a professional in Network Marketing, Sales, Corporate Relations, etc. Unfortunately, the fear of public speaking can make or break our success in life.

Conquering the FEAR that most people experience when they speak in front of others is most easily understood in four steps that just happen to coincide with the actual letters in the word itself.

F – Fight/Flight E – Excitement A – Adrenaline Rush R – Rehearse

F – Fight/Flight A person’s initial response to an unfamiliar situation is either fight or flight. If you choose flight, then you are basically saying, “I’m out of here”. You run from being pulled out of your comfort zone and refuse the idea of change. People that seek success and aren’t afraid of confronting their fears usually make the other choice…FIGHT! They recognize that they are outside of their comfort zone and are willing to face those fears head on. Yes, it is very scary but don’t let fear take control by running away from your dreams!

E – Excitement When you make the decision to walk in front of an audience and open your heart up to a bunch of strangers, you are excited and eager to forge forward on your journey. The realization of being personally responsible for the initiation of your own dream and acting on that dream is so exciting that it is overwhelming for the human body. So, what happens next?

A – Adrenaline Rush You made the choice to fight your fear of public speaking, you’re excited about this choice and now your adrenaline begins to rush throughout your entire body. Your knees begin to knock, your hands shake, your skin becomes clammy and worst of all…YOU CAN’T BREATHE! An adrenaline rush will cause you to second guess your choice of fight, but don’t give into those negative emotions.

R- Rehearse The last and most important step in conquering your fear of public speaking is to rehearse. You must do it over and over and over again until you are comfortable in your new environment, you deliver an outstanding presentation, and you embrace your audience like you’ve known them for years. Rehearsal is the step that will determine the quality of your public speaking.

Motivating champions worldwide! John Di Lemme

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go to >>>>>> http://john-dilemme.com

John is an International Motivational Speaker, Author and Business Coach who, through his live-seminars, training programs, live teleclasses, and websites has made a reality for thousands of people worldwide.

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I have just come across a couple of posts on the web that I think you will like to do with (i) public speaking fear and (ii) what to do when your presentation goes wrong.

The first is from Nick Morgan.

In Nick’s recent post he discusses public speaking fear , anxiety etc. In it he talks about the reasons that a persons fear of public speaking may have developed. But, more importantly he moves on to talk about what can be done to beat these nerves.

He identifies 3 basic categories you can work on;-

First, you can work on the speech itself

Second, you can work on your physical symptoms

Finally, you can work on your mind

You can find the details here:-

http://publicwords.typepad.com/nickmorgan/2010/06/does-public-speaking-terrify-you-heres-what-to-do-about-it.html

The next is by Thomas Walligum.

In Steve Jobs recent presentation to launch the next version of the iphone he ran into trouble with his presentation. Steve is recognized as one of the best presenters. By observing what he does we can all learn something that we can use in our nest presentation.

In this article Thomas outlines the situation and gives us the “takeaways” that we can use when the unexpected happens with  in our presentation. The article starts as follows:

Trouble can sneak up on the best presenters—just ask Steve Jobs about his Wi-Fi connection at Monday’s iPhone 4 announcement. But you can use strategies to mitigate PPT meltdowns and awkward silences, says presentation expert and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs author Carmine Gallo. Here are his expert tips. Read the rest by clicking here:

http://www.cio.com/article/596271/How_Steve_Jobs_Beats_Presentation_Panic?page=1&taxonomyId=3000

Let me know what you think of these posts and if you have any of your own tips.

Preparation: The Key to Public Speaking Success for Introverts*

The year was 2000. It was time to give the annual report to the Board and Suzanne, the VP of Finance, was sweating buckets. The rolls of nausea began before she moved up to the podium. With clammy hands and short breaths, she went through her Power Points, breathing a sigh of relief when the 20 minutes were up. Fast forward, seven years later. A new company and a new board waited. As the A.V. team adjusted her mike she came from behind the lectern and watched calmly, with a slight smile as the audience members filed in. The paralysis of years ago had disappeared. Under protest, Suzanne had enrolled in a Toastmasters group at her company and attended it consistently for 3 years. She took these learned skills and confidence into her work, seized every opportunity to speak in public and overcame what might have become a huge career derailer.

Warren Buffet said that public speaking can be our greatest asset or our worst liability.1 Do you experience what Suzanne felt in her earlier days or are you able to find your “voice” and give presentations with ease and confidence? Perhaps you are somewhere in between? We all have heard the statistics about people fearing public speaking more than death. Even the act of getting up and introducing themselves makes introverts in my classes anxious. Their voices and hands shake the first few times they are asked to report out to the group. However, as Warren Buffet said, presenting your ideas coherently in all kinds of situations moves your career forward. Being introverted does not mean you can’t also be a phenomenal speaker. Just like an actor goes into character in some of earlier examples in this book, you can perform brilliantly in the role. You need to educate, inform and persuade people as a leader in your organization or profession. You also need to challenge individuals to talk to you and each other. Setting the stage, by laying out a business case or problem to be solved requires you to deliver a command performance.

On some level, most people know the steps they need to take to overcome their fear of public speaking. A combination of training and, like the Nike commercial slogan “Just Do It!” is part of the formula for success. As the “Sales Guy”, Richard Elmes says, “The presentation you give tomorrow will be that much better because of the speech you delivered today.” Life is too short to be paralyzed by this fear. People need to hear what you have to say. Why rob them of that opportunity?

When I first started as a corporate trainer I spent days and days preparing for one presentation. I studied the material, tried to anticipate every question and entered the room ready to be “the expert”. Of course, I soon realized that though I felt well versed in the material, I could never be totally aware of every fact and every question that might arise. The company had hired a coach to work with our team on presentation skills. He saw my tenseness that day and before the program walked up to the lectern and said, gently, “Jennifer”, he said, “You know this material. Now enjoy the experience and relax.” His words have stuck with me over the years. The synergy of preparing the material and even more importantly, your attitude, is a winning combination for presentation success. So what are three key steps in preparing to be a more confident and competent speaker? 1) Know Your Purpose 2) Tell Stories and 3) No More PowerPoint Karaoke.

1. Know Your Purpose

You should know the purpose of your program. Is it to inform, persuade, educate or motivate? Do you know what you want people to leave with? Why should they care about what you have to say? What are the three big points you want to make? Focus in depth on these points and use lots of examples, not on numerous points that overload your audience. What do you want them to remember? This will be the basis of your talk. Your preference for introspection as an introvert will allow you to reflect on this and think it through before putting “pen to paper.” Being prepared gives you the confidence to get up there and be with your audience. Many introverted professionals I know have said that people do not believe them when they say they are introverts because they look so at ease on the stage. It is the preparation that allows them to relax into the delivery.

2. Tell Me a Story

A few years ago, I heard Montel Williams deliver a keynote speech to a room full of administrative professionals. He told a story about promoting his secretary to president of one of his companies and introduced this woman to the crowd. It was a moving moment and many of the people in the audience were visibly touched by his showcasing a living, breathing role model. The power is in example. How many times have you heard a speaker, whether it is a motivational speaker or your CEO, engage a group by sharing a story? How about a leader made a point by sharing a personal experience? The use of stories to make a point is a skill you can master.

The good news is that you can prepare and rehearse stories to bring out points a lot more powerfully than through making a case with bullet points on a slide. This can be done to motivate a team on a project that is lagging as equally as it can be used to influence customers to purchase your product. Today, stories are the key to a successful presentation.

Annette Simmons, a storytelling expert, says, “The human presence in communication is frequently elbowed out by criteria designed to make communication clear, bite sized and attention grabbing, but which instead oversimplifies, truncates and irritates. These “sub goals” often obscure the real goal: human connection. Communication can’t feel genuine without the distinctive personality of a human being to provide context. You need to show up when you communicate. The real you, not the polished, idealized you. The missing ingredient in most failed communication is humanity. This is an easy fix. In order to blend humanity into every communication you send, all you have to do is tell more stories and bingo – you just showed up. Your communication has a human presence. “2

We are not all natural born storytellers (coming from someone who forgets the punch line of most jokes!) but you can learn to tell great stories. There are sources of stories all around us, the media, books, movies, television, and etcetera. I think the most powerful stories however, come from our own experience. This is true especially when we reveal our flaws. It is then that we connect with the audience.

I remember an experience several years ago when our family went whitewater rafting. My spouse, Bill, flipped out of the raft and because I never really listened to our trusted, ponytailed guide before the trip, I practically strangled Bill in the process of “rescuing” him. I often use that story (with more graphic details of course), to make a point about the importance of listening. It certainly wasn’t funny at the time but in retrospect, with time to reflect and weave stories like that in, I can get some laughs and make a point at the same time. You can do the same.

Follow a format that works. For instance, what is the point you want to make? What was going on in the scene? What were the smells, the sights and the sounds? You can help the listener be there with you. I am so committed to tell stories in my work now that I keep a small notebook with me and jot down memories and observations. Just open your eyes and you will find stories waiting to be told.

3. No More Powerpoint Karaoke Though PowerPoint is a great tool it has become overused and over-relied on by many of us. Too many bullet points on a slide, reading the slide out loud when the audience can do it themselves and not promoting audience engagement are some negative impacts of PowerPoint. Kevin Smith, a Marketing Manager at Dell Canada put it well. “The audience showed up to hear the expert (that’s you) talk about a solution to a problem that s causing them pain, not to hear you perform “powerpoint karaoke” by reading PowerPoint off of the slides.

Instead, consider using photos, a single question, key words and even audio to make your points. Cliff Atkinson on his website, http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com, has some great examples of how to construct these types of presentations. I had a Benefits Specialist resist this approach when I suggested it to her. I advised her to suggest her audience take notes on an outlined handout and make the material available on line. You are better off providing the three key points in your presentation on your slides. By writing down the points important to them, retention will be greater and they can get more details in their follow up. I think she is kidding herself if she thinks people are retaining the myriad of benefits details she is providing. It takes a little getting used to but your audiences will appreciate it and gain more from your program. So spend some time on the front end, thinking about your purpose, preparing stories and editing your slides. With some practice, you will, like Suzanne, learn to embrace the experience of speaking to groups and your fear will melt away.

1. Buffet and Gates Go Back To School, PBS Home Video Net Foundation for Television, 2006.

2. Annette Simmons, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, (AMACOM 2007), 4.

* Excerpt from The Introverted Leader: Building On Your Quiet Strength available at Amazon for 30% off http://tinyurl.com/55f3y6

Check out Jennifer’s CD, No More PowerPoint Karaoke: Mastering Public Speaking for Introverts, available at http://www.aboutyouinc.com, and watch for her new book, The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength (Berrett Koehler Publishers), due out in June 2009. Dr. Jennifer B. Kahnweiler is a “workplace guru” who helps leaders and aspiring leaders bring out their best. She has a special expertise in helping people to strengthen the people skills necessary for workplace success.