Confident Oration: Some Tips To Chew On
Enough and more advice can be found on how to fight stage fear. Lots of these talk about high sounding methodologies including imagination, proper respiration etc. These techniques may be effective but here are a few tried and tested methods which will definitely work. There is assurance in these methods because it advises how to use inbuilt mechanisms to combat the panic of addressing a gathering.
1> Train effectively. It is obvious that better training results in giving you a sense of being in a position of power and reduces your tension.
2> Preparation is something that you can’t avoid but at the same time you can’t overdo it either. Tell those trainers who advise you to constantly practice to say that to trapeze performers who have to train for decades to perform flawlessly. Nobody in the performing arts field (theatre persons, actors, musicians etc) ever complains of too much practice.
3> Practice your presentation by orating. This can be done wherever you are in the bathroom, while you are driving, walking the dog, at home, etc. Just rehearsing the speech in the mind doesn’t give you the advantage of ‘psychomotor memory’; i.e. a place where part of your speech will be embedded in the muscles of your face.
4> Reach the conference well before time and get familiar. Position yourself where the listeners would be sitting and get an idea of how you will be seen. Explore the venue. Rehearse the address on the podium. Get as relaxed for the more at ease you feel with the auditorium, that much lesser is your tension.
5> It is a good idea to do some strenuous physical activity few hours before the speech. You can pump weights, swim, work on the treadmill or whatever makes you sweat and loosens your muscles. This is to ensure that every iota of your body will get enough blood supply and another biggest advantage of exercising is it minimizes tension.
6> Smiling or grinning is a great relaxant. Even if you don’t feel like it give a broad grin as you get up on the pulpit. A smile helps create hormones that relax you.
7> Energetic presence on the podium is great. Postures, movements and physical gestures can be a good method to feel relax.
8> Look into the eyes of your audience and look into the listeners’ eyes as frequently as possible. This is essential to make you confident and oratory.
9> Always, seek honest and critical appraisal of your talks. This is a great image booster; the feedback you get will make you realize that you are lot better than you thought you were.
