Motivational Public Speaking

Assured presence

Your stage appearance is very important if you want to be a successful speaker. Walk to the stage which exudes self-assurance, head held high, chest up and smile on the face. You may be tensed inside but who cares. Exude confidence and people will take you seriously and you will also starting feeling that way.

Intensity

If you want to be a persuasive speaker you will have to add the vital ingredient of passion to your speeches. Talk about those topics in which you are naturally interested in. While delivering a talk you must exude a vibrancy which should spread to your listeners. Concentrate on the topic and the value your talk will add to your listeners and you will achieve this soon. The more intense your speech is, the more number of your audience will take action as you would advise them to.

Evaluation and retraining

Take time and evaluate your past speeches. Videotape them and look at them critically, you will notice your mistakes and can work towards correcting them. You will also appreciate that your self-assurance is growing speech after speech. The motivation will be greater and your determination to succeed will get enhanced.

Attaining Flawlessness

Speaking to an audience and delivering a perfect presentation are two different things. Perfection can be achieved only by continuously analyzing and correcting your mistakes and then also upgrading your speaking skills by learning new techniques from other public speakers. Numerous resources are easily available for your help. Public speaking clubs, professional training organizations, books, magazine articles, internet etc are very useful.

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Simple speeches need effective planning

Split your speech into three basic parts ‘prologue-main-ending’. In the first phase inform your listeners about the subject you are going to speak about. Delve into the subject and make necessary points, limit them to three or four straight forward thoughts. Too many points will confuse your audience. At the end just reiterate what you have already spoken and persuade them to take action.

Enjoy your task

If you enter the stage with the impression that public speaking is traumatic, it will be like that. But in reality if you want to you can make your speech a happy and pleasing experience. Public speaking gives you the chance to share the wisdom you have gained over years. Initially you will be scared and may not get this pleasurable feeling. But once you master the basic public speaking skills by addressing few groups you will being to feel satisfied with your work and start enjoying your speaking assignments.

Dynamic stage presence

Remember that until and unless you speak and impress upon your audience the value of your thoughts and plans you will remain inconspicuous. If you want to make your presence felt you must express your innate personality by talking and expressing your thoughts, ideas and feelings. Your audience will relate better to you when you share your invisible parts, i.e. your feelings, attitudes, dreams, aspirations, fears and aims. By doing so you are inviting your audience to come closer to you and empathize with you better.

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Getting Ready

First and foremost before thinking of delivering a speech, think of getting ready for a talk. Thorough research of your topic is vital. Some speakers spend about an hour preparing for every minute of their speech. Think about this and work in the same way to achieve success.

Rehearsal

Rehearsing and mastering speaking techniques is the next step to achieve success as a speaker. Constant training and guidance is vital to become a successful public speaker. Don’t worry about appearing an idiot, clumsy or tensed during your rehearsals, but don’t avoid practicing in a bid to appear confident. Remember more you rehearse the better you are going to get. Nobody is born perfect, it is only constant training and upgradation that you can become a perfect speaker. Just grab all the chances you come across and start speaking. Sign up with a speaking club, and you will gain renewed confidence when you see others in your position and together you will be able to arrive at solutions.

Resolve

Your resolve to acquire the necessary oratory sills will decide how soon you will become one. Promise yourself that you will keep trying no matter how stupid you appeared in your latest talk. Just keep trying and never give up. The more you try the more you will improve.

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This is the third and final part of the series “Conquering the scare of addressing audiences”. If you already haven’t please ensure you read the First and the second part.

When should I speak? First or last? I get nervous easily.
It is best to speak first if you are the nervous type.
If you are the one who will become nervous on stage, you should go in the middle of the group of speeches.

If you are thorough about your subject and are confident about your preparation then you do it last. The audience will remember you because your message is the final.

How do I maintain a consistent eye contact when I am nervous?
Concentrate on one individual in the crowd and make eye contact. Pan your vision occasionally and look at other people in the room.

How to gesture effectively so I don’t look stressed? Is it good to keep my hands to my sides?
Don’t preach to your audience, talk with them, getting there takes time, have necessary patience. Don’t think about your hands.

If you have a habit of placing your hands in your pockets, avoid it. Listeners get distracted by this posture

What if I am clumsy and my cue cards drop down?
Simple, pick them up and flip to the appropriate card and continue with your speech.

It is best to annotate or number your cards. If you find this uncomfortable use colored cards.

Make a mental sequence for your talk and follow it to the letter. Just keep the main topics in your mind.

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Please ensure you read Part 1. Part two follows as a continuation to part one.

Is formal training necessary to be a good public speaker?
Numerous institutions offer courses and if your profession requires frequent public speaking it is better you take up a part time course.

The courses mainly serve to make you comfortable in front of groups and on the podium. Helps to learn from peers as the students will be like you interested to become effective orators.

How to avoid nervousness and stage fear?
The only way is to be well trained but even the best speakers get nervous sometimes. If it happens just look at your notes and switch to your next point and continue your speech.

Pause and inhale deeply and smile and continue to the next point of your message.

How do I avoid shivering before I start a speech?
Avoid consumption of coffee or alcohol before delivering a speech. Have a glass of juice or even plain water. Concentrate on the message you are going to deliver.

Don’t bother about how you are going to talk, but what you are going to talk.

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Yet again I’ve compiled a three part posts which addresses how to conquer the scare of addressing audience.

This piece is aimed at the entrepreneur, student, professional, club member, in fact anyone and everyone who will be faced with the prospect of having to address a group. This has been written in a question and answer format to help easy understanding.

Is it possible to be calm while delivering a talk? How do I achieve this?
Breathing deeply just before standing in front of the lectern relaxes the body and lowers blood pressure. This helps clears your mind too. Another way is to imagine that you are speaking in front of your bathroom mirror. Prepare well so that you are at ease with the subject of your presentation. This will boost your confidence a great deal.
Please advise some of the sure shot speech preparation methods?
As a rehearsal measure, deliver mock talks to an understanding audience such as your friends, family etc.
Keep adequate chits of paper with important phrases/ points of your talk.
Use visual aids such as placards to illustrate and drum up important points.
Use different color text/ markers to emphasize on the main topics of your talk.
Get comfortable with the auditorium where you are scheduled to talk.
What are the best ways to rehearse a speech?
Talking in front of a mirror is good. This way you could observe your gestures, facial expressions and practice eye contact.
Reminisce the main phrases or the entire speech in your mind.
Imagine you are in front of a large group and deliver the talk in your bedroom
Rehearsing in front of your family and friends is helpful.

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Myth #3: By committing the entire speech to your heart through constant rehearsals you will negate anxiety.

This myth is totally self-defeating and could lead to public speaking disasters. Yes it is important that one should rehearse and train and get comfortable with the topic of talk, venue and the idea of addressing a gathering, but memorizing is definitely not the way. By practicing too much you are actually negating your capacity to speak and giving credit to practice. And in a scenario where you are expected to deliver an impromptu speech you will fail.

When you rehearse too extensively, your natural speaking style will be lost, you will sound like repeating something that has been committed to your heart. Your speech will be boring and mechanical.

Remember that these are just myths and you should overcome them if you wish to be a successful orator.

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Please read Part 1 before you head to part 2 :

Myth #2: Apprehension dumbs down your work quality

One of the most general beliefs is that nervousness acted as a detriment to our performance. This negative feeling is one of the major causes of people tending to feel nervous. Conquering this belief will enable you to easily overcome your tension.
When you are scared, you usually determine the scenario depending on how you feel. Is this the correct method to assess the quality of your speech? No, this is the most inaccurate method because of these reasons:

a.    Feelings are invisible to listeners and only felt by us. We feel that it is seen makes us feel all the more nervous.
b.    Logical thought process gets skewed due to tension, when this happens nervous reaches the peak leading our mind to draw self-defeating conclusions.
c.    In this aspect, I feel that we behave in a manner detrimental to our growth. We mull over small mistakes and worry about one inconsequential point we omitted from our speech. In reality our listeners are happy with our speech and we forget all about it.

A good way to get rid of this nervousness is by delivering talks to your close friends and ask them rate it. You will realize that none of your listeners would ever know about your tension.

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This is Part one of a three part series where I try to bust the Myths about the fear of public speaking.

Myths and confusions abound about oration and these fallacious notions are believed and most us get tensed hearing about them.
Myth #1: Tension is incremental and will get more with time

It is commonly believed that if we don’t do anything to control our nervousness, it will grow rapidly without stop and destroy our lives. This is totally false.

When we get excited, our body’s defense mechanisms react and to combat this tension it releases adrenaline into our bloodstream which results in increase in heart rate, excessive sweating and shivering. As we get confident about any activity our excitement reduces and the nervous reaction reduces and so do the intensity of these defense mechanisms. This phenomenon of our body and mind getting relaxed in a potentially tensing situation is titled “habituation” in science. This simple body reaction will help you reduce your nervousness whenever it occurs and over a period of time it becomes negligible.

For some people habituation takes longer and shorter for others. It also depends on how scared you are and how much the fear has affected you.

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Before you continue reading, please read “Delivering a speech – how to be relaxed? Part 1″

1.    Avoid all kinds of stimulants and additives before you deliver your talk. These actually accentuate your tension and not relax you.

2.    To feel confident you could wear the clothes you feel most comfortable in. Wear a sober colored suit, women should avoid too flashy jeweler. Don’t wear stark black and white patterns in your attire.

3.    It is important to be happy and revel in your talk. As you speak, smile and send the message to your audience that you are happy talking to them. This will help build an instant rapport and make you feel relaxed.

4.    To prevent shivering you could try some isometric exercises, for example you could grip the arm rests of your chair, try to grab the lectern etc.

5.    Remember that to err is human, so don’t make a big deal about being flawless. It is ok to make one odd mistake. This way you can leverage your nervousness into strength.

6.    As soon as you arrive on stage and are introduced, you should take frequent breaths. Chew on some candy this will help salivate and keep your throat well lubricated

7.    If dryness creeps into your mouth, chew on something to increase salivation. It is a good idea to have a glass of lukewarm water handy. Chewing on lips and tongue also help.

8.    Identify a few faces you are comfortable looking into among your listeners. Concentrate on them and make your talk like a conversation.

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