It seems that most people are perfectly capable of speaking when sitting down. Get them to stand up and talk, even for just a minute, and their legs turn to jelly! I can remember when I first started to speak in public my knees knocked so loudly no one could hear what I had to say.
I thought I would share three techniques that I have picked up along the way that have helped me to feel confident when speaking in public. Back in those knee knocking days I never believed that people would pay me to come and speak at their conference!
Breathe Deeply
The way we feel is influenced heavily by our posture and breathing. I always say that breathing is a good idea! Its where we breathe from that makes the difference. Slow, deep, breaths from the stomach area is much better than short, shallow breaths from the chest. Your posture will make a big difference too. Stand up straight with your shoulders back and head up and your feet planted firmly on the ground. I like to move around a bit so standing behind a lectern does nothing for my confidence. Movement combined with posture and breathing makes a big difference.
The magic wardrobe
This is a great technique I learned at Andy Clark’s Speakers Academy. You imagine you have a magic wardrobe and before going out to speak you pick out your invisible speakers jacket. Mine is gold and sparkly. When I put it on I transform from someone who would rather sit in the audience and hear other people speak to the showman. Its show time and I am out to entertain. Sometimes I forget to take it off!!
Preparation
When I was new to public speaking I thought that preparation was obviously important but the comment that it would calm my nerves was a platitude. I prepared and I still felt nervous! The problem was that no one told me HOW to prepare other than just learn my lines. I rarely use notes now and yet I never learn my lines. I do not have any! What I do is learn my material very well and prepare the structure of what I am going to say and consider the timing. I will rehearse stories and important parts of the speech but I never learn to speech parrot fashion as was suggested. I would be worrying to much about remembering the sequence to pay attention to the audience!
A key part of preparation is practice. In addition to practicing in the car on journeys I practice in my mind. In the mornings, when I first wake up, I practice in my imagination! Evidence suggests that the mind cannot tell the difference between something we have vividly imagined and something we have done for real. I trick my mind into thinking it has already done the speech many times before I make the speech for the first time!
Laying in my bed, I imagine that I am actually giving the speech in front of the audience. I do not do the whole speech but imagine doing key elements of it and it all flowing. Sometimes I get insights that something is missing or certain things need to change. Most of the time I am focused on interacting well with the audience, making eye contact, feeling confident, and the audience laughing at the right places.
Try these out and let me know how you get on. Do you have your own techniques you use? Tell me about them!
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on Oct 16th, 2009 at 11:08 am
I have to agree with the “magic wardrobe” concept. When I “go onstage” it isn’t me that performs .. it is my Equity card carrying double who is much better than the real me.
Like you I also prepare in my mind. It is also a good technique for any similar event e.g. an important phone call, important meeting, radio interview etc.
on Feb 11th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Hi Richard – good post: sensible common-sense stuff!
Can I add a point? Although you’re quite right that your mind can barely tell the difference between physical practise and mental practise, your body can. I’d urge people not to just go for the mental practise!
There’s a part of presenting that’s a purely physical act and you need to practice that bit physically – no amount of mental practise is going to get your muscles developed to the point where you discover that a particular combination of sounds is messy and doesn’t work – in your head *everything* works!
Don’t forget, too, that you think much faster than you speak (well I bloody hope you do!) so it’s hard to get a sense of timing from purely physical practise….
I’m not saying don’t do it – just that you shouldn’t *just* do it.
Simon
on Oct 11th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
This is a great short learning experience on public speaking! All points are valid, and they work.
I also use a mantra to help. I decided a long time ago that the audience was there to listen to someone — why shouldn’t it be me? I am an expert in the topic, and I know it better than most of the audience – that’s why I’m there. So before I go on, I always repeat “Why not me?” to myself.
I also agree that preparation is the most important part. If I’m properly prepared, I can use my mantra of “Why not me?” honestly. I have a great friend who is a professional comedian. He works entire sets without notes. He does this through preparation. He doesn’t memorize his bits word for word, but he has an understanding of the outline of the performance, and he knows what he wants to cover in each topic.
Finally, I agree with Simon that we need to practice standing and moving as well. Much of our communication is through body language, and we don’t want to send mixed messages — our words saying one thing and our bodies saying something else. Additionally, we talk at a different rate of speed when we are standing. So we need to make sure the presentation fits into the time limits.
Great article!
on Dec 21st, 2010 at 7:55 pm
i think that everyone have a fear of public speaking in one way or another ‘-*