Saturday, May 19, 2007
Motivational Speaker Carole Spiers says, ‘You’re not the only one afraid of Public Speaking’
It’s the commonest phobia of them all. So manage it - as good actors do.
When you step up on that platform, you’re stepping into show business.
You may only be in it for a few minutes, at an occasional wedding or conference. Or as a professional speaker, you may be in it for a career.
Either way, you’re always liable to experience the same kind of stage fright that secretly afflicts many fine actors, and which you need to get a handle on, if every forthcoming speech is not going to make a misery of you.
Frightened of nothing: the irrational reflex
It’s rather like fear of having an injection. You’re dreading something that doesn’t really hurt at all - imagining the worst.
This may be traced back to an actual memory of a stage disaster. But more likely it is rooted in a complex web of insecurities about the impact of your face, voice and manner on an audience - almost certainly exaggerated, usually not confirmed when it comes to the event.
There is also the somewhat more logical fear that an executive audience may be full of people who know more than you do - so who are you to lecture them? The answer is that you are not lecturing them. You are offering them a little snapshot of their subject taken from a fresh angle, and delivered with originality and engaging wit. On another level, you are also offering them a few minutes of yourself as a character and a personality. It is not strictly a lecture at all.
Preparation - your most effective safeguard
Most of your problem can be handled by the simple drills of thorough preparation.
First, you ought to memorise your speech, for the same reason that an actor does. Theatrical effects often depend on a well-rehearsed sequence building up to a climax. Your speech ought to suggest some kind of drama, with rhythm and tempo that may need a lot of practising. But like an actor, you should be able to make it sound entirely spontaneous.
Unlike an actor, however, you may not be reciting it quite verbatim. You may want to refer to something the previous speaker said. You may need to respond to an interruption. And of course, you must be ready to adapt it at short notice (or no notice) due to the last-minute change of schedule that’s suddenly going to chop it in half. For this, you need to decide in advance which sections you would leave out or merge together. In any case, you must always allow for the real thing to be about 20% longer than what you rehearsed in private, where you are liable to speak faster, and acoustics are not taken into account.
That fighting attitude: getting psyched-up
Yes, it’s a sort of combat. That audience is a stallion that needs breaking, and you must go at it with a fierce conviction. If this is bordering on arrogance, it’s better than diffidence.
Those awkward questions from the floor, for example. Don’t just trundle out some appeasing answer. Rehearse by getting one of your colleagues to throw some really nasty questions at you, and sharpen-up a withering reply to each of them. (The only notable thing about the young Margaret Thatcher was her extreme confidence at silencing hecklers.)
The commonest mistake is to talk humble about how honoured you are to be there. Make them feel honoured to be there. And ruthlessly root-out any signs of hesitancy, any of those ‘er-um-y’know’ intervals which suggest under-confidence or ultimately fear. If you show fear, you’re finished. So get into a fighting mode, and nobody in that audience will ever guess you were afraid of public speaking.
Carole Spiers – International Motivational Speaker occupies a special niche as an expert in Personal Development. Carole’s keynote presentations have educated and inspired audiences all over the world. She is also a high profile BBC broadcaster, journalist and President of the London Chapter of the Professional Speakers Association. Carole is Author of Tolley’s ‘Managing Stress in the Workplace’ and ‘Turn Your Passion Into Profit’
See Carole live at her one-day MEGA Marketing Bootcamp ‘Turn Your Passion Into Profit’ – discover how to market your business on a zero budget! On Thursday 28th June in central London. Grab your opportunity to book your earlybird place and go to www.turnyourpassionintoprofit.co.uk
Our publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. To sign up for our FREE success quotations http://tinyurl.co.uk/yhgv, or for more information email info@carolespiersgroup.co.uk to telephone +44 (0) 29 8954 1593 www.carolespiers.com
When you step up on that platform, you’re stepping into show business.
You may only be in it for a few minutes, at an occasional wedding or conference. Or as a professional speaker, you may be in it for a career.
Either way, you’re always liable to experience the same kind of stage fright that secretly afflicts many fine actors, and which you need to get a handle on, if every forthcoming speech is not going to make a misery of you.
Frightened of nothing: the irrational reflex
It’s rather like fear of having an injection. You’re dreading something that doesn’t really hurt at all - imagining the worst.
This may be traced back to an actual memory of a stage disaster. But more likely it is rooted in a complex web of insecurities about the impact of your face, voice and manner on an audience - almost certainly exaggerated, usually not confirmed when it comes to the event.
There is also the somewhat more logical fear that an executive audience may be full of people who know more than you do - so who are you to lecture them? The answer is that you are not lecturing them. You are offering them a little snapshot of their subject taken from a fresh angle, and delivered with originality and engaging wit. On another level, you are also offering them a few minutes of yourself as a character and a personality. It is not strictly a lecture at all.
Preparation - your most effective safeguard
Most of your problem can be handled by the simple drills of thorough preparation.
First, you ought to memorise your speech, for the same reason that an actor does. Theatrical effects often depend on a well-rehearsed sequence building up to a climax. Your speech ought to suggest some kind of drama, with rhythm and tempo that may need a lot of practising. But like an actor, you should be able to make it sound entirely spontaneous.
Unlike an actor, however, you may not be reciting it quite verbatim. You may want to refer to something the previous speaker said. You may need to respond to an interruption. And of course, you must be ready to adapt it at short notice (or no notice) due to the last-minute change of schedule that’s suddenly going to chop it in half. For this, you need to decide in advance which sections you would leave out or merge together. In any case, you must always allow for the real thing to be about 20% longer than what you rehearsed in private, where you are liable to speak faster, and acoustics are not taken into account.
That fighting attitude: getting psyched-up
Yes, it’s a sort of combat. That audience is a stallion that needs breaking, and you must go at it with a fierce conviction. If this is bordering on arrogance, it’s better than diffidence.
Those awkward questions from the floor, for example. Don’t just trundle out some appeasing answer. Rehearse by getting one of your colleagues to throw some really nasty questions at you, and sharpen-up a withering reply to each of them. (The only notable thing about the young Margaret Thatcher was her extreme confidence at silencing hecklers.)
The commonest mistake is to talk humble about how honoured you are to be there. Make them feel honoured to be there. And ruthlessly root-out any signs of hesitancy, any of those ‘er-um-y’know’ intervals which suggest under-confidence or ultimately fear. If you show fear, you’re finished. So get into a fighting mode, and nobody in that audience will ever guess you were afraid of public speaking.
Carole Spiers – International Motivational Speaker occupies a special niche as an expert in Personal Development. Carole’s keynote presentations have educated and inspired audiences all over the world. She is also a high profile BBC broadcaster, journalist and President of the London Chapter of the Professional Speakers Association. Carole is Author of Tolley’s ‘Managing Stress in the Workplace’ and ‘Turn Your Passion Into Profit’
See Carole live at her one-day MEGA Marketing Bootcamp ‘Turn Your Passion Into Profit’ – discover how to market your business on a zero budget! On Thursday 28th June in central London. Grab your opportunity to book your earlybird place and go to www.turnyourpassionintoprofit.co.uk
Our publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. To sign up for our FREE success quotations http://tinyurl.co.uk/yhgv, or for more information email info@carolespiersgroup.co.uk to telephone +44 (0) 29 8954 1593 www.carolespiers.com
# posted by Carole Spiers @ 5:38 PM 
