Archive for Lessening the Fear of Public Speaking
The Fear of Public Speaking – KSDK Interviews. . .
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Me!
St. Louis (KSDK) - It could be a wedding toast or a class assignment in high school or college. Most of us get anxious when we’re asked to talk to an audience.
It’s the number one phobia, called glossophobia. When it comes to talking the talk, many people would rather get a root canal or an IRS audit than make a speech.
Click the video player above to watch the report.
Fred Miller’s book is No Sweat Public Speaking!, and among his tips: people remember the first and last thing you tell them, so Have a strong opening and a strong close to your speech, have confident body language, remember that the audience is on your side and they want you to succeed.
KSDK
Transcript of Interview Read More→
Have a Spare Tire in Case Murphy Shows Up!
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Murphy, of Murphy’s Law,
always seems to be lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim. That casualty could be you!
Always be prepared for anything and everything you can control.
If the computer crashes, projector dies, or sound system goes silent, you must still present your material! There are people in the audience who came to learn something. It’s your presentation and your responsibility they don’t leave disappointed.
Be sure your “trunk” is well equipped for all contingencies.
If I’m using slides, I backup my presentation on a USB flash drive. Because I use a mac, my slideshows are made with iWork Keynote software. I export copies to PowerPoint and convert, also, to PDFs. The PDF conversion is done because they work when versions of PowerPoint and Keynote are not the versions on a backup computer.
I also print a copy of my slideshow in Light Table view, which allows Read More→
Speakers, There’s NO App for That!
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You Gotta Do It Yourself!. . .and
You Should Want To!
There’s NO App to download that will make you a Great Speaker and lessen the Fear of Public Speaking.
Because of the Fear of Public Speaking, many in leadership positions pass on taking and making Speaking Opportunities and delegate the task to others. That’s Nuts!
You should not hand a Speaking Opportunity off to someone else. Steve Jobs never did, and it’s one of the reasons Apple grew to be one of the most successful and innovative companies ever.
What would you think of a President, Prime Minister, or any leader of a country handing
off their annual “State of the Union Address’ to others? It would not be seen as a positive move, would it?
Leadership is executed through superb communications!
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know My Mantra:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities!
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities!
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities!
Those who present well are perceived as Experts. Perception is reality, and Read More→
The Five Laws of Presentation
Posted by: | CommentsTo be a Successful Speaker, these are Not Optional!
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To be successful in anything, there are Very Specific Laws that apply. These are not suggestions! The Public Speaking / Presentation World is no exception.
The following Five Laws of Presentation are essential if a high quality presentation is the goal.
Read them – Study them – Apply them!
- Know your “Stuff!”
- Really know your material.
- Continually study and keep abreast of the latest information.
- Read books and blogs on the subject.
- Set up google alerts for specifics that will help you stay up to date.
- Be proficient with all the Components, Parts and Elements of a great presentation.
- Have great content and use all the verbal and nonverbal communication skills available to deliver your presentation.
- Remember: Delivery trumps Content – NonVerbal Communication trumps Verbal Communication and Everything must be in sync!
Attention, Audience! Be SPEAKER CENTERED – Please!
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Being Audience Centered is a mandate for speakers. Great presenters know: It’s all about the audience, and not about them. When a speaker takes their focus off the audience the presentation suffers and the odds of them GETTING IT! lessen.
In most cases, the audience came to learn something, not to see or hear the speaker.
We speakers are the messengers. It’s incumbent upon us to deliver information in a manner that educates, entertains and simply explains it.
However, it’s a Two-Way Street. We speakers need things from the audience to do our job to the best of our ability. We need the Audience to be Speaker Centered. They should be focusing on the Speaker!
Here are some of those things that will help us Deliver Better to You:
- Give us your undivided attention – Please! Read More→
Have a ‘Plan B’ Because When the Screen Goes. . .
Posted by: | CommentsBLANK - You’re Going to Need It! - Glad I Had Mine!
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Have you ever changed a tire? (I don’t mean calling the Auto Club and waiting for the service truck to arrive!) I know many of you haven’t. So if you had the misfortune of getting a flat in the middle of nowhere and had a properly inflated tire in your trunk, and all the tools to make that change, you might have to grab your manual and figure how to change that tire – correct?
Having a ‘Plan B’ doesn’t mean implementing it is going to be easy!
Murphy’s Law, if something can go wrong it will go wrong, applies to the world of Public Speaking and Presentations, also.
I always have a ‘Plan B’, and often a ‘Plan C’. But, like having that spare tire, I never really expect to need it.
Successful Speakers Focus on. . .
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The AUDIENCE!
Speakers: It’s not about you!
It’s all about your Audience!
Successful Companies are Customer Centered.
- They focus on the Customer; the needs and challenges their customers have.
They focus on meeting those needs and solving those challenges.
That means:
- The Medical Community is Patient Centered.
- The Educational System is Student Centered.
- The Hospitality Industry is Guest Centered.
To be successful in the Public Speaking / Presentation World we need to be
Audience Centered!
The audience didn’t come to see and hear you. They did come to learn! They came to Read More→
The Worst Speech You’ll Ever Give,
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That’s worth repeating:
“The worst speech you’ll ever give,
will be far better than the one you never give!”
Many are held back from speaking because of the
Fear of Public Speaking.
They mistakenly think:
- They have to be perfect.
- They’ll make a fool of themselves.
- The audience won’t like them.
- They’ll forget something.
- The previous speaker was so much better!
- The audience knows more than they do about the subject.
- They have nothing worthwhile to say.
Often, we want to make our feelings know to others so that, perhaps, action can be taken.
Some grab the opportunity. Many opt to pass. Some pass, unfortunately, because of the above reasons for the Fear of Public Speaking.
Watch This Video of a young lady, who hates public speaking, but is so passionate
about keeping her library off the budget cutting block in Toronto, she had to speak.
She makes the essential “emotional connection” with her audience.
Slideshows Help Them SEE Your Message!
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PowerPoint / Keynote Slide Presentations
Help the Audience GET IT!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. There are three styles of learning.
- Auditory – Learn by hearing.
- Visual – Learn by seeing.
- Kinesthetic - Learn by doing.
For speakers, if more than one of these styles can be addressed to convey your message, the odds they’ll GET IT are dramatically increased. Combining high quality, universally understood images on a screen with you, the speaker providing the “text” is an excellent way to do this.
Unfortunately, the majority of slide shows are designed with lots of text, bullet points, corporate templates and logos. If they include any images, they are often cheap clip art or graphics that have the audience scratching their heads wondering what they are.
Sometimes you wonder why the presenter even showed up! They are standing at the lectern, with their back to the audience, and are reading each and every bit of text to the attendees. Yech! They could just have well emailed their powerpoint presentation to everyone!
So your audience GETS IT! here are better ways to use slides in your presentation:
Use very little text and as few bullet points as possible.
Here’s why: Read More→
“I Have Nothing to Speak About!”
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Nonsense!
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One of the main reasons people have a Fear of Public Speaking is they think they have nothing to say. They believe anything and everything that could ever be said on a subject has already been said - and probably, many many times!
They imagine the audience will know more than they do about the subject and will consider their valuable time is being wasted. They’ll be bored to death, give them a hard time during the Q&A, and perhaps leave before the presentation is completed.
Nonsense!
I came to this realization after a friend emailed me a question. I don’t recall what it was about, but I Read More→
