August 22, 2010
Christopher Byrnes asked:
Although public speaking is generally regarded as a monologue, this monologue is usually addressed to a willing and receptive audience who desire to learn from you as much as you desire to offer them something worthy. However, it has to be said that how much your audience is able to learn from you, will depend to no small degree, on how you connect with your audience, in short on how effective your public speaking audience centered approach bears out.
Following are some common-sense, but effective points that, put into practice, will immediately improve your audience-centered approach to public speaking:
Greet your audience in advance
Minutes before your actual speaking engagement, why not walk around the venue and familiarize yourself with the people who will be listening to your speech or presentation? As the audience and the attendees arrive, offer them a warm and sincere greeting. The reason for this is that it is is so much easier to deliver a speech to people with whom your are acquainted, however briefly, than a sea of unfamiliar faces.
Be positive
Trust in the fact that people expect and want you to succeed. Audiences want to be as informed, stimulated and entertained by you as they can be. If they have taken the trouble to attend your presentation or speech, they want to get as much out of the event as they can, so all paranoia aside, they are on your side. They empathize with you. If you fail, they cringe with you. Succeed and your audience reaps the benefits of message your great speaking performance set out to convey.
Don’t apologize!
If you approach the audience by saying that you are nervous or if you express your apologies to any problems you think may exist about your speech or your speech delivery, you may be setting them up to focus on the very thing you are apologizing for. If you do bring up your fear, you’re drawing your audience to the very thing you wanted them to . Relax and be silent and your audience will relax with you. Learn some basic deep breathing and relaxation techniques, such as those freely avalable on the Internet.
Establish strong eye contact
An audience-centered approach towards public speaking requires that you connect with your audience, appearing natural. You’ll know you are well on your way to mastery when you can get the audience to nod their heads as an acknowledgement of what you are trying to convey. Do not breeze through your speech. Instead, pause for a while or for a brief moment, especially at those points you want to emphasize. You should also avail yourself of this opportunity to establish eye contact with your attendees as well as to catch that much needed breath.
Don’t get drawn into a debate
If, during the question and answer part of your speaking engagement, all or part of you audience expresses disagreement with any part of your message, let go of the need to impose your point of view on your listeners. If you encounter those ‘awkward’ attendees who continue to make a point open for debate, getting into the debate can very often be highly counter-productive. The best way to deal with such ‘hecklers’ is to offer to continue the conversation after your speech. This not only demonstrates a high degree of professionalism, but it also allows you to get onto other questions from other attendees, without causing friction.
Incorporate the simple elements above into your speaking and you’ll see that public speaking, an audience centered approach can work for you.
Although public speaking is generally regarded as a monologue, this monologue is usually addressed to a willing and receptive audience who desire to learn from you as much as you desire to offer them something worthy. However, it has to be said that how much your audience is able to learn from you, will depend to no small degree, on how you connect with your audience, in short on how effective your public speaking audience centered approach bears out.
Following are some common-sense, but effective points that, put into practice, will immediately improve your audience-centered approach to public speaking:
Greet your audience in advance
Minutes before your actual speaking engagement, why not walk around the venue and familiarize yourself with the people who will be listening to your speech or presentation? As the audience and the attendees arrive, offer them a warm and sincere greeting. The reason for this is that it is is so much easier to deliver a speech to people with whom your are acquainted, however briefly, than a sea of unfamiliar faces.
Be positive
Trust in the fact that people expect and want you to succeed. Audiences want to be as informed, stimulated and entertained by you as they can be. If they have taken the trouble to attend your presentation or speech, they want to get as much out of the event as they can, so all paranoia aside, they are on your side. They empathize with you. If you fail, they cringe with you. Succeed and your audience reaps the benefits of message your great speaking performance set out to convey.
Don’t apologize!
If you approach the audience by saying that you are nervous or if you express your apologies to any problems you think may exist about your speech or your speech delivery, you may be setting them up to focus on the very thing you are apologizing for. If you do bring up your fear, you’re drawing your audience to the very thing you wanted them to . Relax and be silent and your audience will relax with you. Learn some basic deep breathing and relaxation techniques, such as those freely avalable on the Internet.
Establish strong eye contact
An audience-centered approach towards public speaking requires that you connect with your audience, appearing natural. You’ll know you are well on your way to mastery when you can get the audience to nod their heads as an acknowledgement of what you are trying to convey. Do not breeze through your speech. Instead, pause for a while or for a brief moment, especially at those points you want to emphasize. You should also avail yourself of this opportunity to establish eye contact with your attendees as well as to catch that much needed breath.
Don’t get drawn into a debate
If, during the question and answer part of your speaking engagement, all or part of you audience expresses disagreement with any part of your message, let go of the need to impose your point of view on your listeners. If you encounter those ‘awkward’ attendees who continue to make a point open for debate, getting into the debate can very often be highly counter-productive. The best way to deal with such ‘hecklers’ is to offer to continue the conversation after your speech. This not only demonstrates a high degree of professionalism, but it also allows you to get onto other questions from other attendees, without causing friction.
Incorporate the simple elements above into your speaking and you’ll see that public speaking, an audience centered approach can work for you.
Filed under Speaking by on Aug 22nd, 2010. Comment. 
August 20, 2010
sheila Mulrennan asked:
Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too many presentations are easy to forget. And that’s a big problem because the only reason the presenter gave the talk was to communicate something to you.
However, there are four basic things that you can do to ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and remembered – time and time again.
Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these are:
Understand the purpose of the presentation
Keep the message clear and concise
Be prepared
Be vivid when delivering the message
Understand what you want to achieve:
Before you start working on your talk or presentation, it’s essential that you really understand what you want to say, who you want to tell and why they might want to listen. To do this, ask yourself: Who? What? How? When? Where? Why?
Who are you speaking to? What are their interests, beliefs and values? What do they share in common with others; how are they unique?
What message do you wish to convey? One way of answering this question is to ask yourself about the ‘success criteria’. How do you know if and when you have successfully communicated what you have in mind?
How can you best put across your message? Language is most important here, as are non verbal cues such as body language and expressions. Choose your words and non verbal cues while keeping your audience in mind. Plan a beginning, middle and end. If time and place allow, consider and prepare audio-visual aids.
When? Timing is important here. Develop a sense of timing, so that your contributions are seen and heard as relevant to the issue or matter at hand. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent.
Where? What is the physical context of the communication in mind? You may have time to visit the venue, for example, and rearrange the furniture. Check for availability and visibility if you are using audio or visual aids.
Why? In order to convert hearers into listeners, you need to know why they should listen to you – and tell them if necessary.
The Importance of Simplicity:
When it comes to wording your message, less is more. You’re giving your audience headlines, too much information will overload and bore your listeners.. They are not expecting to become experts on the subject as a result of hearing your presentation, therefore simplicity is best.
If you’re using slides, limit the content of each one to a few bullet points, a single statement or a very simple diagram.
Preparation:
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. In fact, it is the most important factor in determining your communication successes. When possible, set meeting times and speaking and presentation times well in advance, thus allowing yourself the time you need to prepare your communications. Each minute of a presentation deserves thirty minutes preparation.
Of course, not all communications can be scheduled. In this case, preparation may mean having a good, thorough understanding of the office goings-on, enabling you to communicate with the knowledge you need to be effective, both through verbal and written communications
Successful Delivery:
The manner in which you deliver your speech or presentation has a lasting impact on your audience. Again, preparation is paramount here, in order to hold the listeners attention. Some useful tips for keeping your presentation vivid include:
Use examples to bring your points to life
Keep your body language up-beat – don’t stay stuck behind a rostrum
Don’t talk to fast. Less is more here too. Pauses are effective.
Use a variety of tones of voice
Use visual aids.
Presentations and public speaking, although daunting, can be a very enjoyable, rewarding experience, once adequate time is taken to prepare and rehearse them. An enthusiastic speaker who is confident with their material will make a lasting memorable impression on their audience.
Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too many presentations are easy to forget. And that’s a big problem because the only reason the presenter gave the talk was to communicate something to you.
However, there are four basic things that you can do to ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and remembered – time and time again.
Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these are:
Understand the purpose of the presentation
Keep the message clear and concise
Be prepared
Be vivid when delivering the message
Understand what you want to achieve:
Before you start working on your talk or presentation, it’s essential that you really understand what you want to say, who you want to tell and why they might want to listen. To do this, ask yourself: Who? What? How? When? Where? Why?
Who are you speaking to? What are their interests, beliefs and values? What do they share in common with others; how are they unique?
What message do you wish to convey? One way of answering this question is to ask yourself about the ‘success criteria’. How do you know if and when you have successfully communicated what you have in mind?
How can you best put across your message? Language is most important here, as are non verbal cues such as body language and expressions. Choose your words and non verbal cues while keeping your audience in mind. Plan a beginning, middle and end. If time and place allow, consider and prepare audio-visual aids.
When? Timing is important here. Develop a sense of timing, so that your contributions are seen and heard as relevant to the issue or matter at hand. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent.
Where? What is the physical context of the communication in mind? You may have time to visit the venue, for example, and rearrange the furniture. Check for availability and visibility if you are using audio or visual aids.
Why? In order to convert hearers into listeners, you need to know why they should listen to you – and tell them if necessary.
The Importance of Simplicity:
When it comes to wording your message, less is more. You’re giving your audience headlines, too much information will overload and bore your listeners.. They are not expecting to become experts on the subject as a result of hearing your presentation, therefore simplicity is best.
If you’re using slides, limit the content of each one to a few bullet points, a single statement or a very simple diagram.
Preparation:
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. In fact, it is the most important factor in determining your communication successes. When possible, set meeting times and speaking and presentation times well in advance, thus allowing yourself the time you need to prepare your communications. Each minute of a presentation deserves thirty minutes preparation.
Of course, not all communications can be scheduled. In this case, preparation may mean having a good, thorough understanding of the office goings-on, enabling you to communicate with the knowledge you need to be effective, both through verbal and written communications
Successful Delivery:
The manner in which you deliver your speech or presentation has a lasting impact on your audience. Again, preparation is paramount here, in order to hold the listeners attention. Some useful tips for keeping your presentation vivid include:
Use examples to bring your points to life
Keep your body language up-beat – don’t stay stuck behind a rostrum
Don’t talk to fast. Less is more here too. Pauses are effective.
Use a variety of tones of voice
Use visual aids.
Presentations and public speaking, although daunting, can be a very enjoyable, rewarding experience, once adequate time is taken to prepare and rehearse them. An enthusiastic speaker who is confident with their material will make a lasting memorable impression on their audience.
Filed under Speaking by on Aug 20th, 2010. Comment.
August 5, 2010
Faith asked:
It is often observed that many people’s top ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather be lying in the casket at the funeral than giving the eulogy. Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur.
These speaking engagements do not necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events but can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion or give verbal feedback. The fear of public speaking and panic attacks in this case centers on having an attack while speaking. The individual fears being incapacitated by the anxiety and hence unable to complete what he or she is saying. The person imagines fleeing the spotlight and having to make all kinds of excuses later for their undignified departure out the office window….
This differs slightly from the majority of people who fear public speaking because their fear tends to revolve around going blank while speaking or feeling uncomfortable under the spotlight of their peers. The jitters or nerves of speaking in public are of course a problem for this group as well, but they are unfamiliar with that debilitating threat which is the panic attack, as they most likely have not experienced one before.
So how should a person with an anxiety issue tackle public speaking?
Stage one is accepting that all these bizarre and quite frankly unnerving sensations are not going to go away overnight. In fact, you are not even going to concern yourself with getting rid of them for your next talk. When they arrive during a speech/meeting, you are going to approach them in a new manner. What we need to do is build your confidence back to where it used to be before any of these sensations ever occurred. This time you will approach it in a unique, empowering manner, allowing you to feel your confidence again. It is said that most of the top speakers are riddled with anxiety before speaking, but they somehow use this nervousness to enhance their speech. I am going to show you exactly how to do this, although I know that right now if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks you may find it difficult to believe you can ever overcome it.
My first point is this and it is important. The average healthy person can experience an extreme array of anxiety and very uncomfortable sensations while giving a speech and is in no danger of ever losing control, or even appearing slightly anxious to the audience. No matter how tough it gets, you will always finish your piece, even if at the outset it feels very uncomfortable to go on. You will not become incapacitated in any way.
The real breakthrough for if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks happens when you fully believe that you are not in danger and that the sensations will pass.
“I realize you (the anxiety) hold no threat over me.”
What keeps a panic attack coming again and again is the fear of the fear—the fear that the next one will really knock your socks off and you feel you were lucky to have made it past the last one unscathed. As they were so unnerving and scary, it is your confidence that has been damaged by previous anxiety episodes. Once you fully understand you are not under any threat, then you can have a new response to the anxiety as it arises while speaking.
Defeating public speaking and panic attacks…
There is always a turning point when a person moves from general anxiety into a panic attack, and that happens with public speaking when you think to yourself:
“I won’t be able to handle this in front of these people.”
That split second of self-doubt leads to a rush of adrenaline, and the extreme anxiety arrives in a wave like format. If, however, when you feel the initial anxiety and you react with confidence that this is not a threat to you, you will move out of the anxiety rapidly. Using this new approach is a powerful ally because it means it is okay to feel scared and feel the anxiety when speaking–that is fine; you are going to feel it and move with and through the sensations in your body and out the other side. Because he or she is feeling very anxious, often before the talk has begun, that person may feel they have already let themselves down. Now, you can relax on that point. It is perfectly natural to feel the anxiety. Take for example the worst of the sensations you have ever experienced in this situation—be it general unease to loss of breath. You will have an initial automatic reaction that says:
“Danger–I’m going to have an episode of anxiety here and I really can’t afford that to happen.”
At this point most people react to that idea and confirm it must be true because of all of the unusual feelings they are experiencing. This is where your thinking can lead you down a train of thought that creates a cycle of anxiety that produces a negative impact on your overall presenting skills.
So let that initial “oh dear, not now” thought pass by, and follow it up immediately with the attitude of:
“There you are–I’ve been wondering when you would arrive. I’ve been expecting you to show up—by the way, I am not in the least threatened by any of the strange sensations you are creating—I am completely safe here.”
The key to controlling your fear of public speaking and panic attacks is that instead of pushing the emotional energy and excitement down into your stomach, you are moving out through it. Your body is in a slightly excited state, exactly as it should be while giving a speech, so release that energy in your self-expression. Push it out through your presentation not down into your stomach. You push it out by expressing yourself more forcefully. In this way you turn the anxiety to your advantage by using it to deliver a speech where you come across more alive, energetic and in the present moment. When you notice the anxiety drop as it does when you willingly move into it. Fire a quick thought off when you get a momentary break (as I am sure you have between pieces), asking it for “more.” You want more of its intense feelings as you are interested in them and are absolutely not threatened by them.
It seems like a lot of things to be thinking about while talking to a group of people, but it is not really. You’d be amazed how many different non-related thoughts you can have while speaking. This approach is about adopting a new attitude of confidence to what you might have deemed a serious threat up until now. This tactic will truly help you with fear of public speaking and panic attacks you have associated with them.
If your predominant fear of the speaking engagement is driven by a feeling of being trapped, then I would suggest factoring in some mental releases that can be prepared before the event. For example, some meetings/speeches allow for you to turn the attention back to the room to get feedback etc. from the group.
If possible, you might want to prepare such opportunities in your own mind before the engagements. This is not to say you have to ever use them, but people in this situation often remark that just having small opportunities where attention can be diverted for the briefest of moments can make the task seem less daunting. It my even be something as simple as having people introduce themselves or opening the floor to questions. I realize these diversions are not always possible and depend on the situation, but anything you can factor in that makes you feel less trapped or under the spotlight is worth the effort and can help alleviate fear of public speaking and panic attacks.
It is often observed that many people’s top ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather be lying in the casket at the funeral than giving the eulogy. Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur.
These speaking engagements do not necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events but can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion or give verbal feedback. The fear of public speaking and panic attacks in this case centers on having an attack while speaking. The individual fears being incapacitated by the anxiety and hence unable to complete what he or she is saying. The person imagines fleeing the spotlight and having to make all kinds of excuses later for their undignified departure out the office window….
This differs slightly from the majority of people who fear public speaking because their fear tends to revolve around going blank while speaking or feeling uncomfortable under the spotlight of their peers. The jitters or nerves of speaking in public are of course a problem for this group as well, but they are unfamiliar with that debilitating threat which is the panic attack, as they most likely have not experienced one before.
So how should a person with an anxiety issue tackle public speaking?
Stage one is accepting that all these bizarre and quite frankly unnerving sensations are not going to go away overnight. In fact, you are not even going to concern yourself with getting rid of them for your next talk. When they arrive during a speech/meeting, you are going to approach them in a new manner. What we need to do is build your confidence back to where it used to be before any of these sensations ever occurred. This time you will approach it in a unique, empowering manner, allowing you to feel your confidence again. It is said that most of the top speakers are riddled with anxiety before speaking, but they somehow use this nervousness to enhance their speech. I am going to show you exactly how to do this, although I know that right now if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks you may find it difficult to believe you can ever overcome it.
My first point is this and it is important. The average healthy person can experience an extreme array of anxiety and very uncomfortable sensations while giving a speech and is in no danger of ever losing control, or even appearing slightly anxious to the audience. No matter how tough it gets, you will always finish your piece, even if at the outset it feels very uncomfortable to go on. You will not become incapacitated in any way.
The real breakthrough for if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks happens when you fully believe that you are not in danger and that the sensations will pass.
“I realize you (the anxiety) hold no threat over me.”
What keeps a panic attack coming again and again is the fear of the fear—the fear that the next one will really knock your socks off and you feel you were lucky to have made it past the last one unscathed. As they were so unnerving and scary, it is your confidence that has been damaged by previous anxiety episodes. Once you fully understand you are not under any threat, then you can have a new response to the anxiety as it arises while speaking.
Defeating public speaking and panic attacks…
There is always a turning point when a person moves from general anxiety into a panic attack, and that happens with public speaking when you think to yourself:
“I won’t be able to handle this in front of these people.”
That split second of self-doubt leads to a rush of adrenaline, and the extreme anxiety arrives in a wave like format. If, however, when you feel the initial anxiety and you react with confidence that this is not a threat to you, you will move out of the anxiety rapidly. Using this new approach is a powerful ally because it means it is okay to feel scared and feel the anxiety when speaking–that is fine; you are going to feel it and move with and through the sensations in your body and out the other side. Because he or she is feeling very anxious, often before the talk has begun, that person may feel they have already let themselves down. Now, you can relax on that point. It is perfectly natural to feel the anxiety. Take for example the worst of the sensations you have ever experienced in this situation—be it general unease to loss of breath. You will have an initial automatic reaction that says:
“Danger–I’m going to have an episode of anxiety here and I really can’t afford that to happen.”
At this point most people react to that idea and confirm it must be true because of all of the unusual feelings they are experiencing. This is where your thinking can lead you down a train of thought that creates a cycle of anxiety that produces a negative impact on your overall presenting skills.
So let that initial “oh dear, not now” thought pass by, and follow it up immediately with the attitude of:
“There you are–I’ve been wondering when you would arrive. I’ve been expecting you to show up—by the way, I am not in the least threatened by any of the strange sensations you are creating—I am completely safe here.”
The key to controlling your fear of public speaking and panic attacks is that instead of pushing the emotional energy and excitement down into your stomach, you are moving out through it. Your body is in a slightly excited state, exactly as it should be while giving a speech, so release that energy in your self-expression. Push it out through your presentation not down into your stomach. You push it out by expressing yourself more forcefully. In this way you turn the anxiety to your advantage by using it to deliver a speech where you come across more alive, energetic and in the present moment. When you notice the anxiety drop as it does when you willingly move into it. Fire a quick thought off when you get a momentary break (as I am sure you have between pieces), asking it for “more.” You want more of its intense feelings as you are interested in them and are absolutely not threatened by them.
It seems like a lot of things to be thinking about while talking to a group of people, but it is not really. You’d be amazed how many different non-related thoughts you can have while speaking. This approach is about adopting a new attitude of confidence to what you might have deemed a serious threat up until now. This tactic will truly help you with fear of public speaking and panic attacks you have associated with them.
If your predominant fear of the speaking engagement is driven by a feeling of being trapped, then I would suggest factoring in some mental releases that can be prepared before the event. For example, some meetings/speeches allow for you to turn the attention back to the room to get feedback etc. from the group.
If possible, you might want to prepare such opportunities in your own mind before the engagements. This is not to say you have to ever use them, but people in this situation often remark that just having small opportunities where attention can be diverted for the briefest of moments can make the task seem less daunting. It my even be something as simple as having people introduce themselves or opening the floor to questions. I realize these diversions are not always possible and depend on the situation, but anything you can factor in that makes you feel less trapped or under the spotlight is worth the effort and can help alleviate fear of public speaking and panic attacks.
Filed under Speaking by on Aug 5th, 2010. Comment.