Your heart is pounding, your palms are sweating, your thoughts are confused, just a little more and you will start to get hysterical. Surely, these feelings were experienced by everyone who at least once prepared for a speech in front of a large audience. However, the problem is not that you are too emotional person, or you have glossophobia, it's all about experience and the right attitude.
To feel more confident in the role of a speaker, of course, you must be fluent in the topic of your speech. Do you want to offer an innovative project to a potential investor? Know everything about the project, and even more. Your strong point is interesting thoughts and clear facts.
If you omit the professional moments, and imagine that you are an expert in your subject, then the first thing you have to work with is emotions. And not only with your own, but also with the emotions of those who will listen to you.
You've probably already heard from more experienced speakers such a recommendation as "facilitate the audience." Excellent! It seems that the goal is clear: all you need to do is to make sure that you are listened to attentively. But not everything is so simple! In this case, the masters of oratory advise the following.
Study your listeners
Try to understand what those present at the moment want, what mood they are in. Based on this, you can choose a kind of role, after performing it on stage or at the podium, like an actor. But the main thing is not to overplay. The audience itself, or rather its interests, will help determine the role. You can act in a position: an expert, a teacher, a researcher, a person who will convince, well, or an inspirer. Feeling the audience, it will be easier for you to predict its reaction to any of your statements.
Control yourself
Going to the podium is, although not a spacewalk, but even here there may be unforeseen situations that are beyond your control. For example, among the listeners there may be a brawler who purposefully came to disrupt your performance. And at this critical moment, you will need iron restraint to repel the attack. Also, the audience may simply be critical of either your person or the topic of your speech. Here you need to understand that your audience is not your enemy, it is here to learn something interesting and useful. Therefore, the speaker must demonstrate not only his professionalism, but also psychological stability. Then they will listen to you.
dream up
Imagine that there is an hour left before your speech. Psychologists are usually advised, shortly before their appearance, to mentally immerse themselves in the atmosphere that may reign in the hall during your speech. It is advisable to show imagination and simulate the situation in detail, starting with where you are coming from, what you are wearing, with what words you begin communication with the audience. Next, imagine people's reactions to what you said, then pay attention to personal feelings. Are you satisfied with yourself? So you will succeed! A successful dive will be one that evokes positive emotions. Such scenario playback helps a person to conduct a kind of rehearsal, thereby gaining an experience, albeit virtual.
Be confident
Everyone knows that uncertainty breeds fear, and fear is the biggest enemy of an inexperienced speaker. Probably, you yourself noticed, listening to the next speaker on TV, that a person in his speech makes obvious factual and even logical errors. His speech is not entirely correct and not always clear, but the audience listens to him attentively. It's all about how he talks. Confident speech always sounds convincing, agree. Remember, if suddenly during the speech you doubted your words, the audience will instantly notice it. After that, it will be very difficult to regain the trust of the audience.
Contact the listener
Contact with the audience can be established directly by verbal means, such as speech (during your speech, you can enter into a dialogue with people, ask questions, also answer questions), and indirectly, such as look and facial expressions. It is the gaze that should be given special attention, because eye contact is one of the most powerful natural reflexes. It's a shame not to use them! The eyes can easily determine the interest or alienation of the listeners. Of course, we need only kind eyes, as they will instill confidence in us. If you get a look of mockery, appreciation or anger, do not worry, it is better to switch to another person. Your gaze must be first of all confident. As a rule, at the beginning of a speech, psychologists advise to establish visual communication with a small number of people, no more than ten.
Outcome
If your presentation fails, you should always work on the mistakes in order to clearly identify the reason for the failure. You should not relax if you were escorted from the stage with loud applause, in this case you need to analyze your performance and consolidate your success next time. The secret to the success of the masters of eloquence is one: more practice and careful preparation.
I stand on the stage, looking over the heads of hundreds of people who are staring at me - they are waiting for me to start talking, to say at least something - and an inner voice reminds me: "You are not the right person for this."
With my talk, I opened the TEDx conference, and therefore, I had to set the tone for the whole event. This is a huge responsibility and in addition one of the most important performances in my life. In any other circumstance, I would answer my inner voice: “Yes, you are right. I shouldn't be here. I am an introvert. I am an editor. I can’t even finish a sentence in a conversation with my own wife without thinking about what could be said differently.”
But, fortunately, I prepared in advance. He prepared not only a speech, but also knew how to cope with such destructive impulses. I knew what to say, I believed in what I was going to say, I had a plan in place in case the ideal circumstances I was preparing for weren't the same in reality.
Today I can stand on stage in front of thousands of people and confidently speak my mind. If I'm lucky, a few gimmicks and a couple of jokes won't be a complete failure. But it was not always so.
1. Do not talk about what you do not understand
Sounds like useless, obvious advice. This is not true. If you follow it perfectly, you will not really need the rest of the points from this article - you will do everything well anyway.
One day, after a few speeches, when you have established yourself as a good speaker, opportunities will open up for you to speak somewhere in faraway places with pleasant titles. There is one catch - the content. You may have established yourself as an expert on canary mating games, and then you receive an email inviting you to attend a conference and talk about global trends in paper clip sales.
You should thank for the invitation and politely decline.
The reason is simple: you don't know what to say about it. Even if you try to collect information in a short time, you still won't get a good presentation - you are not interested in the topic itself. In fact, you do not want to talk about it and the inviting party is not interested in you to come up with a good story. They just want you to be at the event because they saw your video and thought you were a famous person.
Therefore, such simple advice is difficult to follow. You are a beginner, you want to stand out, it seems that this is a great opportunity for you.
If you've ever bought something with the hope that it will work like this, but in reality it does not work (think of the commercial that pushed you to a rash purchase), then you understand the disappointment that awaits both parties from the very beginning. .
2. Specify transitions in the script and nothing else
If you're like me, you've got a stern editor on the inside, sitting on your shoulder with a red marker in hand and a pair of glasses on your nose, ready to casually throw out, “Deuce! And stay after school,” for every sentence you said. No matter what you say, the feeling that you could have said better never leaves you.
When people like us usually write a script or plan. When writing a script, there is every chance of finding the right wording.
As the ancient Chinese strategist and warrior Sun Tzu wrote: "No plan survives the first meeting with the enemy." This is the main problem with the detailed plan. In our case, of course, there is no enemy, but there is a world full of uncertainty. One has only to step on the stage, everything becomes real and there is no second take. The more detailed your script, the more likely it is to mess things up. When you're new to the world of public speaking, standing on stage and trying to remember what's next is the last thing you need.
So what should be done instead? Just improvise? Not really.
While a detailed script will bring you more trouble than help, you'll need a different sort of plan. You need to start from the starting points in your story (you know, there are things that you can’t forget, even if you try hard) and write down the moments of transition from one thought to another.
Personal stories work well because:
- The audience loves them, they help to establish communication.
- You don't need to write them down because you already remember them.
We've been telling each other stories for as long as we've been human. This is how we communicated information long before the invention of paper. We are genetically programmed to remember them (so they are easier to present), and more importantly, the audience is genetically programmed to listen to them (and become happier listening to stories).
Because the same story can be freely told differently each time, you don't have to write everything down to the last word exactly. Enough of the basic points, your human inclinations will take care of the rest. Writing down the main points will help connect the stories together.
3. Practice a little more than you need to.
My friend Chris Guillebeau, founder and host of The World Domination Summit, makes at least 10 talks every weekend throughout the year. Sometimes he tells a story. Another time reminds the audience of 15 important things that were discussed before the lunch break.
As a WDS member and aspiring speaker, I once asked him, “How do you remember everything you need to say, in full, every time you step on stage?” I was hoping for a secret life hack, but his answer - and it's true - was the most common: "I practice a lot."
Now I do this too. And it works. Whenever I have to give a speech, I rehearse at least 2-3 times. It takes time, it's often boring, you have to practice for days or weeks, and you don't feel like practicing again. But you are not doing this for yourself. You are doing this for your audience. If you want to be remembered by her, you have to immerse yourself in unattractive, boring, monotonous work.
4. Break your report into parts
Chris Gillibo advised not only to practice a lot. He also mentioned that he is working on separate parts. He tries to break his presentation into pieces and then put them back together.
Now I do the same, and it reduces the preparation time. By working on parts, I can develop and decide on different parts of the presentation in parallel. If I stumble on some piece of text in the middle (or worse, at the very beginning), I don't have to wait for the perfect working state without doing anything - I can work on other parts until I fix the issue with the problematic one.
Finish your report faster, practice more time, until it becomes a habit. Nothing builds confidence more than success, and nothing builds success like constant practice.
Some people exercise only as much as they need to. When I say "practice more", I mean that you have to rehearse more than you need.
5. Reduce speed. Get down slowly
A common problem for all introverts like me: if we start talking, we start chasing the thoughts we were trying to get rid of. My head is an idea generator that is constantly moving forward. My mouth, on the contrary, speaks slowly, trying not to make a mistake.
But at one fine moment it breaks through you, and you release all the accumulated thoughts outside. Trying to keep up with your brain is like an ant trying to keep a bull running down a mountainside. But trying to speed up your speech in order to say everything that was born in your head leads to exactly the opposite effect: you start to stutter, get lost, repeat yourself. Therefore, you are even more nervous and move away from the planned speech.
If your idea is important, then it deserves all the time it takes to express it. A more useful approach is to think slower. Not quite slowly, of course, rather, with more caution.
This problem is due to carelessness: you do not connect thoughts with each other, but instead start jumping from one to another. A few jumps off the road - and you can hardly remember where you are.
It's easy to stick to one thought. When you notice that your thoughts have taken you far ahead, just go back and repeat the desired idea.
6. Don't get lost!
When I was preparing for my TEDx talk, I called in my friend Mike Pacchione, a public speaking expert, to point out my shortcomings. He caught me on the fact that I often deviated from the topic.
It happens when the idea you're talking about disappears and you decide to follow it. The problem is that mind wandering rarely ends with one idea. Once you get lost once, you keep falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.
The problem is not that you can't tell interesting stories while wandering, but that as soon as you start wandering, you get completely lost. How does a tourist get lost in the forest? He takes one step off the path to look at the plants. And then: “Oh, mushrooms,” and a few more steps to the side. "Hey, that tree up ahead looks great," and it's only when he decides to go back that he realizes he has no idea how to do it.
The temptation to wander in thoughts can be high, but then it is very difficult to return to the right path.
There are two practical ways to solve this problem. The first is to follow tip #3 and practice a lot. The more you practice, the more you remember your own stories and know where they can lead. Another solution is that the only thing that can help when you're standing on stage and you feel like you're getting off topic is to get the extra thoughts out of your head.
Your brain doesn't want to follow abstract thoughts, it wants to process them. The best way to stay on track is to remind yourself that you can think about them... but not right now. Get them out of your head. Perhaps they can be used during the presentation of the same report in the future. But, for heaven's sake, don't try to use them now.
7. Create a soothing ritual
My heart was ready to pierce the chest. I felt that all the muscles were tense, and the field of vision was beginning to narrow. Breathing began to quicken. "What's happening?" I asked myself. I was on the verge of a panic attack. I needed to take a step onto the stage to give the most important speech of my life, but the only thing I could think about was that I was going to send everything to hell. This gave an outlet for the stress reaction, and everything went downhill.
Fortunately, I was instructed what to do if this happened. Vanessa Van Edwards, one of the greatest speakers I have had the pleasure of knowing, helped me prepare. She shared that she, too, gets nervous before big presentations. If she hadn't told me this herself, I never would have thought.
The secret she is using? Calming technique. Every good speaker has one, and every good speaker knows that sticking to it is necessary to show their best side.
What Vanessa does: She finds a quiet place where, a few minutes before she is scheduled to go on stage, she straightens her back, breathes deeply, and imagines success.
This may sound a little silly, but it actually works. I myself use this method.
Before an important event, it is absolutely normal for the body to start releasing a lot of the stress hormone cortisol. We become especially sensitive to stressful situations. Just thousands of years ago, feeling stress and not responding to it could have cost you your life.
It doesn't happen often today - I can't remember reports of "death by indecision" - but our biology hasn't kept up with us. The terrible irony is that the more you allow stress to take over, the more likely you are to make a mistake and perform poorly.
Therefore, before you go on stage, check yourself and your stress level. Excitement is normal. And anxiety is bad. Always save yourself a few minutes before going out to calm down.
8. When you're wrong, keep talking.
I was a big fan of the TV show The Colbert Report. I rarely even missed an episode. It was one of the most popular live "news" on television. If you've watched the show, you may have noticed that Steven got his words mixed up in almost every episode. He could construct a phrase in such a way that it lost its meaning, he could skip a word or pronounce it incorrectly.
But you might not have noticed this, because outwardly Colbert did not react in any way. When he made a mistake, he didn't stutter or try to fix it. He just kept talking because he knew what all public speaking introverts should remember:
context is more important than details.
He could make a mistake and not even pay any attention to it. And no one noticed this, because no one listened to every spoken word. Everyone listened to the context.
Far worse than a small mistake is drawing attention to it. If you stumble, use your sense of humor to smooth things over. Shut up and move on.
9. Remember that the audience wants everything to be successful.
Probably the simplest advice that everyone gives helped me learn how to use all the previous tips in action:
Always remember that the audience doesn't want you to fail.
When you're worried about the big event ahead, this simple truth can easily be forgotten. Your audience is not going to kick you off the stage. She wants to know what you want to teach them. The congregation spends their time and perhaps money to listen to you. People don't give their time and money for a bad experience. But just the opposite.
When you're nervous before a speech, it's easy to think, "What if someone doesn't like what I have to say?" This thought starts to spread, and soon you will start asking yourself, “What if everyone hates me?”
This way of thinking leads to bad performances. Don't think so. Don't let yourself swerve down that road, because the audience is really on your side. She wants you to succeed. And, if you follow these nine tips, you will have all the advantages to be on top.
Meetings are part of the job of most office workers. Morning and evening, scheduled and urgent, offsite, brainstorming and rallies, on Mondays and Fridays… Meetings are firmly woven into the fabric of everyday work. And sometimes you have to speak at meetings: present an idea, report on the work done, justify the budget, analyze a conflict situation ... There are people who seem to be created to speak at meetings. In front of colleagues, they feel like a fish in water: they are confident, speak clearly and with reason, and radiate charisma. There is another type of employee: quiet, introverts who find it difficult to speak in front of an audience, even a small one. It's a shame that the ideas of timid employees often remain unspoken: it's easier for a person to forget about a bright thought that came to his mind than to express it out loud in front of a large crowd of people.
We dedicate this article to timid employees and urge: be bolder. Express ideas, defend your point of view, learn to speak in public. It's not even that without these skills it's hard to build a career. Any company, in fact, is a field where the interests of different people intersect. Know how to present yourself as a good specialist and a strong personality - and you get more resources. Behave modestly, prefer not to shine - and one day you may find yourself among the unnecessary, superfluous employees, despite the fact that you make a significant contribution to the company's achievements.
For timid employees - A collection of tips on how to speak effectively in meetings.
1) Stay informed
Prepare for meetings. Always be aware of what is on the agenda. Even if it seems to you that this time they will definitely not discuss issues related to your area of responsibility, still ask what the meeting will be about.
2) Prepare the ground
First, sketch out what you want to say on paper. Let these be very brief notes, but they can be of great help. Timid people sometimes get lost when dozens of pairs of eyes are fixed on them and do not know what to say. That's what notes are for: one glance at them will help you focus on the topic of the statement. At the same time, notes should be just notes - short theses. You should not write down the speech in full and read it from a piece of paper - state it in your own words.
Second, rehearse how you will speak in the meeting. Stand in front of a mirror and perform in front of an imaginary audience. It works like a psychological trick. In a real meeting, you will feel more confident because you already gave this speech.
3) Keep emotional balance
If possible, before the meeting you're going to be speaking in, shield yourself from annoying things—especially co-workers who might piss you off. You need to enter a state of balance and confidence. At this time, engage in well-known, calm work. For example, put your documents in order. Not the best option is to negotiate with a "heavy" client who can turn you on.
Try to relax before the meeting. If you can meditate in a secluded place, do it. If not, retire to a place where you won't be much disturbed and listen to your breathing. Yes, the technique is simple yet effective. Take ten slow breaths in and out, listening to your breath and sensations. A sense of balance will come, you just have to carry it safely to the room in which the rally will take place.
4) Don't delay
If you're scheduled to speak and you're nervous, try to speak in the first 10 minutes of the meeting. You can arrange with a moderator (this is one of your colleagues or a leader) to give you the floor at the beginning of the event. Why? The longer you are in standby mode, the more nervous you become, the faster thoughts scatter and confidence disappears. Just do it without delay.
5) Don't shy away if you're asked an uncomfortable question.
It doesn’t really matter what the question is - with poor experience in public speaking, any question turns into a problem.
Remember that you are not required to respond immediately. You can say, "That's a good question," and reply that you need time to think, gather information, and give an informed answer. If you do not know what to answer, it is better not to try.
6) Don't let yourself be interrupted
A timid speaker is easily confused if he is interrupted. Especially if you do it rudely (not everyone knows how to listen).
If your colleagues interrupt you during a speech, do so. Stop, take a break. Then raise your index finger, indicating that you are not allowed to interrupt. Or say something like this: “I didn’t finish the thought. Please give me a chance to finish. I will answer your arguments later. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions."
Learn how to speak in meetings, and how to speak persuasively. Otherwise, how will colleagues and management know that you are smart, productive, full of innovative ideas? At first, you may have to literally tear yourself away from your chair in order to stand up and express your idea / argument / remark. But over time, for sure - for sure! - It will be easier. You will get a taste and wonder how you could be so modest before.
The worst thing is to start a presentation in front of a large number of people. There are several tricks for an intriguing start.
Tell an interesting, exciting story. As a general rule, if the presentation begins with such a narrative and the audience is interested in the first 60 seconds, attention will be easier to maintain. Perhaps you need to talk about some interesting historical event or recall the old wisdom regarding the topic of your report. A short introduction in the form of a story should last no more than 90 seconds.
Ask a rhetorical question. It helps to convince the bulk of the public. For example, “To be or not to be, that is the question”, “Rus, where are you rushing to?” etc. However, the questions need to be thought through and submitted in a form in which they will reflect the essence of the report.
Start your report with statistics. As a rule, statistical data dispose listeners.
Come up with a catchy headline, thanks to which the audience will be interested in the topic from the first seconds.
Start your talk with a wise quote or statement from a famous person to add appeal and style to the presentation. However, all words of wisdom should relate exclusively to the topic of the report.
Show an illustration or a short presentation. This approach will add understanding, and listeners will surely remember the report only from the positive side. When showing slides, you need to remember that for one illustration there should be one thought, packed into two, maximum three sentences. On slides, a large font looks better, and animation effects should be in moderation.
Add a short video to the report that elicits an emotional response. Plus, this way the essence of the topic is conveyed faster.
Don't spend too much time speaking. It is best to try to keep within 20 minutes. During this time, the audience will not get tired and will actively discuss this report.
Don't drawl and don't speak too fast. Imagine that you are telling your audience an interesting story.
Answer questions quickly. Thus, you will emphasize your professionalism in this topic.
Do you want to be listened to and heard? Then you need to constantly be in sight, maintain eye contact with the audience and speak clearly, legibly. Also watch your gestures, that is, do not wave your arms much, but do not hide them in your pockets either.
Answer yourself the questions: “why am I speaking?”, “Which target audience is listening to me?”. After the answers, make a plan for yourself clearly and you will understand which style of presentation is more acceptable.
Don't know how to give a good presentation? This is easy to do, the main thing is not to be afraid to speak in front of an audience. Therefore, you must first overcome fear, and then speak. Minimize your fear first:
Be the first to speak to the audience. As a rule, the longer you wait in line, the worse it gets. Perhaps it is worth speaking in the forefront in order to breathe freely after 20 minutes.
Imagine that you are reading a report to your friends and family. Then it will be easier for you to focus on your topic.
Before the performance, tune in only to the positive. Enter the hall with a smile and start with an interesting phrase that will hook the audience. You will see that the audience is not terrible, but benevolent, and as soon as you say a few words (sentences), the fear will go away on its own.
Before the presentation, read the report to colleagues or classmates. So quickly overcome your fear and it will be easier to speak in front of an audience.
Be confident. Confidence is the key to success. If you know the topic well, understand it, then you should not be afraid. You can prepare yourself a cheat sheet, where you will spy on what you have next according to the plan.
Think about the consequences before speaking. After all, you need to earn high marks.
Important! Listeners are ordinary people who understand your fear, and they, for their part, try to cheer you up. Think about it and everything will be fine.
What are the most common mistakes made while speaking?
Now you know how to make a presentation correctly. However, it is worth thinking about the fact that errors may occur during the performance. To prevent this from happening, read how not to do it.
Mistake 1. Make a presentation without preparation. Many sociable students find that they can present a topic well without having to read a paper first. And this is one of the biggest mistakes. After all, a person who speaks without preparation will begin to stutter, say a lot of empty and ornate phrases.
Mistake 3. Answer questions during the presentation. Of course, it is good when listeners are interested in the topic, but it is better to warn the audience in advance that questions should be asked after the report. Otherwise, there is a risk of getting confused, confused, which may affect the time and quality of the performance.
Mistake 4. Read fast or slow. Speed is not always good, and even more so at the moment of performance. If the audience does not understand the topic, then it is difficult for them to understand the speaker's train of thought. Too slow pace leads to monotony, which makes the report boring and uninteresting.
Mistake 5. Use too long sentences (more than 13 words). This kind of presentation is hard to understand.
In this article, we figured out how to make a presentation in order to interest listeners, what techniques to use and what mistakes should not be made. These tips will help you perform well, overcome fear and become more confident.
How to present a report correctly - 10 tips for success updated: February 15, 2019 by: Scientific Articles.Ru
The ability to speak publicly is necessary today for almost every working person, this is especially true for leaders of various levels. Psychologists note: there are practically no people who, in principle, are not capable of public speaking. The main reason for oratorical failures is an internal fear that must be overcome.
Confidence in business life directly depends on the ability of a person to clearly express his desires and beliefs.
And the practice of public speaking helps to gain that confidence.
The powerful tension that the vast majority of people experience before public speaking is primarily due to self-doubt and internal complexes. A person who is used to communicating in a dialogue mode with one person or in a small company with several people suddenly finds himself in front of a large and incomprehensible audience for him, from communication with which you can get anything you want.
The main advice that almost all psychologists give is: try to perceive your future listeners not as a hostile force, but as friends who will always help you. You need to start preparing for the performance in advance.
Consciousness of fear.
Everyone is afraid to speak in front of a large audience. Stay inside the imaginary situation of speaking for one or two minutes, and then ask yourself how you feel - the joy of being given a podium, indifference, or tension bordering on fear. If you are honest with yourself, you will find that your body is slightly tense, that you feel discomfort and muscle clamps in any muscle groups and bodily areas, and your breathing has increased significantly. The absence of these and other similar signs most likely means that you have not been able to go deep into such an imaginary situation. Try not only to realize the presence of fear, but also to see its muscular “pattern”.
To freedom through relaxation.
Practice the ability to quickly and easily relax all parts of your body, including those areas of it that regularly tense up with just one mental picture of public speaking. There are many relaxation methods described in many books on autogenic training and psychotraining, which you can master on your own. Having achieved complete relaxation with the help of mental psychotraining, transfer this image to the picture of your public speech. Try to imagine and really feel that you are completely free from the fear and tension that binds you.
positive direction of thought.
Learn to think about the upcoming public speaking with pleasure, realizing that you are defeating yourself and overcoming the inner barrier. Make pleasure not just a mental attitude, but a real living experience, the energy of which is palpable throughout your being, including your body.
The perfect speaker.
Mentally enter the image of a bright, brilliant speaker, whose speech flows absolutely freely. Of course, this should not be empty chatter without the participation of the soul and heart. Remember the feeling of freedom and pleasure that this fantasy gives you, and then try to bring this mental image into your real behavior and speech.
Eloquence training in life situations.
Start practicing your public speaking art by practicing your new role and persona in small groups, among friends and acquaintances, learning to tell interesting stories and capture the attention of listeners for as long as possible, all the while throwing new information and energy into it, like firewood on a fire. your interest in your listeners.
Work on intonation.
Try to make your intonation richer and more emotionally saturated - after all, it is an indicator of your true attitude to what you just talked about. If you say that you are very interested in something, but at the same time your intonation is boring and inexpressive, none of the listeners will simply believe you.
obedient body.
Consciously work on your body as you communicate. Watch how you move, what postures you most often take in communication, how your communication partners react to them, what movements and gestures you like to do. Develop your own repertoire of postures, movements and gestures that will allow you to successfully balance between charm and security during public speaking.
Flexibility in communication.
Remember one of the rules of life that Leo Tolstoy set for himself in his youth: do not miss a single insult or taunt in your address without immediately responding to it doubly sharply and decisively. Try to imagine that a word, especially a sharp and sharp one, is a kind of ball that you need to be able to throw and catch effectively and accurately. Learn to do this with a resilient grace in the most ordinary communication, and it will help you in the extreme communication, which to some extent can be attributed to public speaking.
And the American psychologist, Image Specialist, Lillian Brown gives interesting recommendations:
"Before a speech, it is useful to make a kind of checklist, similar to those used by airline pilots, marking important points before departure."
Your personal list may contain something like the following:
- my appearance is in perfect order, hair, makeup (if necessary) and clothes are appropriate for the occasion; I can look into the eyes of my listeners; I have the right posture, I am free and can relax; my facial expression and my gestures express friendliness; my speech is one of the best, I can't wait to give it to my listeners; I know my speech well; I know what I want to say; my notes are well organized; it is easy for me to use them; my listeners are just great; my listeners like me; I want to speak to them; I like to perform in front of them, and they feel it; I know how to relax during a performance; I spread an atmosphere of confidence and friendliness; my oratory is at a high level; I know that when my speech is over, I will be satisfied with the work done; they will certainly want me to continue my speech, but I will finish my speech earlier; I hope that I still have to make speeches and reports. when my speech is over, I will experience a sense of satisfaction from the applause and from the well-meaning comments.
And the most famous public speaking expert, Dale Carnegie, in his book How to Build Self-Confidence and Influence People by Speaking in Public, teaches effective public speaking techniques. According to experiments conducted by the Carnegie Institute of Technology, a person's personality plays a much larger role in his business success than deep knowledge. This truth is also true in the field of oratory. However, the personality is so elusive, intangible and mysterious that it is almost impossible to give directions as to its development. However, the following recommendations, in the opinion of the author, will certainly help the speaker to achieve the best success.
1. Don't perform when you're tired. Relax, restore your strength, accumulate a reserve of energy in yourself.
2. Eat in moderation before a performance.
3. Don't do anything that would suppress your energy. It has magnetic properties. People flock around an energetic speaker like wild geese around a field of winter wheat.
4. Dress neatly and gracefully. The knowledge that you are well dressed increases self-esteem, strengthens self-confidence. If a speaker has baggy trousers, dirty shoes, uncombed hair, if a pen and pencils stick out of his breast pocket, or if a woman has a tasteless, overflowing bag, then listeners will probably feel as little respect for the speaker as he does. probably experiencing for himself.
5. Smile. Come out in front of the audience with a facial expression that should say that you are glad to be in front of them. Professor Overstreet says, "Like begets like." “If we are interested in our listeners, then there is reason to believe that they will also be interested in us ... Very often, even before we begin to speak, we are blamed or approved. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that by our behavior we seek to cause a positive reaction".
6. Bring the audience together. It is very difficult to influence them if they are scattered in different places. As a member of a compact audience, a person will laugh, applaud, and approve of things that he would doubt or object to if he were alone or one of a group of listeners scattered in a large hall.
7. If you are speaking to a small group of listeners, then gather them in a small room. Do not stand on a raised platform, but go down to the same level with them. Make your presentation intimate, informal, turn it into a conversation.
8. Make sure that the air in the hall is fresh.
9. Light up the room as much as possible. Stand so that the light falls directly into your face and so that the audience can clearly see all its features.
10. Do not stand behind any piece of furniture. Move tables and chairs to one side. Remove all the ugly items and junk that often fill the scene.
11. If invited guests are sitting on the stage, then they will certainly move from time to time, and every time they make the slightest movement, they will surely attract the attention of your listeners. The audience cannot resist the temptation to look at any moving object, animal or person. So why do you create difficulties and competition for yourself?
The practice acquired in the process of speaking can be used in everyday activities: the possession of oratory will help to better convince management and colleagues, to prove your point of view. Therefore, those who want to stop being afraid should start performing. According to experts, only the first five times are difficult. And if you do not overcome yourself, then you will have to be afraid all your life. Of course, excitement will always be present, and this is good, because excitement tones up, but fear will go away. And success will take its place!