MAKE IT MEMORABLE
In our last conversation we spoke about knowing and connecting with your audience.
This is accomplished by:
1) Testing your material.
2) Meet the people before you speak.
3) Look them in the eye
Sounds simple and looks easy. Katie Perry makes singing look easy, Robin Williams makes comedy effortless and Doreen Guma takes a large project and makes that look easy.
I have a secret: none of it is easy. Truly successful enterprises are not simple, but when your dream goes from an exciting challenge to work then it is time to rethink your approach.
To many people, public speaking goes beyond something they don’t want to do. It falls into the realm of I would rather do anything else but stand in front of a group of people and present an idea.
How can you really connect with an audience if you can’t get over your own fears? Obviously, you can’t. A properly delivered speech starts with focusing on one person, and that person is you.
Your topic may be something that you chose, or if it is business, perhaps not. But, personalizing the presentation will help you make a connection with the audience because you will be talking about something that is meaningful to you.
A business presentation can, and should, include a story about a client that has gone through the scenario that you are discussing. Maybe a success story, or a challenging one.
No matter what your story is, tell it. That will connect you with your speech and your speech with your audience, and ultimately your audience with you.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
“Let me leave you with the most important piece of information I can give you about how to be a more effective speaker, how to manage your fears and how to come up with the proper content. Think about the audience first and always. If you are constantly in tune with them, they will know you are sincere and that will be remembered most.”
That was how we left, last time. It is all about the audience. Everything we do really is. Think about that. Did you ever try to get your friends to do something they don’t want to do but you do? Remind them of where the benefit is to them and they will join you, if you don’t , can’t or there is no benefit to them then you are all alone, just as if you are standing on a stage and no one is listening. That is lonely.
Speaking in public to one or one hundred can be daunting if you don’t think of the audience first and foremost. How do you do this? Not that hard, assuming you are not totally selfish and if you are on this site, then I know you are not.
Here are a few ideas on how to know your audience
1) Test your material: Find similar people to those that you will be presenting to. I speak to groups about a variety of topics but the one that probably fits best with this audience is developing and delivering your 30 second elevator speech. While I attend many networking meetings it is fairly apparent that many folks want to deliver the best presentation they can, but sometimes include a bit too much. Before I delivered this as a speech, I spoke to many networkers about their speech and what I thought they should focus on. The feedback I received and the improvements I and others saw gave me the knowledge that the material was correct for that audience.
2) Meet the people before you speak: This is easy, you know your material and you know it is correct for your group you just need to make friends with the audience. Show up early for your presentation and meet the guests as they arrive. Let them know you are the speaker and what you will be covering. Chances are they will give you something that you can incorporate into your presentation. The benefit to that is your speech will be given to a friendly face. Also get to know a few names, 2 or 3 is fine and as you are delivering your presentation you can use the names. Between these two items your audience will sense that you have created a speech that is just for them. This will give you amazing creditability and will turn an audience into a room full of friends.
3) Look them in the eye: Let’s take a step back to grade school on this one. Do you recall the teacher snapping out your name when you were napping? I do, if you don’t. Mention a name when you are giving a speech and I guarantee you will get that persons attention. But after you do this a second or third time with different names the whole audience will be paying closer attention thinking that you will be using their name also. When you say the names of those you have memorized, look for them in the audience. Don’t worry about finding them just scan the audience. If you can find them, all the better, but at least they will know you looked for them
Taking these simple yet important steps before your presentation will help you turn the audience into friendly individuals and maybe some of those individuals into friends. And why would you be nervous knowing you are speaking to friends about a topic that you know is perfect and personalized for them.
Conquering Your Fears of Public Speaking
Many people would rather die than speak in public, I'm here to save you. But can I really save you from death? Better to consult the health experts about that. What I can save you from is preferring death over speaking.
What is fear? Did you ever think about that? What truly is fear? We are going to be discussing the fear of public speaking but before we even get into the art of public speaking, we should address fear; that is the elephant in the room. It is not speaking in public; not standing in front of the room, not coming up with content, it is not doing anything like that. Where does that fear truly come from? My guess, it is that fear of failure. FOF or fear of failure can permeate all of our goals and that holds true with anything.
When was the last time you tried to quit smoking? Did you do it or put it off? Why? Maybe because you might have failed at quitting smoking before and you don’t want to fail again. We don’t want to fail. Losing weight, same thing, can’t start now with all of the holiday parties. But what about January, maybe that is a good month, but it is so cold. February, well more holidays, have to eat, Valentines Day and it is all about the chocolate.
But why, why do we come up with those excuses? Why don’t we just give that presentation? Because most are afraid of failure, but what is the downside of failure? NOTHING. NOTHING, we are not risking life and limb, we are risking our ego a little bit. We may think we are perfect, we are not. And if we are not failing we are not growing. We need to be OK with failing. We have to be Ok with the fact that every once in a while we drop the ball. It is not our fault, other times it is. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. I have gotten on the comedy stage a number of times. Sometimes I stay within my comfort zone. When I do I am not really worried about that too much. Other times you just need to let it fly and see what happens. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. My first time on a comedy stage it didn’t work, the second time it did. I have done stand up in front of other comedians and I didn’t get a smile or even a snicker. I was afraid to fail in front of my peers and I did. But what if I got on that stage and forgot about that fear of failure.
Let me leave you with the most important piece of information I can give you about how to be a more effective speaker, how to manage your fears and how to come up with the proper content. Think about the audience first and always. If you are constantly in tune with them, they will know you are sincere and that will be remembered most.
I look forward to sharing ideas with you that will help you improve your presentation skills and manage your Fear of Failure.
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Brian Cohen has held positions in the business arena for thirty years. He has been focused for the last ten years in positions that have honed his presentation skills. Six years ago he joined Toastmasters and has quickly earned the highest educational designation. Email Brian at Briansos@optonline.net
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