Do you have a fear of public speaking?
Does the thought of standing up and speaking in public cause you to break out in a sweat?
You are not alone; people generally rank the fear of public speaking over the fear of death.
The greatest myth is that people are born confident speakers. This is not the case.
I speak from experience. My first experience speaking in public as an adult involved a 2 minute presentation, the thought of which filled me with dread.
The night before the presentation I hardly slept, and the next morning I considered pretending I was ill to escape.
Somehow, I got through the presentation shaking like a leaf and sweating profusely but felt relieved when it was over.
Years later having gained vast amounts of knowledge I now THRIVE on public speaking and creating an impact.
You can overcome this fear too and learn to love public speaking.
With the right tools and knowledge you have the ability to inspire and educate others.
The secret is to ‘turn it all around’ and understand that your presentation isn’t about you, it’s about them.
Bring to mind a time when you felt fear whilst speaking. If you have yet to speak in public then bring to mind your worst fear. The chances are that these fears will involve YOU. You may worrying about:
Your fear is derived from the focus on you.
Becoming a great presenter/public speaker involves flipping these thoughts.
Your speech or presentation is not about YOU but about what you can do for them.
Speaking in public is a wonderful opportunity to take your audience on a journey.
It’s an opportunity to share knowledge and create memorable feelings.
It’s an opportunity to create an impact and be memorable yourself.
Did you know that you can elicit emotions within your audience using ‘stage anchoring’?
Using stage space, you can take your audience on a journey of emotions that YOU choose for them.
Did you know that you can encourage audience responsiveness and engagement with simple techniques?
One technique to create ensure audience responsiveness throughout, involves encouraging responsiveness at the beginning.
In the early moments of your presentation, it can be very beneficial to ask a question to which most of your audience will say ‘yes’.
For example:
“Who here would like to live the best possible life?”
“Who would like to know the hidden secrets to happiness?”
“Who would like life to be as rewarding as possible?”
“Who would like to enjoy their experience here today?”
These are all questions that most people would respond to with a “yes” answer.
Then, all that is required is to add the command, “Raise Your Hand” on the end of the sentence, and you yourself then confidently raise your hand. They will then follow.
For example:
“Who here would like to enjoy their experience here today? Raise your hand”. (You then raise your hand).
This strategy creates audience compliance.
By encouraging the audience to react to you in the early stages, you will be encouraging them to react to you throughout.
You can use these technique at various points in your presentation (when appropriate) to keep them engaged.
If you are aware of audience energy beginning to drop, this technique can also help to ‘wake them up’ again.
If you are interested in learning to overcome your fear of public speaking or would like to power up your presentation skills, then I can help.
In a very short space of time (and with practice) I can teach you to become a very proficient public speaker and really enjoy it!