The easy way to overcome stage fright
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
StageCalm The easy way to overcome stage fright |
|
||
|
|
||||
StageCalm Home Articles StageCalm Forums Contact Us Public Speaking Secrets – What you need to know
When it comes to public speaking, if you are like most adults you are probably terrified by the thought. It has been said that more adults are afraid of speaking in front of a group then they are afraid of their own death. That’s huge! But it doesn’t have to be that way. Public speaking does not have to be terrifying. In fact, if you simply learn a couple of key things, you will be a master of public speaking, and will then be in the minority! 1) The number one thing that you need to know about public speaking is – practice, practice, practice. I can’t say this enough, because if there is one thing that you learn about public speaking, this should be it. Do not for one minute think that you can go up on the stage and make it up as you go along. You should spend a great deal of time rehearsing your speech. A great way to rehearse is out loud, in front of a mirror where you can see your own facial expressions. Are you doing anything strange with your mouth? Are you looking straight ahead? If you have trouble looking straight ahead, you will have trouble making eye contact with the audience. You can also practice speaking in front of family members or trusted friends. Make eye contact with them, just as you would with a real audience. Keep practicing until you have your speech down perfectly. You can never practice too much, because once you are really familiar with your speech, you will be more comfortable with it and will present it much better as well. 2) The next thing that will really help any speech is a dash of humor. Humor can improve almost any speech or presentation. If you are making a wedding speech, humor will definitely diffuse a moment that may be a little too sentimental. Even business conferences benefit from a dash of humor. Business speeches or conferences can often be very dry and boring, and when you inject humor you are keeping your audience involved and interested, which is one of the most important elements of a successful speech or presentation. If you don’t have your audience actively involved in your speech, you don’t have anything, because after all that is the goal of the presentation in the first place. 3) Spend some time listening to other presenters before you have to give your speech. You can learn a lot from what others do which includes what you do like and what you don’t like. If you attend a speech or presentation where the speaker is particularly good, note the things that they are doing that you really like. Are they injecting a lot of personality in their talk? Or maybe they are involving the audience and encouraging participation? Perhaps they are using props or slides? Learn what you can from a good presentation and likewise, learn what you can from a poor one. There will be many speeches that you attend where the presenter is not prepared, and doesn’t know what they are doing. We’ve all been to a wedding where the groomsman hasn’t prepared a speech for the groom and gets up to the podium only to make a fool of himself by recounting some silly story from years earlier. Definitely learn what you can from poorly presented speeches by making a note not to do those things yourself. 4) Be aware of your audience. Imagine yourself sitting through a speech that is boring and non engaging. The speaker has completely lost touch with the audience, and people are leaving the room, falling asleep and texting on their cell phones. That is not the speech that you want to give, is it? No, absolutely not. No one wants to be known for their boring speeches. So what can you do to make sure that you are in touch with your audience? The first thing that you need to do is to be in touch with your audience. Look at them. It sounds simple doesn’t it? But you would be surprised how many people do not make an effort to look out at their audience. The best way to know what is going on with your audience is to look at them. Make eye contact, smile at them. This simple gesture will not only engage the audience, but it will disarm them. Suddenly, if you are making contact with them, they will seem less scary, and you will notice a great deal of your fear dissipate. Another way to be sure that your audience is paying attention is to engage them with questions or participation. This may seem scary at first, but it’s not. All you need to do is ask simple questions and suddenly your audience is paying attention because they think that you may call on them and they do not want to look the fool. If you’re a little unsure about this technique, plant a few trusted people in the audience that you can call on, and you will not need to put yourself out with people you do not know. 5) The best thing that you can remember about your presentation is that it is not what you say, it’s how you say it. You can stand up in front of a big crowd and tell them the most exciting thing that they have ever heard, but if you stand there and deliver it in a monotone voice, they are not going to remember anything you said. Likewise, you can get up in front of a large group of people and tell them the blandest story, about nothing in particular. And if you deliver it with pizzazz and spark, you will have them interested from the minute you start, until the second you sit down. That is a good speech. It is not necessarily what you say, it is always how you say it. Be sure that you have your presentation down pat. Inject it with humor, entertainment and pizzazz. Make sure that the level of your voice changes as you speak and it’s not always a monotone, and you will have them hooked from the first word. Public speaking does not have to be a terrifying experience. Take heart to the five key things that I have listed here and you will be delivering a dynamite speech before you know it! Do not be scared, because after all, almost everyone in the audience will have a chance to get up and give a speech at some point in their lives and they will not be nearly as prepared as you are after reading this!
|
 |
||||||
 |
 |
||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||
Buy now & download instantly through Paypal
