Everyone can become a great speaker
Speaking in front of an audience is one of the most common fears people experience.
It is still quite common that people believe that to excel in public speaking you must have some kind of talent. But my experience and research (I will get to this later in my post) has proven that this isn’t so. Everyone can learn to be a great speaker and enjoy it. The only thing that holds most people back is the anxiety they experience.
What happens when you struggle with anxiety?
When I had to give a presentation or talk before a group of people my main focus was on controlling my anxiety. Unfortunately I didn’t have much attention left to connect with my audience. I didn’t see their facial expressions which could tell me whether they were engaged, interested or bored. This is vital information if you want to improve your skills, connect with your audience and spread your ideas. Also, I did not have much energy left to apply those tips and tricks that you can read in many ‘how to’-books.
How can you go beyond this fear?
I started out to really get to know my fear and acknowledged it. It turns out everyone experiences anxiety and fear at some level when speaking. So be curious and get to know the different aspects of your anxiety:
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thoughts (e.g. people might not like what I say),
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physical changes (e.g. hart beat, dry mouth, shaking),
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behavioural changes (e.g. less sleep, speech becomes faster),
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feelings (e.g. more feelings of frustration, stress).
It sometimes helps to literally tell yourself what you observe. This could be: “My breath is shallow and fast; this fear feels like a small ball in my stomach”.
Take the time to become knowledgeable about your fear. If you do so you will have more focus available to actually prepare, practice and improve your presentation skills. In a previous post I wrote about how pushing away emotions is counterproductive. So, be curious and you will be on your way to become the speaker you envision.
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Watch this entertaining presentation as inspiration.
The research
How do people achieve top performance. The extensive research by Anders Ericsson demonstrates that it is not a matter of talent to achieve excellence but a matter of how we practice. People who are top performers apply “deliberate practice”. So for you to become good at giving a presentation you need to apply the three elements of deliberate practice:
1. Every time you give a speech (short or long) work on a specific aspect you want to improve (e.g. you want to improve your skill to make your presentation more interactive).
2. Repetition. Try to set up as many opportunities to speak before a group.
3. Seek feedback (e.g. while speaking, look if people look interested or bored; asked for feedback afterwards, if there were any elements missing, etc.).
