Are you a Terrible Public Speaker? Stop Focusing on the Wrong Things!

When clients approach us for presentation and public speaking skills training, they understandably seem excited about getting into the technical components of being a great public speaker ­— vocal exercises for a more authoritative voice, phonetics lessons for better pronunciation etc.
 
These certainly should be among the features of a quality public speaking programme. However, if you think that the keys to achieving these outcomes are exercises such as intense vocal training and phonetics drills, think again.
 
Jumping to these components before addressing more fundamental issues will make the road to becoming a great public speaker longer and possibly more arduous. I take the approach of working intensely, yet rapidly, on ‘self’ issues before plunging into technical training. By addressing these issues first, you’ll put yourself on the fast-track to becoming a confident, credible, authentic and memorable speaker.
 
Reframe Your Jitters as Excitement
 
One of the biggest problems people face is jitters. Some have such intense worries about stage fright that they begin having nightmares months before they’re due to address an audience.
 
A certain amount of nervousness can be good. It ensures that you put effort into preparing what you’re going to say and that you stay ‘on’ throughout your time in front of an audience.
 
However, to keep nerves from becoming destructive, instead of asking people to calm down which can be incredibly challenging, we take people through a reframing exercise that enables them to transform jitters into excitement.
 
Remind yourself why you care about this speaking opportunity. Why is this audience important to you? By telling yourself out loud how excited you are about this speaking opportunity and the impact it will have on your audience, you’ll begin the process of reframing it as an exciting event rather than a formidable task.
 
Another technique that’s proven to be effective is to visualise the entire event from start to finish and imagine it going really well. Imagine what your audience looks like throughout your delivery and imagine them feeling satisfied and walking away with something valuable at the end of your speech.
 
Learn How to Manage Your State
 
We also take our learners through powerful state management techniques to enable them to stay ‘in the zone’ throughout their speech. These usually involve recalling a past event where they felt positive emotions (e.g. confidence). Remembering what that looked like, sounded like and felt like is the first step to being able to use it as an anchor that you can call upon whenever you want to recreate the same magic for any speaking engagement.
 
Pause and Breathe
 
Many people take breathing for granted until they’re made to realise that they’re not doing it right. Many of us breathe while heaving our chest up and down. However, you’re not breathing right unless you’re breathing into your stomach. In other words, as you breathe, your abdominal area should expand.
 
This breath when exhaled gradually will support your words as you speak. Breath support ensures your voice sounds richer and more resonant. It also prevents your voice from trailing off at the ends of sentences and eliminates vocal fry (a low and scratchy voice, especially at the ends of sentences).
 
Pausing and breathing every now and then while speaking will also help regulate the pace of your speech while reducing stress and anxiety.
 
The best performers would tell you that committing to breathing exercises on a daily basis will strengthen your lungs and vocal muscles in the long run. As a result, delivering your message authoritatively in your best voice will become effortless.
 
In short, to accelerate your journey to becoming an amazing public speaker, slow down, take a step back, commit to the fundamentals and most of all, breathe!
 
This post was contributed by Communications Strategist, Consultant and Coach, Bharati Jagdish