Introduction
When you give a speech you want to leave people with the impression that you are a great speaker, one who looks entirely natural up on stage. More often than not, people that give presentations tend to be something other than themselves. They are nervous and exhibit behaviors they don’t normally have. Their voices quiver or they use gestures that they typically don’t use in normal conversation. People want to see you and not somebody else. The more you rehearse, the less rehearsed you look!!! Take the example of the professional figure skater. They look so natural out on the ice. They glide gracefully to the music, which seems to almost be a part of them. Do you think they look like that after a few minutes of skating around a rink? Of course not! They practice and practice and practice until they look natural – unrehearsed.
Don’t be nervous
It's totally natural to be nervous. Try this acting technique. Find a private spot, and wave your hands in the air. Relax your jaw, and shake your head from side to side. Then shake your legs one at a time. Physically shake the tension out of your body.
Posturing
Your body is a tool. Learn to use it effectively. Find your center of balance. Your feet should be firmly planted about shoulder width apart. Hold your shoulders back and chin up. Stand calmly, being careful not to fidget or sway. Let your hands rest by your sides.
Make your movements purposeful. If you make a gesture with your hands, let them return to the resting position by your side. Don't wander around the room. If you want to go to a different location - go there and then stop. Speak to one person at a time and maintain eye contact.
Your voice has volume, tone and pace. Realize you will speak faster and at a higher pitch than you did when you were rehearsing. Be aware of this tendency. Speak loudly enough so everyone in the room can hear you, but not so loudly the people in the front rows are covering their ears.
Don't apologize
Never start a presentation with an apology. How many times have you heard a presenter begin by saying 'I am sorry I have a cold, or I am nervous? If you have a cold, the sniffles do a fine job of making that apparent. Or, if there are no outward signs, who really needs to know you don't feel well? Many people use such statements as a way of requesting leniency from the audience. Apologies like this announce to the audience, 'the presentation you are about to receive is less than you deserve, but please don't blame me."
If you mention your nervousness or apologize for any problems you think you have with your speech, you may be calling the audience's attention to something they hadn't noticed. Keep silent.
Respect
Show respect to the audience and they will show it to you. The audience wants you to do well and the smallest amount of respect will win over even the toughest critics. Similar to one-on-one conversations, showing respect to people can make all the difference in the communication. Here are some ways to demonstrate respect for your audience:
Eye contact - maintain eye contact with the audience. Slowly move from person to person and occasionally hold the contact for a few seconds.
Honesty - when you don't know the answer, admit it, offer to find out, and get back to the person.
Save face - if you must disagree with an audience member, do so in a manner that allows the person to save face.
Self-correction - if an audience member is not paying attention, encourage self-correction, by walking closer to them as you speak. The 'distracter" will notice your proximity and stop the distraction.
Don’t become negative “you” based
Anxiety makes us impersonal. It tends to make it sound like me against you. “Here’s what YOU need to do.” “YOU wouldn’t have these problems in YOUR company if YOU…”
Try to avoid such words
Use “we” for anything that’s condemning or hard. “We need to improve in three areas if this quarter is going to be profitable.” Use “you” for anything that is encouraging and building. “It’s great to have all of you on this team. It’s because of you that the company has reached this level of success.”
Avoid a rushing monotone voice
Few things make an audience feel unimportant like a fast paced monotone speech. First, they want to receive life-changing information. That’s tough to get when pitch doesn’t change.
Second, the people lose focus because they start to feel sorry for the speaker.
You can easily avoid monotone messages. Before saying a word think about the value of your message. Think about the aspects that create passionate feelings. Think about speaking clearly with compassion. Smile. Tell yourself a joke. Take a huge confidence breath.
Use eye-contact, positively say “you,” and flow with the message. If you do, you’ll hear, “I felt like you were speaking specifically to me.” That’s one of the best compliments you can get. And it proves that you’re speaking TO not AT the audience.
Prepare a library of ad-libs
Ad-libs are spontaneous words, applied in situations where you do not expect. I recommend that you run through your speech and identify possible situations that will happen and prepare words to counter those situations.
For example, I prepare an ad-lib in an event where my joke falls flat. When I deliver a joke and no one laughs, I will say “Thank you for the silent laughter”. It will bring out a laugh and it gets you out of the situation.
Say it all loud
Is anything missing? How does it sound? Change the words and phrases that sound unnatural when spoken.
Don’t sit down too much
Try not to sit down too much while you're waiting to speak. If you're scheduled to go one an hour into the program, try to sit in the back of the room so that you can stand up occasionally. It is hard to jump up and be dynamic when you've been relaxed in a chair for hour. (Comedian Robin Williams is well known for doing "jumping jacks" before going on stage to raise his energy level.)
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