Monthly Archive for January, 2007

Humanizing Example: Audience Involvement

A facilities designer talking about the need for clear communication:

He handed everyone a piece of paper and asked them to close their eyes. He proceeded to give folding and tearing instructions that everyone was supposed to follow with their eyes closed.

After a minute or so of directions, he asked everyone to open their eyes, unfold their piece of paper and hold it up. Amazingly, everyone in the room had a different-looking snowflake-like design, underscoring his point that just blanket instructions—without clear explanations, demonstrations, and feedback—were not enough to guarantee consistent outcomes.

Published on Thursday January 11, 2007 in Hook-Humor-Humanize and Humanize Examples. 0 Comments Tags: .

Would You Rather Die Than Speak in Public? Minimize the Nerves.

Are you a little nervous when you have to make a presentation to a group? Or perhaps scared witless? Would you rather get a root canal than stand up in front of group and talk? Speaking in public has commonly been recognized as our greatest fear—surpassing snakes, the dark, the unknown, and yes, even death. Apparently people would rather die than give a speech!

But you can minimize and master your anxiety. Let’s start with things you can do to quell the qualms before you even speak. I have seven key advance strategies that I call the 7 Ps:

1. Prepare. Know your main points. Organize them in an outline form with key words and phrases. Then talk-not read-from it.

2. Plan to use Props or visuals. This technique is important because it gives you purpose. It gives you something to do with your hands, diminishing the helplessness that comes with anxiety.

3. Picture your success. Just as picturing the worst can be self-fulfilling, so can anticipating success. Picture your poise and confidence and the audience’s rapt attention and reception. It will be more likely to happen that way.

4. Be more than Punctual. Get to the location early to check out the room and the equipment. It minimizes surprises, which will always notch up the anxiety.

5. Polyester-proof yourself. Anxiety raises our body temperature. So wear natural fabrics—cotton, linen, silk, wool—because they breathe better than manmade fabrics and will keep you more comfortable in the heat of the moment.

6. Practice, practice, practice. The more you hear the words roll off your tongue, the more comfortable you’re going to be saying them. You’ll also learn exactly how long your talk is, which is crucial if you’re going to fit within the time limits you’ve been given.

7. Present often. Like any skill, you will get better and more comfortable at it the more you do it.

These are all behaviors or choices you can make that can help keep the butterflies at bay.  See the article, “What to do When the Butterflies Turn into Barracudas,” to learn specific tips to manage the anxiety when you’re experiencing it.

Published on Thursday January 11, 2007 in Anxiety and Presentation Skills. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

What to Do When the Butterflies Turn into Barracudas

There’s a lot you can do to minimize the anxiety that comes with speaking in public. (See “Would You Rather Die Than Speak in Public? Minimize the Nerves.”) But even after all your preparation, there may still be that dreaded moment right before or, worst, during your talk when the anxiety attacks you in the worst way. The butterflies turn into barracudas, and between a racing heartbeat, sweaty palms, shaking muscles, quivering vocals, and a mind that goes totally blank, you despair of ever recovering your cool. But it can be done. I have identified two categories of remedies for mastering the anxiety when you’re actually experiencing it:

Physical Techniques:

  • Move! Make big purposeful gestures, project strong vocals, stride across the front of the room. You have to release that nervous energy, otherwise it’ll eat a hole in your stomach.
  • Breathe. Think about all the nervous symptoms I just mentioned. Every one of them is a direct result of lack of oxygen. When we’re nervous, most of us breathe too shallowly. But the one thing our body craves under stress is oxygen. So take deep breaths right before you speak. And during your talk, if you feel on the edge of panic, pause and breathe. You’ll be amazed at what the gift of a little extra oxygen can do to mitigate those nervous symptoms.
  • Pause.  This is a vastly underutilized but powerful speaking technique. It’s very effective to stop and collect your thoughts when they’ve suddenly evaporated. It also makes the audience anticipate what you’re going to say next. It keeps your rate from getting too fast. And it gives you the opportunity to breathe.

Mental Techniques:

  • Adjust your attitude. Instead of being me-focused—Oh no, I’m so nervous. I’m going to do awful. No one will listen to me.”—try to be genuinely audience focused. Think about what you can do for them, not what this is doing to you.
  • Believe in your success. If you’ve prepared well and practiced enough, you should easily be able to visualize a positive and successful outcome. Use that visualization to make it more likely to happen.
  • Lighten up. Finally, try not to take yourself so seriously. Have fun. So what if it’s not perfect? Stuff happens in presentations-the projector fails, there’s no power outlet, you forget your handouts, there’s an annoying interruption… But just learn to say “So what?” That will go a long ways toward putting things into perspective. Besides, it’ll give you some great stories to tell later!

The important thing is, don’t let the anxiety master you. When you feel caught in its grips, tell yourself, “Oh, I’m nervous. Well, good. That means I’ll do a better job.”  Recognize it, acknowledge it, then work to power through it. Once you can get over the anxiety hump, you will find the rest of the presentation will go beautifully.


Published on Thursday January 11, 2007 in Anxiety and Presentation Skills. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .