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Aug 29, 03:53 pm: It's worse than death

The oft repeated saw holds that people fear public speaking more than death.

Ed Batista writes about harnessing some of the energy of stage fright to work in your favor. It’s a good post. Be sure to click through to the public speaking tips that he points to.

I do a fair amount of public speaking. About two years ago, I figured out how to use stage fright to my advantage. I have two main symptoms: fast talking and shaking hands.

I decided to simply work the first into my introductory disclaimer. I say that I talk fast and ask that folks stop me if I start rattling too much. This invites everyone into the problem, and no one feels tripped up when I get asked to slow down.

The second problem was tougher though. But the solution provided me with more than just a way to hide my shaking hands.

I practice my presentations. I run through them first, sitting at my computer, using the slides or whatever else I’m going to have to help prompt me from thought to thought. Then I start saying things aloud. If I mess up, I start over. I want to be sure that I feel comfortable actually saying all the words. That everything feels like me to me. I edit my notes/slides as I go.

Then when I’m nice and comfortable, I delete almost everything from the visible part of my slide. I leave a screen shot or a word or a phrase. I leave something that provides a back drop and will remind me of where I am in the presentation. Everything else, I drop into the notes section of the slide (and I format that to make a nice handout — which isn’t the same as having it set up to provide me with what I’m supposed to say).

Then, I rewrite what I’m going to say. In a text file. And I read it and edit and read it and edit. When I say “read it,” by the way, I mean aloud.

I try to get to the places where I’m presenting early. If someone is setting the stage — a keynote speaker, another presenter — I make sure I’m there for it. If not, I try and prowl around the area to get a feel for where I am and the people who are there. I’ve got my handy text file of edited comments in pocket, my presentation on my computer.

I throw the text file away.

Right before I present — like 5 minutes — I take out a few index cards and I jot down the high points of my talk. The things I remember from all those practice sessions and the notes I tossed. I limit myself to right before so that I don’t have time to write anything more than phrases. In order.

Then, when I start talking, I’m myself. I know my material but I can’t rely on it. I can’t hold it and hear the paper shaking. And I’m fresh. I pull in examples from the things I’ve seen and heard before the presentation.

It’s impossible, I think, to really know how well you present. But this trick — practice and writing it all out and then tossing it at the last minute and jotting down a few points — has made me comfortable in front of folks and that counts for a lot.

tagged: publicspeaking, presenting, nerves