Getting Past the Fear

Whether we’re talking in a team meeting or presenting in

front of an audience, we all have to speak in public from time

to time.

We can do this well or we can do it badly, and the outcome

strongly affects the way that people think of us. This is why public speaking causes so much anxiety and concern.

The good news is that, with thorough preparation and practice,

you can overcome your nervousness and preform exceptionally

well.

Plan Appropriately, make sure that you plan your

communication appropriately for your audience.

Use tool like the:

Rhetorical Triangle

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

7C’s of Communication

These tools will help you think about how you’ll structure what

you’re going to say.

Make your message strong by addressing the three points of the triangle.

The Writer, Ethos

The Audience, Pathos The Context, Logos

According to this approach, these three factors determine the persuasiveness of your argument. Your writing – and any other form of communication – need to take all three into consideration.

Your audience wants to know what your motives are for your

communication.

Members of your audience may ask themselves:

Are you providing information?

Are you trying to educate?

Are you presenting ideas for problem solving or analysis?

The audience wants to know who they are dealing with.

Make sure you clarify:

Who you are

Why you are competent to speak on this issue

Where your authority comes from

This information helps them determine your credibility and decide

whether you are being sincere.

When you communicate, in writing or verbally, you need to

understand your audience.

Things to consider include:

What are the audience’s expectations?

How will they use the information you provide?

What is the audience hoping to take away after listening?

This part of the triangle is concerned with appealing to emotions. The

audience needs to be moved by what you are saying.

Ask yourself:

What emotion do you want to evoke? Fear, trust, loyalty…?

Do you have shared values you want to draw on?

How do your audience’s beliefs fix with your message?

Connecting with your audience is a strong means of gaining support.

Your audience analyzes the content and circumstances of your

presentation.

What events preceded the communication?

Have I presented a logical well- constructed argument?

How do I support my claims?

What evidence do I have?

Here the emphasis is on logic and reason. Your audience

needs to be able to follow what you are saying for it to be

believable.

When preparing a speech or presentation first consider the three

elements required for effective persuasion. If your communication is

lacking in any of the three areas, then you’ll decrease the overall

impact your message will have on your audience.

Step One: What is the purpose of your communication?

Who are you as a person?

Step Two: Who are the members of my audience?

How can I connect emotionally?

Step Three: How will I present the information?

What events are surrounding this communication?

What background information do I need to supply?

By applying the principals of rhetoric to your Initial planning, you can increase the success of your communication.

Your audience wants to know you are credible, you understand them and the argument is logical. These are the cornerstones of the Rhetorical Triangle, and they must all be addresses in order for you argument to be effective.

Keep your message balanced between these points to ensure your message will be clearly understood and received with the correct intention.

When you seek to understand how your message will be perceived in this way, you can address your audience’s concerns before they have a chance to surface.

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence (MMS) is an organizational pattern

used to develop a sense of want or need in the audience, satisfy that

want or need, and to help the audience get enthused about the

advantages of that solution.

Before presenting MMS, it is important to understand the difference

between a need and a want .

--- A need, is something that fills a significant, life impacting void. We

need food, water, shelter. We need money to secure our needs. We

need other people.

--- A want, is something we would like to have, but does not impact

our lives in a significant way. An Apple watch may be nice to have, but

it does not impact our lives in significant ways.

Why is this important? Knowing whether to build a need or want tells

you what your focus of the speech is going to be.

The Five Steps

Step Function Ideal Audience Response

Attention Get audience to listen “I want to hear what you

have to say”

Need Get audience to feel a

need or want

“I agree. I have that

need/want

Satisfaction Tell the audience how to

fill need or want

“I see your solution will

work”

Visualization Get audience to see

benefits of solution

“This is a great idea”

Action Get audience to take

action

“I want it”

The 7 Cs provide a checklist for making sure that your presentations

are well constructed and clear – so your audience gets your message.

According to the 7Cs, communication needs to be:

Clear – Be clear about your goal or message. If your not sure, than

your audience won’t be either.

Concise – If you’re concise; stick to the point and keep it brief.

Concrete – When writing or speaking to someone, be clear about

your goal or message. Your message is solid with details and vivid

facts.

Correct – Your communication fits your audience’s level of

education , knowledge, and is error free.

Coherent – All points connect and are relevant to the topic, and the

tone and flow of the text is consistent.

Courteous – Friendly, open and honest while keeping the

audience’s viewpoint in mind.

Complete – The audience has everything they need to be informed

and, if applicable, to take action.

Key Point

The better we communicate, the more credibility we’ll have with our

audience and colleagues. Use the 7 Cs as a checklist in your

communications.

The SMOG grade is a measure of readability that estimates the years of education needed to understand a piece of writing on the first reading. SMOG is the acronym derived from Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. Texts for a wide audience generally need a SMOG index less than 12 (High School senior or less).

Formulae to calculate SMOG

1. Count the number of sentences (at least 30)

2. In those sentences, count the words of 3 or more syllables.

3. Calculate using a formula or go to Online-Utility.org for the Readability Calculator.

Why is it important? If your material is too complexed the audience may not understand what your saying. If the material is not at their technical level the presentation will not be well received.

We’ve all heard that the fear of death is second only to the fear of public speaking

Three Basic Fears 1. What People Think 2. Failure 3. The Unknown

Consequences can even include physical illness

Earl Nightingale said about giving a speech: “You feel like you are in the terminal stages of some type of tropical fever.”

Dry mouth

Tight throat

Sweaty or cold hands

Shaky hands

Nausea

Fast pulse

Shaky knees

Trembling lips

Not everyone reacts the same and there is no universal fix. Don’t try to

use all the fixes at once. Try different ones until you find the right

combination for you.

• Concentrate on how good you are at public speaking

• Pretend you are just chatting with a group of friends

• Close your eyes and imagine the audience listening,

laughing, and applauding.

• Remember happy moments from your past

• Think about your love for and desire to help the audience.

• Picture the audience in their underwear.

Be extremely well prepared.

Get individual or group public speaking coaching.

Listen to music.

Read a poem.

Anticipate hard and easy questions.

Organize your speaking notes.

Memorize your opening statement so you can recite it on autopilot if

you have to.

Practice, practice, practice. Especially practice bits so you can spit

out a few minutes of your program no matter how nervous you are.

Remember Stage fright usually goes away after you start. The tricky

time is the minutes before you start.

Be in the room at least an hour early to check the sound system

and everything on your checklist.

Have conversations with people near you.

Yawn to relax your throat.

Take a quick walk.

Look at your notes.

Put pictures of your kids/grandkids, dog, etc., in your notes.

Build a cushion of time in the day so you’re not rushed, but not too

much. You don’t want extra time to worry.

If legs are trembling, lean on a lectern/ table or shift legs or move.

Try not holding the microphone by hand in the first few minutes.

Don’t hold notes. The audience can see them shake. Use three-by-

five cards instead.

Take quick drinks of tepid water.

Use eye contact. It will make you feel less isolated.

Look at the friendliest face in the audience.

Joke about being nervous.

Remember nervousness doesn’t show one-tenth as much as it feels.

Unlike professional speakers and others who use their

voice to make a living, the occasional speaker is unlikely

to have received professional advice on caring for their

voices.

It’s also likely they have not received instruction on proper

vocal production techniques. Prevention is a much better

approach, than seeking a cure, once a problem has

occurred.

• Start exercising your voice daily. Try ten minutes of vocal or singing

exercises in the car or shower.

• Build body-memory and awareness of your voice by recording and listening

to how you sound.

• Warm up with relaxation exercises before speaking to loosen up. Many

voice problems come from tension and stress.

• Learn proper breathing techniques. Power breathing is from the diaphragm.

• Stay hydrated drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. This is very important if

traveling by air. Take tepid water to the podium to sip on.

• Avoid dairy products, caffeine, liquor and smoking immediately before

speaking.

• Reduce the number of times you clear your throat by swallowing instead.

Public speaking is one of the cheapest and most effective methods of promoting your service or product.

Warm up and relax your body and face before you step up to the podium with these exercises;

Take off your shoes. Now, stand on one leg and shake the other. When you put your foot back on the ground, it’s going to feel lighter than the other one. Now switch legs and shake. You want your energy to go through the floor and out your head.

This sounds quite comic; it isn’t. It’s a practical technique used by actors.

Shake your hands…fast. Hold them above your head,

bending at the wrist and elbow and then bring your hands

back down. This will make your hand movements more

natural.

Warm up your face muscles by chewing in a highly

exaggerated way. Do shoulder and neck rolls. Imagine that

you’re eyelevel with a clock. As you look at 12, pull as much

of your face up to12 as you can; now move it to 3, then down

to 6 and finally over to 9.

These exercises serve to warm you up and relax you. Those

exaggerated movements make it easier for movements to flow

more naturally.

One of the most common problems, even with experienced

public speakers, they aren’t capable of standing still when they

should. It is very distracting to try to listen to a presentation

when the speaker is wandering and swaying.

Practice moving at least three steps, in a particular direction,

and for a purpose whenever you move. Small to and fro

movements during your presentation are very distracting.

Have someone video your presentation and give you feedback.

Practice, practice, practice…This will help you find the best

techniques for your presentation.

Plan appropriately, make sure you plan your communication for your

audience’s level.

Use the tools available to plan you presentation; measure the readability

of you materials.

Stage fright usually goes away after you start speaking.

Nervousness doesn’t show one-tenth as much as it feels.

Exercise your voice daily to prevent problems before they start.

Exercises serve to warm you up and relax you. The exaggerated

movements make it easier for movements to flow more naturally.

With thorough preparation and practice, you can overcome your

nervousness and become an exceptional speaker.

Last of all Practice, Practice, Practice .....