• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
CAN I AVOID LOOKING FOOLISH WHEN I SPEAK?
No one wants to ‘look’ foolish and in most cases most Speakers hardly ever do.But they can ‘feel’ foolish as often as they allow themselves. Yes, I think this isone of those moments where you want to take ownership of, that isresponsibility for, your feelings. Now step back for a moment and let that soak inwhile I suggest some actions you can take to avoid those foolish feelings whenyou’re Speaking or Presenting.If you have a Presentation or Speech to give and try as you might you can'tavoid it, there are several things you can do to ensure an easy time of it. First,decide clearly, definitively, the "Role" you will be filling as the Speaker. Are youan Informer, or a Trainer, or a Teacher, or a Salesperson? Check myShow#23 for further guidance on this matter. Once you're decided your Role, prepare yourPresentation as that Speaker. Is the event happy, sad, frustrated, mad? How doyou feel about the event and the information you’ll be delivering? Once you’veidentified your Role and your Feelings, you can proceed to develop yourprogram with that awareness guiding you.Construct your Presentation or Speech in a sensible, logical, linear, accessiblestyle. Write everything down. All your words, all your thoughts, all your feelings.Be clever. Say what you have to say. Everything. Now, once completed, let itbreathe. Leave it alone for a bit, a day any way. You may find this difficult to do,but it’s a good habit to have and if you haven’t developed it, this is a good timeto begin. Let it be here and now. Later, when you’re just bursting at the seams,Return to it and edit to clarify, abbreviate, and simplify. Cut, trim, reorder,replace. Go at it. When you feel like you’ve done enough repair or damage, it’stime to leave. Once again, put it down and walk away. Frankly, I’ve discoveredgreat rewards in the rewrite and the edit. And I did discover it. If anyone in mypast ever suggested the value and joy in the rewrite or the edit, well it flew rightpast me. But it is a marvelous, creative time, and time well spent. You’ll see.
 
So there it is sitting on your computer screen or possibly on paper on youractual desktop. I like holding and working with the paper version. It feels, reallyfeels like something, and in fact I’m often surprised that I’ve created this thing inmy hand. That it wouldn’t exist without me. Nice. So now you must,Practice reading it out loud, to yourself. During these practice sessions orrehearsals, avoid working in front of a mirror, timing with a stopwatch, orperforming for friends. There’s no reason to have your attention on anythingother than your words, concepts and construction. Read it again, and thenagain. How do the words feel in your mouth? How does it sound to you? Speakwith commitment and energy appropriate to the topic and the event. How doyou like it...is it You? You'll know. Don't rehearse it to death. Too much of a goodthing. Keep at it and you risk diminishing your energy and your sense ofspontaneity. As before, leave it for awhile. When you return it’s ok to keep an eye on theclock to get some idea of the time you’re going to demand from your audience.But a stop watch is a bit too much and unless you’re in some competition wheremicro seconds are critical, well, best to avoid it. When you feel comfortablespeaking your creation and before you speak all the life out of it, Stop.By now, you should feel intellectually and emotionally connected to your script,and it truly is yours’. Your feelings, your design, your words, your preparation,your practice. Now is the time to determine how you are going to deliver theresults of your efforts. Naturally you desire to make an excellent presentation.Let’s look at your options. Five come to mind. Am I going to memorize it? Will I stand behind a lectern and read it? Should Iuse notes or notecards as a guide? Maybe I’ll just throw caution to the wind andspeak extemporaneously. A fifth option has been discouraged. You were toldYou shouldn’t deliver a Power Point presentation. Darn it! (pssst, that’s a goodthing.)Remember, your concern here is to “avoid looking foolish” when you speak.
 
With that in mind let’s briefly look at the remaining four options.Memorizing a Speech or Presentation is the worst of the four options. Unlessyou regularly memorize long presentations, there is a pretty good chance you’llfumble, read that ‘forget’, somewhere along the way. If and when you do,chances are you will begin to feel confused, embarrassed, lost. Talk aboutfeeling foolish. Additionally, this is one of those moments that compounds intoactually looking foolish. I strongly suggest against memorizing. There are muchbetter options.One of them is Reading your script. With proper preparation, you shouldn’t loseyour place. That’s a win. There are some downsides to Reading from the lectern.Maintaining good eye contact is difficult. Physically, you are a bobbing head. A third issue is you’re restrictedto the lectern. Can’t move about much. But thechances of you looking or feeling foolish are almost nil. For more guidancepreparing a script for Reading, visit myShow#14.Notes or notecards is another option and a good one. If you’re comfortable withyour grasp of the script, its’ content and intent, this is a very good choice. Youcan maintain effective contact with your audience, move about the stage, andpresent both ideas and emotions more spontaneously. At least it can appearthat way. There a good example of a speaker at TED, using notecards veryeffectively. You can see ithere. Watch and be encouraged. And lastly, you can simply “wing it.” Be free! Follow your heart. Speakextemporaneously. Actually this is effective if you’re very well prepared andexperienced in front of the room. Dr. Wayne Dyer comes to mind. Don’t foolyourself into thinking this is the easiest way. It’s not. If you wander off message,you may blather on and on attempting to regain your footing which may nothappen expeditiously. In that case you will likely sound foolish and in fact mightbe considered unprepared and unprofessional when in fact that’s not the case. Avoid this choice until you’re ready. You’ll know when.Now let’s briefly review your accomplishments up to this point. At the outset,
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...