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You’re Giving A Talk? Tips For Avoiding The Goosebumps
Rodger Dean Duncan (Contributor – covers leadership issues important to the workplace)
Aug 8, 2024,01:45am EDT, Updated Aug 26, 2024, 11:51am EDT
Do you have glossophobia?
That’s a fear of public speaking, a phobia believed to affect up to 75% of the population.
The physical symptoms range from slight nervousness and brain freeze to trembling, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and full-on panic.
For most people, fear of public speaking is not a hindrance because their work doesn’t require speeches or presentations. But if your profession places value on speaking skills, you’d be smart to be strategic about developing your capacity.
The ability to persuade an audience is an important trademark of a leader. My early career experience as a speechwriter and communication coach (for cabinet officers in two White House administrations as well as for C-suite executives in many corporations) provided some key take-aways.
- Effective public speaking is definitely a skill you can learn.
- Talk about things you know well and want to share with others.
- Manage your discomfort by thoroughly preparing, practicing, and visualizing.
- Even if you plan to speak from abbreviated notes, write out and refine your entire presentation. This will help you develop your content and build your confidence.
- Sharpen your delivery with repeated, focused practice.
Let’s zero in on those last two points.
The act of writing your “script” will help you explore your material and select precise wording. Focus on vocabulary you’re comfortable using. Choose words that have impact. Use short sentences. Provide evidence to support your key points. In your closing, repeat the points you want your audience to remember. Edit your draft carefully. Remove redundancies and cut out material that clutters rather than illuminates.
Does that sound like work? It is! And if you do it right, your investment of time and effort will pay big dividends.
Think about it: musicians, athletes and other professional invest much more time training than in performing. So why would you expect to successfully prepare and deliver a speech without paying the price?
Before he started his speech, I asked the man about his new cell phone he’d put on the table beside the podium. He launched into an animated description of all the phone’s features, how it saved him time, enabled him to stay in touch with his staff, and even take photos of his grandchildren. His spirited narrative about his new phone was worthy of a prime-time TV commercial.
Then he transitioned into his speech for the shareholders meeting.
What the man didn’t realize was that the videotape was running the entire time. When I played the whole thing back for him, he was astonished. It was as though two completely different people had been in front of the camera. He was comfortable and animated when carrying on about his new phone. But when he started his speech, it was as though someone had flipped an invisible switch. Suddenly he was stiff and awkward. His script was crammed with “corporatespeak”—tired phrases often found in legal documents rather than in natural conversation. No wonder the man was uncomfortable. He was trying to give a speech that didn’t remotely sound the way he would normally talk.
When the man re-worked his script to sound like real talk, his practice sessions were much more comfortable and his appearance at the shareholders meeting was a success.
Consider these tips when preparing your next talk.
1. Plan. Determine the best approach to your topic. Plan to address this topic in a way that will benefit your entire audience. (Remember that your listeners may have widely different backgrounds in terms of education, age, experience, etc.)
2. Organize: List the points you want to cover. Then sift and re-arrange these into no more than three or four main ideas, putting all the rest under these as sub-ideas. Effective introductory material usually (a) establishes a bond of common interest with your listeners, (b) identifies your topic and purpose and their importance to the audience, and (c) mentions the main points to be discussed in the talk. The effective conclusion is usually a brief summary of what you’ve said, with a final statement of the basic message you want your listeners to retain … or the belief you want them to have … or the action you want them to take.
3. Develop: Make notes. Gather material. Then select the necessary “evidence”— research, quotations, comparisons, anecdotes, etc.—to support and develop your points throughout the talk.
4. Practice: Condense your material to a simple outline. Practice delivering your talk aloud. Keep your delivery conversational and natural. (Typically, you’re talking to friends.) Time yourself. If you’ve been asked to talk for 15 minutes and your outline requires 17, trim it by at least three or four minutes. Then practice some more. The more you practice (a little bit every day over a period of several days), the more comfortable you’ll be.
Speech time is precious time. People attend a meeting to be instructed or even inspired. Ponder this: If you address an audience of, say, 150 people for 15 minutes, you’ve used a total of 37.5 hours! (15 minutes x 150 = 2,250 minutes or 37.5 hours)
You can do this! Invest the effort in honing your speaking skills and you’ll significantly enhance your value in the marketplace of ideas.
Rodger Dean Duncan covers leadership, change management, relationships, communication, teamwork, culture, career management, and other issues related to people’s workplace and personal lives. He’s been a Forbes.com contributor since 2012. He has 40 years of experience as a leadership coach, with clients ranging from cabinet officers in two White House administrations to C-suite executives in major corporations. He headed global communications at Campbell Soup Company and was vice president of a major energy firm. He earned his Ph.D. in organizational behavior at Purdue University. He’s the award-bestselling author of CHANGE-friendly LEADERSHIP.
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