The Reality Behind Public Speaking Tips

I'll be honest. Public speaking is something that has been difficult to me over the years. For the longest time, public speaking (and just generally speaking to high-powered individuals) was a significant source of stress and anxiety for me. For some reason, the thought of doing either made me feel powerless and like a young child. I realized as I moved up in my position as a Project Coordinator that it was necessary for me to confront the issue head-on. After all, I would be faced with CEOs, presidents and large groups of people on a regular basis. I focused on being a stronger speaker for about a month and after that, I noticed a distinct difference in my composure when speaking

Start Small

My first step was asking a couple of my co-workers to observe and critique my presentations. This was the easiest way for me to start because my co-workers were not intimidating to me and in fact, I considered many of them my friends. I suggest this as a way of getting more comfortable in a public speaking setting. You may even be surprised at the thought and effort your colleagues put into their critiques. I know I was!

Rely on Previous Experience

In college, I studied Elementary Education, so I was regularly speaking in front of a room full of third graders. While it did cause my nerves to flutter, it was nothing compared to the room full of potential clients that I now find myself in front of on a regular basis. You've heard the old tip of imagining people naked when speaking? Well, I started to convince myself that the room full of potential clients was no different than the room of children that I was accustomed to speaking in front of. After all, they were no more informed on the topic that I was presenting than the third graders were on long division.

If I remind myself that I am the educator in the situation and they are gaining knowledge based on the information I provide, my nerves begin to settle and I can focus on the delivery of information rather than the crowd. And let's not forget the comical relief I get in actually visualizing these high-powered individuals as small children.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

This was by far the most difficult task for me to accomplish. But I had a real problem with speaking to high-powered individuals and it was starting to affect my work. If I had the jitters, it caused my to come across as unsure about the information I was presenting and this directly effected the course of the meeting.

If you are going to be meeting with CEOs or anyone with an intimidating reputation, it is important that you exude confidence when speaking to them. One of the ways I broke out of my comfort zone was by approaching my Office Manager and requesting that I present all of my notes, progress reports, etc... directly to the president of the company. This went against the protocol of going over all information with her first so that she may present it to him. She agreed and as an added bonus I not only presented directly to him (which became less and less nerve racking), but I also gained added respect from both the Office Manger and the president of the company for taking ownership of my role in the company.
Speaking in front of a crowd is unsettling for a lot of people and I am sure I am not the only one out there with more than one bad experience doing it. My public speaking skills are nowhere near perfect but I feel as though I can hold my own after spending some time on improving. Feel free to share if you have public speaking angst or tips to help those of us who do!